OneChronos FX User Manual

Introduction

This User Manual (as amended from time to time, this “User Manual”) supplements and forms part of each Subscriber’s (as defined below) duly executed OneChronos FX Subscriber Agreement between that Subscriber and OneChronos Markets FX LLC (“OneChronos FX”) (each such agreement a “Subscriber Agreement”; capitalized terms used in this User Manual but not defined in this User Manual shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the Subscriber Agreement).

This User Manual provides information on the operation of the Platform and sets out terms applicable to a Subscriber’s execution of Spot FX transactions on the Platform or Subscriber’s other use of Services offered by OneChronos FX. To the extent of any inconsistency between the terms of the Subscriber Agreement between a particular Subscriber and OneChronos FX and the terms of this User Manual, the terms of the Subscriber Agreement shall govern and prevail.

OneChronos FX is not registered as a swap execution facility, multilateral trading facility, or organized trading facility. Each Subscriber is responsible for ensuring its own regulatory compliance, including with respect to applicable reporting, clearing, and position limits.

This User Manual may be amended from time to time upon notice to Subscribers, which notice may be provided by posting it on the OneChronos website together with the revised User Manual. The amended User Manual will be effective on the date specified in such notice and supersedes each prior version as of such effective date with respect to use of the Platform or Services on and after the effective date.

Certain Definitions

For purposes of this User Manual, the following terms have the following meanings:

Participation on OneChronos FX

Subscribers must adhere to this User Manual in respect of their use of the Platform or Services, as well as the Subscriber’s executed Subscriber Agreement. Apart from any rights or remedies OneChronos FX may have under the Subscriber Agreement or otherwise, OneChronos may suspend a Subscriber’s access to the Platform or Services if the Subscriber fails to comply with its Subscriber Agreement or this User Manual.

Only Subscribers may directly enter orders on the Platform. A Subscriber must be an "eligible contract participant" as defined under the CEA and the rules, regulations or interpretations of the CFTC. In addition, each Subscriber that permits any Client to indirectly access the Platform to trade in Subscriber’s name must assure that the Client is and remains at all times an eligible contract participant. OneChronos FX operates the Platform as a neutral technology provider and does not act as an agent, fiduciary, investment advisor, or representative of any Subscriber or Client in connection with trading decisions or execution strategy.

Prime Broker Arrangements

The Platform employs two types of prime brokers, a Central Prime Broker and a Subscriber Prime Broker, and each of these prime broker arrangements is more fully described below.

OneChronos FX employs a “central prime” model whereby a single firm is designated by OneChronos FX as the Central Prime Broker. The Central Prime Broker is not a Subscriber. The Central Prime Broker has represented to OneChronos FX that the Central Prime Broker is an eligible contract participant.

In addition to the Central Prime Broker, a Subscriberprime broker may also act as a Subscriber Prime Broker for other Subscribers, in each case if authorized by OneChronos FX in its sole discretion. As a condition to become and remain a Subscriber Prime Broker, among other things, each Subscriber Prime Broker must have an acceptable arrangement in place with the Central Prime Broker whereby the Central Prime Broker is the Prime Broker on the Platform for it in its capacity as a Subscriber Prime Broker for other Subscribers, as confirmed to OneChronos FX by the Central Prime Broker. A Subscriber, in its capacity as a Subscriber Prime Broker will settle transactions of an Authorized Subscriber executed on the Platform as the result of give ups on executions as more fully set forth in Section 4.4 of this User Manual (Trade and Settlement Workflow). Subscriber role as a Subscriber Prime Broker does not limit Subscriber’s ability to transmit orders to be executed in its own name on the Platform.

A Subscriber is permitted to transmit orders to the Platform only if it has arrangements with the Central Prime Broker or a Subscriber Prime Broker to act as Prime Broker for it on the Platform. A Subscriber may have multiple prime broker relationships on the Platform, in that Subscriber may have prime brokerage arrangements in place with the Central Prime Broker and/or by one or more Subscriber Prime Brokers. A Subscriber, though, may only use a single prime broker arrangement during a trading session.

