Major crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX has announced on Friday the reduction of its base maintenance margin for its XBT and ETH series of products.
The new reduced rates will be charged from May 5 and will be on a trial basis. The exchange also highlighted that it would communicate with the traders a week before the end of the trial period.
Per the announcement, the maintenance margin for all three XBT pairs listed on the exchange will be dropped to 0.40 percent while the same for Ethereum contracts will be reduced to 0.80 percent.
The updated base maintenance margin will also be applicable to the ETHUSDM20 Quanto Futures contract, which will be listed for trading from May 5. The Ethereum contract will be settled in Bitcoin .
Notably, the initial margin requirement for all the contracts will remain the same.
“These changes are a part of our ongoing efforts to fine-tune our platform for an even better trading experience, as well as to reflect users’ feedback,” BitMEX stated. “The end of this trial period will be announced with 1 week’s notice.”
Preparing for rising trade volumes?
This new reduction in margin rates comes only a couple of weeks after the previous revision of the same rates by the exchange.
The exchange also detailed that it will lower the initial margin requirements for traders with Base Risk Limit that is above 200 XBT notional for XBTUSD and 50 XBT for other contracts and will move the bankruptcy price closer to the average entry price.
The decision has been taken at a time when the cryptocurrency market is signaling a bull run ahead of the upcoming Bitcoin halving.
BitMEX also lost its apex position in the crypto derivatives market to the futures platform of Binance.
