What are short-term orders?
As part of the default settings of the v4 open source software (”dYdX Chain”), short-term orders are short-lived orders (expires in a short amount of time) that are meant to be placed immediately and belongs in the same block the order was received. These orders stay in-memory up to 20 blocks, with only their fill amount and expiry block height being committed to state. Short-term orders are mainly intended for use by market makers with high throughput or for market orders.
More information on short-term orders on dYdX Chain is available here.
What are long-term orders?
As part of the default settings of the v4 open source software, long-term orders are “stateful orders” that are committed to the blockchain. Long-term orders encompass any order that lives on the orderbook for longer than the short block window. The short block window represents the maximum number of blocks past the current block height that a short-term MsgPlaceOrder or MsgCancelOrder message will be considered valid by a validator. Currently the default short block window is 20 blocks on the v4 open source software.
How are short-term orders different from long term orders?
Short-term orders are different than long-term orders on the v4 open source software because short-term orders only stay in-memory up to 20 blocks. Short-term orders are only in state until after Good-Till-Block (aka expiry, even if fully-filled or cancelled). Meanwhile, long-term orders are stateful orders that live in the in-memory orderbook.
Why can short-term orders only be Good-Till-Block (GTB)?
Short term orders can only be GTB because in the interest of being resilient to chain halts or slowdowns. Short-term orders have a maximum GTB of current block height + short block window. The default value is 20 blocks, or about 30 seconds on the v4 open source software.
Why can stateful orders only be Good-Till-Block-Time (GTBT)?
Stateful orders have a maximum GTBT of current block time + Stateful Order Time Window. The maximum default value is 90 days on the front end and 95 days on the protocol for v4 open source software. GTBT is used instead of GTB to give a more meaningful expiration time for stateful orders.
Disclaimer and Terms
This document may provide information with respect to the default settings of dYdX Trading Inc. (”dYdX”) v4 software, or non-mandatory guidelines and suggestions that may help with using v4 software. dYdX does not deploy or run v4 software for public use, or operate or control any dYdX Chain infrastructure. dYdX is not responsible for any actions taken by other third parties who use v4 software. dYdX services and products are not available to persons or entities who reside in, are located in, are incorporated in, or have registered offices in the United States or Canada, or Restricted Persons (as defined in the dYdX Terms of Use). The content provided herein does not constitute, and should not be considered, or relied upon as, financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, investment advice or advice of any other nature, and you agree that you are responsible to conduct independent research, perform due diligence and engage a professional advisor prior to taking any financial, tax, legal or investment action related to the foregoing content. The information contained herein, and any use of v4 software, are subject to the v4 Terms of Use.