If a Subscriber has properly engaged a Prime Broker, it may permit a Client which has prime broker arrangement with the Subscriber to access the Platform indirectly through Subscriber’s connections to the Platform, whereby any transactions on the Platform resulting from Client’s indirect access are executed in the name of the Subscriber as principal and settled with Subscriber’s Prime Broker. The execution of any offsetting leg transaction between Subscriber and Client is solely a matter between Subscriber and Client that occurs outside the Platform and any error or dispute or failure to conclude such transaction between the Subscriber and Client does not affect Subscriber’s related transaction executed on the Platform, which remains a binding transaction. Additionally, with respect to any Client, the Subscriber is responsible for (i) ensuring that the Client complies with the applicable terms of the Subscriber Agreement and this User Manual; and (ii) maintaining an anti-money laundering (AML) program reasonably designed to detect and deter money laundering activities, as well as a customer identification program, each in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. This includes, without limitation, properly verifying that at all times each Client is not itself, and is not acting on behalf of any person or entity that is: (x) owned 50% or more, directly or indirectly, by any individual or entity identified on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List; (y) located in, or owned or controlled by the government of, a country or territory subject to comprehensive OFAC-administered economic sanctions; or (z) otherwise subject to restrictions imposed by any governmental authority with jurisdiction to administer economic sanctions or blocking measures over the Client.

The series of prime broker arrangements described above contribute to maintaining pre-trade and post-trade anonymity and facilitate settlement of transactions occurring on the Platform.

The Central Prime Broker may impose credit, position, or other limits (“Credit Limits”) on any Subscriber Prime Broker or on any Subscriber for which it has agreed to act as Prime Broker. A Subscriber Prime Broker may likewise impose its own Credit Limits on any Subscriber for which it acts as Prime Broker and, where applicable, on the Central Prime Broker.

Where a Subscriber trades with the Central Prime Broker pursuant to a direct credit arrangement, reciprocal Credit Limits may apply between those parties. In such cases, the Platform will enforce the applicable Credit Limits made available to it for purposes of transaction eligibility, which may reflect limits established by one or both counterparties.

All orders submitted to the Platform, whether directly by a Subscriber or indirectly by a Subscriber’s Client, are subject to credit intermediation by the relevant Prime Broker(s). The Platform relies on and enforces Credit Limits properly submitted to it by the applicable Prime Broker(s) during its matching process. Execution of a transaction does not constitute a representation that such Credit Limits are sufficient for settlement or that either counterparty will accept or perform the transaction.

The Central Prime Broker may conduct its own independent verification of compliance with its Credit Limits (and other technical requirements) outside the verification conducted by the Platform. In the event the Central Prime Broker rejects a transaction matched by the Platform, transactions matched during the relevant auction for the affected currency pair may be unwound in accordance with Platform procedures.

When a Subscriber uses OneChronos in conjunction with any other execution strategy, ctithe Subscriber will not communicate confidential information to any external party, beyond affecting the nominal to be executed, with respect to any fills achieved through OneChronos.

Trading Operations

During Trading Hours, the Platform operates periodic auctions deliberately initiated by the matching engine at randomized times at a frequency of approximately 10-15 auctions per second.

The Platform utilizes standard spot settlement dates and precision per pair and may change its set of supported instruments from time to time. This may include other settlement dates or pricing references. The current list of instruments and allowed pricing increments will be available on our website and updated from time to time.

Trading Hours

On each Trading Day, Trading Hours will be between the hours of 08:00 to 22:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), corresponding to 9:00am London local time (whether GMT or BST) through 5:00pm U.S. Eastern Time (whether EST or EDT), accounting for daylight saving time changes, Monday to Friday. The Platform is closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Matching Process

Rather than matching orders continuously as they arrive at the matching engine (as with a continuous limit order book) the Platform periodically holds auctions designed to seek an optimal matching between buyers and sellers across all eligible orders. These auctions are multi-lateral in that one or more buyers can be matched with one or more sellers in the same currency pair.

In a fully non-displayed environment, Subscribers can enter Limit Orders or Midpoint Peg OrdersPO (with or without an offset) in a single currency pair. Midpoint Peg Orders will leverage an independent benchmark administrator, as a reference price. The price leveraged for the peg will be based on the most recent midpoint price available for that currency at or most recently prior to the auction call time.

Within an auction, the Platform uses mathematical optimization to match buyers’ and sellers’ orders and to determine an execution price of the auction per currency pair. In general, optimization involves searching through potentially a large quantity of possible solutions searching for arrangements across orders based on a pre-defined goal (objective function). The primary objective of the Platform optimization (a/k/a, match process) is to determine, match, and execute the configuration of eligible buy and sell orders that would maximize the total Aggregate Price Improvement (defined below) achievable by those orders in a given auction. The maximizing objective considers all eligible orders in a given currency pair in that auction. All orders that execute (in part or in full) execute at a single price per currency pair per auction. A constraint for our optimization is that clearing prices must be within or at most 1% outside of the prevailing best bid or offer.

