BackQuant Glossary
Order Book
The list of all current resting buy and sell orders at every price level. Depth, imbalance, and refresh patterns are the core inputs to microstructure analysis. The order book tells you how much liquidity exists at each level before slippage.
Related terms
Slippage
The difference between the expected fill price and the actual fill price, usually due to thin order book depth. Slippage is the hidden tax on aggressive execution and grows with trade size and market stress.
OKX
A major centralized derivatives exchange offering perpetuals, futures, and options. OKX is one of the primary aggregation sources for crypto options open interest alongside Deribit, Bybit, and Binance.
Open Interest (OI)
The total number of outstanding contracts (options or futures) that have not been closed. Rising OI on a rally signals new long positioning. Falling OI on a rally signals shorts covering. OI distribution across strikes drives gamma exposure shape.
OpEx
Options expiry. The recurring event when options settle, almost always referring to the Friday 08:00 UTC settlement on Deribit in crypto. The largest scheduled liquidity event of the week. Quarterly OpEx (last Friday of March, June, September, December) is the largest of the year.
Options Chain
The full grid of available options for an underlying, organized by expiry and strike. Each row shows bid, ask, mark, IV, and Greeks for both calls and puts. The chain is the primary view for selecting strikes and expiries.
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See Order Book live on the terminal.
BackQuant is the analytics terminal for equity and crypto options. GEX walls, dealer positioning, options flow, and the full derivatives context - one product.