FAQ
Discover answers to the most frequently asked questions from bro.trade users.
Deposits & Withdrawals
If you're depositing into bro.trade and / or withdrawing for the first time, please refer to the responses and associated tutorial sections linked below.
Deposits
Why do I need to deposit?
Traders must deposit collateral into the bro.trade smart contracts to allow users to take on leverage within the system. The smart contracts are audited and non-custodial, meaning you can withdraw your available funds at any point.
Do I control my assets?
Yes. Only you can trade and access your funds. The smart contracts are non-custodial, which means you are in control of your assets.
How do I deposit from other chains or use unsupported tokens?
Currently, you can bridge assets from other chains onto Berachain using either Stargate or the official Berachain bridge. For seamless trading, we recommend swapping USDC or wETH into HONEY via Oogabooga. Soon, bro.trade will make this process even easier by integrating bridge and swap functionalities directly into the dashboard interface, allowing you to manage everything in one place.
How do I deposit from a centralized exchange (CEX) into bro.trade?
You’ll first need to send supported assets from the CEX to your DeFi wallet connected to Berachain.
Once you receive your assets in your wallet, return to the [Deposit] dialogue to deposit directly from your wallet into bro.trade.
Withdrawals
There is NO bridging involved with withdrawals.
You can enable the borrowing toggle to borrow assets against your margin.
All successfully placed withdrawals will be processed in batches with other withdrawals. You can monitor your withdrawal status in the [Withdrawals History] tab of the Portfolio Page.
bro.trade minimizes user fees by settling transactions in batches on-chain to Berachain when gas fees are low. All actions on bro.trade still happen instantaneously, but withdrawals can take up to 30 minutes or longer during high gas periods. This is usually almost instantaneous.
The 30-minute time-frame is the targeted maximum that a withdrawal will remain pending, as bro.trade usually sends the transaction to Berachain after this time automatically -- even during high gas periods.
If your withdrawal takes longer, it may be due to persistent and excessively high gas costs.
There is a flat fee of 1 $HONEY for all withdrawals (inclusive of gas fees), regardless of the size of the withdrawal.
There is no lock-up time for your collateral to be withdrawn after trades are settled.
NOTE: If your withdrawal appears on the bro.trade dApp, that means it was successfully placed and will settle on-chain once gas costs come down or if gas is already below the target threshold at the time of your withdrawal.
Please note that withdrawal times may still be variable as the automated mechanism continues to be optimized to account for dynamic changes in gas costs.
General FAQ
What is unified cross-margin trading, and how does that make bro.trade unique?
Cross-margin trading is a type of margin system whereby traders can utilize multiple forms of collateral and margin is shared across positions.
Every asset and liability will have an impact on your margin. This form of portfolio margining lets you make the most of your assets while offsetting liabilities.
Assets: Deposits, Positive PnL, Pools, and Spreads
Liabilities: Perp Positions, Negative PnL, and Borrows
What are the fees?
bro.trade charges low trading fees for executing a filled trade order based on the notional size of the position.
Maker Fees = 0% for ALL markets
Taker Fees = 0.02% for ALL markets
Maker fees are applied to orders that add liquidity to the orderbook, such as limit orders that don’t immediately cross the book.
Taker fees are applied to orders that do immediately cross the book, such as market orders.
Are there take-profit (TP) and stop-loss (SL) orders?
Yes, traders can set TP / SL orders for open perpetual positions on bro.trade
Why do I have less funds available than what I deposited?
“I deposited $50, why does it say I only have $40 to trade with?”
Your Funds Available represents the value of your collateral weighted by the initial margin weights of the deposited asset.
Since bro.trade utilizes a cross-margin risk engine, this means you can use different types of collateral as margin. Because certain types of collateral are more volatile than others, a discounted weight is applied to determine the impact of collateral on your Funds Available.
That said, HONEY is 1:1 with face value.
Is there a minimum amount to trade?
There is no minimum deposit amount or minimum $ value per trade.
There is a minimum order size per market, known as MinSize. That is, the minimum amount you must buy or sell for that market denominated in the asset - i.e. ‘BERA-PERP’.
Trades that don’t meet the minimum order size will not be valid and the bro.trade app will prompt you to adjust.
To learn about the minimum order size for each market:
Click on [Market Details]
Why is there a negative sign in front of my asset balance?
A negative sign (-) in front of an asset’s balance means you are currently borrowing that asset.
I didn't borrow HONEY. Why is my balance negative?
The protocol automatically settles PnL (HONEY) between losing and winning positions throughout the duration of holding a position. If you have a perpetual position with negative PnL, but you don’t have any HONEY, the protocol will borrow HONEY on your behalf to settle the PnL.
This results in a negative HONEY balance. The same will happen if you close the negative PnL position entirely.
Why was my position liquidated if the chart shows that the price didn't hit my Liq. Price?
The Liq. Price displayed in the Perp Positions table is an Estimated Liq. Price based on your current account and the position’s health.
If you have multiple positions open, the Liq. Price is subject to the health changes of your other positions.
Perpetuals are liquidated based on the given market's Oracle Price -- provided by the Stork Oracle.
The Oracle Price is submitted to smart contracts based on time intervals or price movements. When an account gets liquidated, it is because the Oracle Price caused the account to fall under maintenance margin requirements.
How do liquidations work?
An account is eligible for liquidation once either of the following has occurred:
Funds Until Liq = $0
Liq. Risk = 100%
The riskiest positions / balances will get liquidated first, until the account is no longer eligible for liquidation.
What is Margin Usage?
Margin Usage is the percentage of your initial margin being used by open positions. In other words, it’s how much of your tradable collateral is in use.
If Margin Usage reaches 100%, you cannot initiate new positions.
What is Funds Available?
The amount of tradable funds / collateral you have in your account. This is the initial weighted margin you have unused.
If your Funds Available reaches $0, you cannot initiate new positions.
This can also be known as Free Collateral or Available Margin.
What is Funds Until Liq?
The amount of funds / collateral in your account until liquidation. If it reaches $0, your account will be at risk of liquidation.
You must maintain a Funds Until Liq. above $0 to avoid being liquidated.
What is Liq. Risk?
The percentage of your maintenance margin that is being used by positions.
Also known as Maintenance Margin Usage.
If it reaches 100%, you’re at risk of liquidation.
Low Risk = 0 → 40%
Medium Risk = 40 → 60%
High Risk = 70 → 90%
Extreme Risk = 90 → 100%
What are initial and maintenance weights?
For an exchange that only accepts dollar-pegged collateral, collateral is typically weighted at face value.
In a cross-margin system that accepts multiple forms of collateral, weights are used to discount collaterals that are more volatile. Most trading venues will use 2 weights:
Initial
Maintenance
Initial Weight: Used to determine the amount of collateral an account has to initiate positions - i.e. for trading.
Maintenance Weight: Used to determine the margin to maintain positions - i.e., to avoid liquidation.
Initial vs. Maintenance Margin
Initial and maintenance weighted margins give traders an idea of their account’s health through two metrics:
The account's ability to trade.
How close the account is to liquidation.
Initial Margin
The amount of funds your account has to trade with. This is the sum of your initial weighted collateral minus initial weighted margin requirements.
Maintenance Margin
The amount of funds your account must maintain before it will be liquidated. This is the sum of your maintenance weighted collateral minus maintenance weighted margin requirements.
For any other questions or feedback, please refer to the Official bro.trade Discord for assistance.
Official bro.trade Discord
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