“Aggregate Price Improvement” refers to Price Improvement multiplied by the order quantity potentially filled for all orders across multiple Subscribers and across all pairs in each auction.

The Platform operates without “last look.” Orders that are eligible for participation in an auction are firm and binding upon execution and may not be rejected due to subsequent market movement or price evaluation.

Contact [email protected] for further information or to initiate connectivity discussions.

Order Types and Entry

All orders Pare sent via standard FIX (4.2) protocol. New orders receive an acknowledgement from the Platform via an execution report (as do orders that have been canceled and replaced).

The Platform accepts two standard order types — Limit Orders and Midpoint Peg Orders (with or without an offset). In the case of a Midpoint Peg Order, a peg price is computed using the independent midpoint benchmarkd-, as is described in the Matching Process Section. A limit price can also be included on pegged orders. The "effective price" for an order, is the less aggressive of {limit, mid}. Effective price is then used as the max (buy) or min (sell) fill price for the order, and for the auction's calculation of PI contribution for that order. All orders must include an amount and price specified using the standard currency within the currency pair. [Terms trading is not supported at this time.]

Orders may rest on the Platform using a Time-in-Force of Day, Good ’Til Date (“GTD”), or Good ’Til Cancelled (“GTC”). All orders remaining open at the end of a trading session are automatically cancelled by the Platform, regardless of Time-in-Force designation. A GTD order may specify an expiration time beyond the end of the trading session; however, such order will expire at the earlier of (i) its specified expiration time or (ii) the end of the trading session.

In the event of a partial fill for an order persisting on the Platform, the residual quantity will automatically be queued to participate in subsequent auction cycles until cancelled, fully filled, or expired in accordance with its Time-in-Force instruction.

Alternatively, orders may be designated to participate in a single auction using a Time-in-Force instruction of Immediate or Cancel (“IOC”) or Fill or Kill (“FOK”). In such cases, any unexecuted quantity will be cancelled back to the Subscriber at the conclusion of the relevant auction cycle.

Orders entered into the Platform are considered “firm” and must abide by OneChronos’s approved pricing increments, available on our website. Orders with limit prices more granular than allowed will be rejected. Orders submitted with fractional or non-integer quantities will also be rejected. While unexecuted orders or unexecuted portions of orders can be canceled outside of an auction optimization sequence, once an execution has occurred, the executed portion of the order cannot be canceled.

Further information relating to connectivity, order instructions and more related messaging instructions are available in the FIX specification.

Trade and Settlement Workflow

To preserve true all-to-all functionality and facilitate anonymity on both a pre and post trade basis, the Platform employs a central prime clearing model, using a single firm as the Central Prime Broker, as explained in Section 3 of this User Manual. A Subscriber must have an appropriate prime brokerage arrangement to settle trades on the Platform with either (i) the Central Prime Broker directly, or (ii) a Subscriber Prime Broker where the Subscriber Prime broker in turn has an arrangement directly with the Central Prime Broker.

Each session and/or where permitted order transmitted by a Subscriber to the Platform (including via indirect access by a Client) must contain the designation of the Prime Broker to which any resulting transaction will be given up or the Platform will reject the order. If a Subscriber has client relationships with multiple Subscriber Prime Brokers, the Subscriber will need to establish a dedicated session within the Platform for each relationship.

A transaction is executed when it is confirmed by the Platform through the issuance of an execution report. Upon execution, the transaction is final and binding on the counterparties, regardless of whether either counterparty, or any intermediary acting on its behalf, acknowledges receipt of the execution report. A Subscriber Prime Broker,may not except whether or not disputedOneChronos FX is not a counterparty to transactions executed on the Platform and does not assume responsibility for the performance or settlement of such transactions. to the Platform by the Platform The terms set forth on the execution report sent by the Platform shall constitute conclusive evidence of a transaction’s execution and the transfer of market risk. For transactions where a Subscriber utilizes a Subscriber Prime Broker, the Subscriber Prime Broker is deemed to accept give up of the transaction and its inter-positioning as the counterparty to the Subscriber on the transaction on the terms set forth on the execution report sent to the Subscriber and as the counterparty to the Central Prime Broker on the opposite transaction with the Central Prime Broker on the terms set forth on the relevant execution report for such transaction.

Each Subscriber utilizing the services of the Central Prime Broker acknowledges that the Central Prime Broker may impose Credit Limits on it and may adjust those Credit Limits from time to time and that it is responsible for staying informed of the Credit Limits imposed by the Central Prime Broker on it.

