What Are Nitro Spreads and How to Trade Them on OKX?

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Nitro Spreads are an innovative trading feature on the Liquid Market of OKX, enabling traders to efficiently execute spread and basis trading strategies. A spread trade involves capitalizing on the price difference (or "spread") between related financial instruments—often with the same underlying asset—across different markets or contract types. Traditionally, executing such strategies required manually placing two separate orders in different order books, increasing execution risk and slippage.

With Nitro Spreads, traders can now execute complex spread trades with a single click. The system ensures that either the full matched quantity is filled for both legs of the trade, or no execution occurs at all—eliminating leg-in risk and significantly reducing slippage. This powerful tool supports a variety of advanced trading strategies, including funding rate farming, spot-futures arbitrage (carry trades), and calendar spread arbitrage.

👉 Discover how to maximize your trading efficiency with one-click spread execution

How Does Spread Trading Work?

Spread trading typically involves pairing instruments such as:

Experienced traders use these pairs to profit from temporary pricing inefficiencies. In a typical spread trade, two opposing positions—long and short—are opened simultaneously with equal notional value. The goal is to create a delta-neutral position, meaning the overall exposure to price movements in the underlying asset is minimized.

Understanding Delta Neutrality

Delta measures how much an instrument’s price changes relative to the underlying asset. For example, if BTC/USDT rises by $1, the corresponding quarterly futures contract should also rise by approximately $1. When a trader holds both a long and short position in these correlated instruments, gains in one leg offset losses in the other—resulting in stable portfolio value regardless of directional market moves.

This neutrality protects traders from volatility while allowing them to profit from convergence or divergence in spreads over time. It's particularly valuable in volatile crypto markets where short-term mispricings frequently occur.

How to Trade Nitro Spreads on OKX

Placing a Spread Order

  1. Log into your OKX account and navigate to:
    Trade > Liquid Market > Nitro Spreads

  2. Select your desired market. Currently supported pairs include:

    • BTC/USDT
    • ETH/USDT

  3. In the Nitro Spreads section, choose the available spread you want to buy or sell:

    • Click Ask to buy the spread
    • Click Bid to sell the spread

    A grid of available spreads will appear, showing real-time bid and ask prices.

  4. Once the order book opens for your selected spread, enter:

    • Price
    • Quantity
  5. Confirm details and click Execute Order

Important Notes:

  • To access the Liquid Market, you must complete verification and meet eligibility requirements.
  • If your order price crosses the best available price (ask when buying, bid when selling), it executes immediately.
  • Orders not filled within 7 days are automatically canceled.

👉 Start trading delta-neutral spreads with reduced slippage and zero leg risk

Canceling an Open Order

You can cancel open orders in two ways:

Option 1:

  1. On the Nitro Spreads grid, locate the tile showing a number in a circle—this indicates active orders for that specific spread.
  2. Click the tile and go to the Open Orders section.
  3. Select and cancel the order you wish to remove.

Option 2:

  1. Go directly to the Open Orders tab on the Nitro Spreads page.
  2. Find and cancel your desired order.

Executing an Open Order Immediately

If you have an open order but want immediate execution, use the “Send as RFQ” option in the Open Orders section. This sends a request for quotation directly to qualified market makers, allowing instant pricing and execution without waiting for passive fills.

This feature is ideal when speed is critical or liquidity is thin.

Trading Fees for Nitro Spreads

This fee structure makes Nitro Spreads not only more efficient but also more cost-effective than traditional multi-leg trading methods.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What assets and instrument types are supported in Nitro Spreads?

Currently, Nitro Spreads support:

More tokens and instrument types will be added in the future.

Which spread combinations are supported?

OKX currently supports:

How do I interpret Bid and Ask prices on spread tiles?

The displayed prices reflect the net spread between two instruments after execution:

Order of maturities from farthest to nearest:
Bi-quarterly Futures > Quarterly Futures > Perpetual Contracts > Spot

What is BBO Offset?

BBO (Best Bid Offer) Offset shows the difference between the best available price in Nitro Spreads and the expected best price if you executed the same strategy manually in the central order book.

A negative BBO offset means Nitro Spreads offers a better price than manual execution—and a white border highlights such favorable tiles.

Is liquidity shared between Nitro Spreads and central order books?

No. Liquidity in Nitro Spreads is isolated and not visible in individual instrument order books, and vice versa.

Can I trade individual legs after a spread trade settles?

Yes. After executing a spread trade, each leg becomes an independent position that can be managed or traded separately in the central order book.

Can I use existing positions or assets from other markets as margin?

Yes. OKX’s integrated ecosystem allows you to use existing spot or derivative positions from the central order book as margin when trading Nitro Spreads—maximizing capital efficiency.

By combining speed, precision, and cost savings, Nitro Spreads empower traders to execute sophisticated strategies with minimal risk. Whether you're engaging in funding rate arbitrage or calendar spreads, this tool streamlines what was once a complex process into a seamless one-click experience.

👉 Unlock advanced trading strategies with lower fees and smarter execution