Documentation
Cost Structure Calculation
A detailed description of cost calculation.
Cost Basics
Costs are calculated to be proportional to how much the system is used. This system does not have a subscription model, and if you stop using the system, no further costs accrue.
Usage Metrics
The metrics used to calculate costs are these three elements:
- Market-Days: The use of a Market on a UTC calendar day (where use implies the processing of at least one Order)
- Fills: The creation of Fill records for Orders, due to successful executions.
- Orders: The processing of Orders submitted by any Users.
Market-Days
If a Market receives an Order within a UTC calendar day, that Market is considered "used on that day" and will be included when calculating the Market element of the overall costs. A Market Rate is applied once for each calendar day on which a Market is used.
If you have 5 Markets, and they are all OPEN, actively processing Orders, for 31 days in a month, then this is 5 * 31 Market-Days, 155 Market-Days. The total cost for the month will be 155 multiplied by the Market Rate plus the costs due to Fills and Orders. The Fills and Orders processed will be totalled and will contribute their own values to the total cost.
If a Market is in CLOSE state, it will reject Orders, and does not take part in the matching loop. Therefore a Market in CLOSE state will not incur any costs for Market-Days, Fills or Orders.
Fills and Orders
Fills and Orders processed by your Markets are counted over the invoice period.
Fills are the end-product of the system, and are the main charging element. Orders take work to process, but Orders lead to Fills, so Orders are charged at approximately an order of magnitude less than Fills.
Free Market-Days
If you are evaluating this system, it would be useful for you to know that there is a usage level that is free. Each User receives a free allowance equivalent to one Market being used on every calendar day of the month. If more than one Market is used, the same free entitlement still applies.
In effect, you get 31 free Market-Days in a 31 day month. In months that have 30 days, you get 30 free Market-Days, and in 28- or 29-day months, you get that many free Market-Days. If you have only one Market, you have the unlimited use of that Market at no cost, and Fills and Orders on that Market are not charged for.
If you have more than one Market, you still get 31 free Market-Days in a 31 day month. Those days can be distributed across your Markets. When calculating the costs for a User, the Market-Days are ranked with the highest usage first, and the lowest-ranked Market-Days up to the month's free allowance are not charged for.
Say you have 5 Markets and use each of them for only 10 days. This is a total of 50 Market-Days in the month. The Market-Days are ranked by usage, with the most heavily used first, and the lowest-ranked 31 Market-Days are treated as free. In this case, you would be charged for 19 Market-Days (50 less 31). You would be charged for the Fills and Orders that are processed on those 19 days, but you would still get the equivalent of the use of one Market for free for that month, 31 free Market-Days.
If you have only one Market, there is no cost. If you have more than one Market, you are only charged for usage beyond your free Market usage.
Cost Rates
The indicative rates are:
- Market Rate: 20 pence per Market-Day
- Fill Rate: 1.00 pence per Fill
- Order Rate: 0.10 pence per Order
These rates will change over time due to factors such as inflation and supplier cost variation. The rates quoted above are for information only and do not form a contract of any kind.
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An Example Calculation
Alice is a User on the system and owns 3 Markets, which we will call Market_A, Market_B and Market_C. The month is June and has 30 days. Let us assume some level of usage in June for each Market, shown in the table below, and calculate the costs accordingly.
| Market | Days Used | Orders per Day | Fills per Day | Total Orders | Total Fills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market_A | 30 | 100 | 20 | 3000 | 600 |
| Market_B | 30 | 50 | 10 | 1500 | 300 |
| Market_C | 20 | 20 | 4 | 400 | 80 |
| Total | 80 | 4900 | 980 |
In June we have 30 calendar days, so Alice will get 30 Free Market-Days. The lowest-ranked 30 Market-Days are treated as free, leaving 50 chargeable Market-Days. The quietest Market, Market_C, accounts for 20 free Market-Days, and Market_B has 10 free Market-Days.
A breakdown of the resulting free and chargeable usage is below:
| Market | Days Used | Free Days | Chargeable Days | Chargeable Orders | Chargeable Fills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market_A | 30 | 0 | 30 | 3000 | 600 |
| Market_B | 30 | 10 | 20 | 1000 | 200 |
| Market_C | 20 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 80 | 30 | 50 | 4000 | 800 |
The resulting costs are:
| Cost Element | Chargeable Usage | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market-Days | 50 | 20 pence | 1000 pence |
| Orders | 4000 | 0.10 pence | 400 pence |
| Fills | 800 | 1.00 pence | 800 pence |
| Total | 2200 pence |
Alice would therefore be invoiced for 22.00 GBP for June.
Invoicing and Payment
When an invoicing period has elapsed (usually a month), the usage costs are calculated and an invoice is raised. The invoice is emailed and should be paid within the stated payment period through a third-party payment provider.