Cryptocurrency is now as mainstream as it comes. Not convinced? We think Tom Brady fangirling over Vitalik Buterin on Twitter is all the proof you need. Still, crypto communities have an elitist air about them, and first-timers are showered with a barrage of abbreviations, acronyms or initialisms that make little sense when starting out. It’s time to change that.

There is one cryptocurrency company that has resolutely taken a stance against this elitist attitude. Cape Town-based OVEX, Africa’s largest prime brokerage and digital asset exchange, has brought to market an intuitive trading tool that largely simplifies the process of buying and selling cryptocurrency instantly and with zero fees. Crypto newbies are trading like the pros with OVEX.

The secret to being able to offer this product is the exchange’s unmatched liquidity.

What exactly is liquidity in cryptocurrency?

Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman said: “Liquidity for marketplaces is what fuel is for cars.”

In its absolute simplest meaning — liquidity refers to volume. The volume of cryptocurrency trading and assets under management for a cryptocurrency exchange is the liquid that allows trades to take place and is indicative of the exchange’s overall health. Taking large buckets of water doesn’t affect the volume sufficiently that other trades are affected. Low liquidity levels mean that market volatility is present, causing spikes in cryptocurrency prices. High liquidity, on the other hand, means there is a stable market, with few fluctuations in price.

A lack of liquidity leads directly to:

Trade execution: Trades aren’t executed instantly and so prices aren’t locked in. The lower the liquidity, the longer traders might have to wait for trades to go through as there simply aren’t enough buyers/sellers around to complete the trades.
Slippage: Because of the delay in trade execution and lack of price lock-in, slippage occurs. Slippage can be minor or major. Frustration quickly sets in for traders and they might leave altogether, taking further liquidity away from the exchange
Bid-offer spread: Spreads are tighter when there is high liquidity. Because OVEX doesn’t charge maker and taker fees, this means that traders will pay the most competitive prices around per trade.
Lower volatility.

In short, liquidity provides immense flexibility for a cryptocurrency exchange.

OVEX is a veritable ocean of liquidity in the African cryptocurrency scene. The company’s white-glove over-the-counter (OTC) crypto desk handles a jaw-dropping R7.5-billion per month in trades. This desk also supports a retail trading tool called OVEX Request For Quote (RFQ) — a first-of-its-kind method of buying cryptocurrency which is accessible to anyone of any level of knowledge of crypto. Simply deposit your South African rand — click buy or sell and voila. You are trading like the pros.

Then there are OVEX’s high-interest-earning accounts, which alone hold close to R1-billion. This is because they allow account holders to earn as much as 20% annualised interest. This is not only attractive for traditional investors seeking yields that outperform what is available in traditional finance, but also for cryptocurrency HODLers looking to put their idle cryptocurrencies to work.

How OVEX’s immense liquidity is changing the crypto-investing game

OVEX’s immense liquidity opens the doors to such things as:

A negligible bid-offer spread
Lightning-fast trade execution
Zero slippage per trade
Zero fees for trades
Price locks and post-trade settlement
24/7 trading hours, 365 days a year
A revolutionary “trade now, pay later” credit line of up to R100-million for high-volume investors
A white-glove concierge service for large-scale investors, brokers, and asset managers

The proof is in the pudding. A recent analysis revealed that OVEX prices are 3% more competitive than other South African exchanges for orders over $1-million.

How investors can avail themselves of OVEX’s white-glove OTC trading desk

To set up your OVEX OTC account and start trading, do the following:

Sign up
Create an OVEX account here. You must attain level-3 verification status to trade through the OTC desk. The OVEX team will walk you through the process.

Dedicated team
A dedicated team of trading experts gets assigned to you in a WhatsApp group.

Communicate 24/7
You can trade 24/7 by simply pinging your dedicated OVEX WhatsApp group with the details of your order.

It need not be long; you can simply say:

You: “I would like to buy 200 bitcoin.” OVEX trader: “I can sell you 200 BTC at a price of 30 000 USD per bitcoin.”

This human experience is why high-volume traders love OVEX.

Confirm trade
If you agree, the trade is confirmed, and the trader will credit your OVEX account with the specified asset.

Complete trade
Once the OVEX OTC team has received authorisation to execute the trade, you will receive confirmation of the transaction via e-mail.

History
You can then access a full history of every trade made over the desk on your OVEX Trade History dashboard.