BackQuant Glossary
Spot
The current cash market price of an asset for immediate delivery. Spot is the underlying reference for derivatives pricing. Crypto spot trades 24/7 across hundreds of venues, with index prices aggregating across the deepest ones.
Related terms
Index Price
A composite reference price calculated from spot prices across multiple exchanges. Index prices are used for funding calculations, margin requirements, and option settlements. They smooth over single-venue manipulation or outliers.
Settlement
The expiry-time process by which an option pays out its final intrinsic value. On Deribit, settlement occurs at 08:00 UTC using a half-hour time-weighted average of the index price. Settlement is the moment dealer hedging flows release.
Short
A position that profits when price falls. Selling spot, going short a perp, owning a put, or being short a call are all short positions. Short positions in crypto carry tail risk because upside is unbounded.
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.
SOL
Solana, the third-largest crypto asset by options open interest. SOL options markets are smaller and less liquid than BTC or ETH but growing, with concentrated venues on Deribit and select altcoin-focused platforms.
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