A Subscriber Prime Broker is responsible for establishing and maintaining credit limits (the “Submitted Credit Limits”) for each of its Subscriber clients and for monitoring its Subscriber clients and updating their Submitted Credit Limits as appropriate. A Subscriber Prime Broker must establish Submitted Credit Limits that in the aggregate do not exceed the Submitted Credit Limits imposed on it by the Central Prime Broker, and also account for the Subscriber Prime Broker’s potential level of trading on the Platform in its own name.

A Prime Broker must enter its Credit Limits and any changes to Credit Limits directly on the Platform in the manner instructed by OneChronos FX, which become effective only once properly transmitted and accepted by the Platform in accordance with OneChronos FX’s technical procedures. OneChronos FX shall and shall be entitled to rely upon Credit Limits (and other information) provided by a Prime Broker in the prescribed manner and shall not be responsible for any losses to a Subscriber or to any other person arising from such Prime Broker’s failure to establish, maintain, update or monitor a Subscriber’s Credit Limits. Orders sent to the Platform by a Subscriber Prime Broker’s Subscriber client that result in transactions are deemed binding obligations on the Subscriber Prime Broker as the give up party to the transactions.

Platform Operations

The OneChronos FX auction lifecycle consists of the following five steps, which occur in sequence and are repeated throughout Trading Hours. Note that at the current time, OneChronos FX maintains a single PoP.

1. Initialization Time: an Auction Cutoff Time is randomly chosen following the completion of the prior auction lifecycle, drawn at random within a range of 20 milliseconds to 120 milliseconds following completion from the previous auction;
2. Auction Network Buffer: a period of time elapses to allow sufficient time for orders and market data to arrive. The length of the Auction Network Buffer can vary based on expected transmission times, but would typically be on the order of tens of milliseconds or less;
3. Match Optimization Process: the Platform runs its trade matching process, which determines prices and volume allocations across all currency pairs and Subscribers;
4. Post Auction Network Buffer: Upon completion of the Match Optimization Process, the matching engine broadcasts auction results to the Platform’s Point of Presence (“PoP”). The PoP waits until a predetermined time (which always precedes the following auction’s Match Optimization period) to distribute trade give-ups, thereby providing synchronized dissemination of such data externally. As with the Auction Network Buffer, the length of the Post Auction Network Buffer can vary based on expected transmission times but is typically on the order of tens of milliseconds or less; and
5. Data Dissemination: At the conclusion of the Post Auction Network Buffer period, the PoP communicates auction results in the form of trade give-ups to external parties, including Subscribers (including Subscribers receiving fills as a Subscriber Prime Broker) and the Central Prime Broker.

The Platform allows Subscribers to cancel and replace existing orders during the Order Collection Window. Cancellation requests received and timestamped before the Auction Cutoff Time (i.e. during the Initialization Time described above) have immediate effect. Cancellation requests received after the Auction Cutoff Time but before the completion of the Match Optimization Process do not have effect until the following auction cycle (and therefore the order may still participate in the auction notwithstanding the cancellation request). If a cancel request for an existing order is received while participating in an auction, the Subscriber will receive a pending cancel notification in response. Any residuals not executed within that auction will be canceled back to the Subscriber once the auction is completed.

The Platform supports Time-in-force instructions of: Day, Immediate or Cancel, Fill or Kill, Good ‘Til Date (with an expire time not to exceed the end of the current trading session).

Access and Connectivity

Only Subscribers can access the Platform. A Subscriber must execute a Subscriber Agreement and, among other things, must represent and warrant that it has the necessary right, power and authority to execute and deliver the Subscriber Agreement and to perform its obligations thereunder.

OneChronos FX allows Subscribers to connect directly to the Platform via cross-connect or via extranet. The currently maintained PoP is located at Equinix NY5. Connectivity options include 1 gigabit or 10 gigabit single-mode optical fiber (SMF). Orders may only be submitted electronically. The Platform does not accept telephone orders.

For specific details relating to connectivity, please see our FIX specification. Please contact [email protected] for further information or to initiate connectivity discussions.

Market Quality and Risk Controls

Before each auction, the Platform carries out a series of pre-match market quality and risk checks. These consist of verifying that Subscriber configured risk checks pass, and flagging “off-market” orders (see following section) so as not to unduly influence the auction. For Subscriber controlled risk checks, the following parameters are configurable within bounds that have been established by OneChronos FX:

• total notional value maximums per order
• total quantity maximums per order
• total quantity minimums per order
• currency restrictions
• self-trade prevention (by MPID, order by order, Subscriber and/or FIX session)

The Platform may also enforce notional value constraints according to maximums put in place by our Central Prime Broker, and/or a Subscriber’s Prime Broker. As an additional risk control, orders with Subscriber-supplied prices 3% or more aggressive than the prevailing best bid or offer are not eligible for participation. Subscribers are able to configure this setting to be more restrictive than the Platform setting.

