The crypto market structure refers to the complex systems, participants, and rules that govern how digital assets are traded. It encompasses everything from exchanges and order books to automated market makers, liquidity providers, and derivatives venues. This intermediate guide assumes readers already understand digital assets, exchanges, wallets, tokens, DeFi fundamentals, and blockchain transactions.
The guide covers key aspects such as centralized and decentralized trading venues, order types, matching processes, spread, slippage, and execution quality. It also delves into derivatives like perpetual futures, funding rates, leverage, and liquidations. Additionally, it explores the roles of various market participants, including institutional investors, custodians, prime brokers, and market makers.
Market indicators such as volume, market cap, fully diluted valuation (FDV), open interest, funding rates, RSI, and moving averages are examined within the context of underlying market structure. The guide also discusses fundraising mechanisms, tokenomics, vesting, unlocks, and regulatory constraints, as well as the impact of crypto venture capital on token liquidity and incentives.
Finally, the guide addresses arbitrage and miner-extracted value (MEV), including private order flow, sandwich attacks, and execution fairness, providing a comprehensive overview of how these factors shape market efficiency and user costs.