Trading on Arwen
To trade, we need to pair a user escrow and an exchange escrow. Each trade uses the RFQ (Request for Quote) trading instrument and executes as a cryptographic atomic swap (see below).
Below, we’ve paired our 'Coinboss' BTC User Escrow with our 'Coinboss' LTC Exchange Escrow. You can make multiple trades as long as there is enough coin in escrow to support additional trades.
Make a trade using the trading panel at the bottom of the screen. You can ask the exchange for a quote in the form of 'Buy LTC' or 'Sell BTC'.
The exchange provides a quote: “0.1 LTC can be bought for 0.00150304 BTC”.
The exchange can’t hold a quote forever, since prices fluctuate, so the quotes expire. If you like the quote, you can place the order and make the trade.
The exchange commits to executing the trade at exactly the quoted price.
Once you execute the trade, it reflects immediately within the respective User Escrow and Exchange Escrow.
For the example below, the trade was executed at 0.1 LTC for 0.00150222 BTC
You can execute multiple trades using the same escrows.
Escrow balances will update with each trade.
Click the arrow next to the expiry time to expand the window and view each individual trade.
Trades Execute as Atomic Swaps
As you make trades, Arwen sends secure messages to the exchange so your trading activity is mirrored on the exchange order book. Nothing posts to the blockchain during trading. Arwen uses cryptographically guaranteed atomic swaps for trading, which ensures that either both coins move in the trade, or neither move. Once an atomic swap trade occurs, the balances in each escrow will adjust appropriately. Those balances represent what you own if you were to close an escrow at that moment.