Glossary · Market Structure
Block Trade
Also: block trades, block execution
Published
Block Trade — A block trade is a single transaction that is large relative to the liquidity visible on public order books, executed bilaterally with a liquidity provider at one agreed price rather than worked through the market. In digital assets, blocks are usually executed through an OTC desk's request-for-quote workflow.
What Makes an Order a Block
There is no fixed threshold in digital assets. An order is a block when executing it on a venue would consume a material share of displayed depth and move the price against the trader. The same notional can be a routine order in a deep pair and a block in a thin one, so desks judge size against current depth rather than against a static number.
How Blocks Are Executed
Blocks trade off the order book. The client requests a quote for the full size, the liquidity provider prices it against its inventory and hedging capacity, and the trade prints at one price. The provider then manages the resulting position across venues over time. The client's cost is the spread on the quote; the provider's cost is the risk and market impact of unwinding.
Some venues also support block facilities that report the trade after the fact, and institutional dark pools for digital assets match blocks between participants without displaying orders. In each case the goal is the same: transfer size without signaling intent to the wider market before the trade is complete.
Why Blocks Matter to Institutions
For a treasury converting mined coins, an issuer creating or redeeming product units, or a fund rebalancing, the difference between a worked order and a block is measured in basis points of slippage on a large notional. Block execution converts an uncertain, path-dependent cost into a known one.