BitMEX Overview

The Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange (BitMEX) offers peer-to-peer trading in cryptocurrency derivatives and is currently based in Asia.

BitMEX Exchange API

TT® supports the following:

• Prices: REST API for instrument download; websocket API for prices
• Orders: REST API for placing orders; websocket API for updates to orders

BitMEX supported products on TT

The TT platform supports trading in all futures, options, and currencies instruments available at BitMEX. On TT, currency instruments are perpetual swaps contracts that trade like spot contracts. Options instruments are BitMEX Up and BitMEX Down contracts that support trading during a market rally or market decline.

BitMEX API Credentials

A unique exchange API key and secret are required for connecting to BitMEX via the TT platform. Users need to log in to their account at bitmex.com or to select their account name, and navigate to Account & Security | Account & Preference | API keys to create and provide you with these credentials.

Note: For UAT connections, users need to register for a test account and create credentials at testnet.bitmex.com.

Users need to ensure the following when creating API keys for use on TT:

• Set the "Key Permissions" to "Order" when creating the ID and secret.
• Do not create multiple BitMEX exchange API keys for one BitMEX exchange user.

BitMEX Setup Requirements

Note: When setting up a BitMEX user, account, and connection in TT, you must adhere to the following requirements in order to connect to the exchange correctly:

• The BitMEX account on TT cannot be a child account.
• Only one BitMEX account and BitMEX connection can be assigned per user. Multiple BitMEX connections per exchange API key and secret are not supported.
• One BitMEX connection can only be assigned one BitMEX account that has only one user.
• Do not share a BitMEX account with another company.
• Do not share the same BitMEX exchange API key and secret with multiple users.
• A single user cannot use multiple BitMEX exchange API keys in TT.
• Multiple API keys belonging to one BitMEX exchange user cannot be assigned to different TT users.

BitMEX Load Shedding (Server Overload) support on TT

The TT Order Connector (OC) for BitMEX routes orders to the exchange REST endpoints and listens to executions on the websocket feed.

Periodically, BitMEX goes into periods of “Load Shedding”, but the websocket connections are maintained. Orders routed to the exchange are rejected when load shedding is occuring. With regards to TT’s Autospreader and ADL automated trading applications, Autospreader orders will not be re-attempted and ADL algos will pause due to load shedding rejects.

Because Load Shedding is not considered a state by the exchange, Bitmex does not broadcast or provide any way for TT to determine if the exchange is experiencing load shedding. The only way for a trader to know BitMEX is rejecting orders due to load shedding is if they receive a reject for a submitted order. The trader's Audit Trail will explain that the reason for the order reject was due to load shedding.

BitMEX Dead Man’s Switch support on TT

The TT Order Connector (OC) implements the exchange's Dead Man's Switch (Cancel On Disconnect) functionality. In the event of disconnect to the exchange, the OC repeatedly calls the BitMex exchange endpoint "cancelAllAfter" every 15 seconds with a timeout of 60 seconds. After 60 seconds of sensing a disconnect, TT allows BitMEX to cancel all orders for all traders' who are on that connection.

BitMEX Rate Limits support on TT

BitMEX rate limits allow 60 requests or “tokens” every 60 seconds, and BitMEX continuously refills the tokens. Given these specifications from the exchange, TT’s BitMEX Order Connector implements adaptive rate limits, in which the rate limit per user is continuously adjusted by the number of tokens remaining on a per user basis. Orders are rejected before leaving TT if the rate limit is exceeded.

The adaptive rate limits enable a trader to have maximum throughput. Essentially, a trader using TT may never get blocked by BitMEX because the Order Connector has implemented the adaptive rate limit feature.