If a currency pair experiences an intraday price movement exceeding 3.5% between the opening and closing prices on a given trading day, OneChronos FX reserves the right to halt trading in that pair. Trading may resume at our sole discretion, based on our assessment of market conditions and risk factors.

Off-Market Policy

Off-Market orders are identified as orders whose limit prices are substantially away from what OneChronos FX considers to be the prevailing market at the time of auction cut-off. To identify these orders, a comparison is made between the Subscriber’s limit price and the prevailing market price as determined by OneChronos FX. Should the order’s limit price aggressively exceed a threshold, the order will be left open, but capped at an effective price within the Platform’s acceptable threshold price for the currency pair. This prevents the order’s pricing from disproportionately influencing execution price of the auction for the applicable currency pair.

To further reduce the possibility for Off-Market trades to occur, OneChronos FX will not allow an auction to occur if the clearing price of the auction would be calculated to be outside of the threshold OneChronos FX deems to be consistent with the prevailing market rate.

OneChronos FX reserves the right, in its discretion, to review any transaction executed on the Platform, including any transaction executed at a price within the Platform’s acceptable threshold price for the currency pair. Furthermore, OneChronos FX reserves the right, in its discretion, to decline to review any transaction executed on the Platform.

Technology, Security and Resiliency

OneChronos FX uses high precision time synchronization and timestamps orders on the network level as they are received. Timestamped data is transmitted to the Platform’s central matching engine. In an effort to promote fairness, the timestamp on each order rather than its arrival time at the matching engine is used to determine that order’s eligibility for an auction.

The matching engine is designed to scale even as order volume and order complexity grows.

There is no guarantee that the Services provided by OneChronos FX, including the Platform, will meet the Subscriber’s requirements, be error free, or operate without interruption or delay. Subscriber acknowledges that all or portions of the Services may be unavailable from time to time. Subscriber agrees to maintain arrangements with other market centers (such as other broker-dealer operated alternative trading systems) sufficient for Subscriber to conduct its business in the event the Services are unavailable.

Acceptable Use

Subscribers agree not, and not to allow third parties (including any Client or Authorized Person) to use the Platform or related services:

• to violate, or encourage the violation of, the legal rights of others;
• to engage in, promote, or encourage fraudulent, manipulative or other illegal activity;
• for any unlawful, invasive, infringing, defamatory, or fraudulent purpose;
• to interfere with the use of the Platform, or the equipment used to provide the Services, by customers, or other Authorized Persons; or
• to disable, interfere with, or circumvent any aspect of the Services.

Error Policy

The responsibility of order submission accuracy lies with the Subscriber. OneChronos FX will not cancel or modify any transaction executed on the Platform on the basis that the order was submitted by Subscriber (including indirectly by a Client of Subscriber) in error or was submitted with terms that were inaccurate.

In the event of a Platform level execution error as a result of, for example, a system failure or error in market data required for pegged orders, all relevant orders on OneChronos FX will either be canceled back to the Subscriber or entered into a suspended state. OneChronos FX will also stop trading in all or a subset of currency pairs affected.

In the case of a client disconnect, OneChronos FX supports the ability to configure port setting: cancel on disconnect.

OneChronos FX or the Central Prime Broker may suspend trading temporarily if certain risk or error conditions are detected including but not limited to those that would materially impact OneChronos FX’s ability to match trades (such as loss or material degradation of communication between the matching engine and the PoP).

In the event of real-time trading issues or trade correction requests, OneChronos FX can be reached via phone (+1 779-249-7911) or email ([email protected]).

Privacy Policy

When you visit websites operated by OneChronos, OCX Group, or any of their affiliates or subsidiaries (collectively, “OneChronos”), you consent to the collection, use, disclosure, and processing of your personal data as described in our Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. The current version is available here. Our Privacy Policy explains how OneChronos handles personal data in connection with the use of our websites and services, including the OneChronos FX trading platform, and is designed to comply with applicable data protection laws, including the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the UK GDPR, and other relevant international privacy regulations.

Categories of Data Collected.

We may collect and process various types of personal data, including but not limited to identity information (e.g., name, business affiliation), contact details (e.g., email address), technical and usage data (e.g., IP address, session logs), and information relating to trade execution and platform usage.

Purpose and Legal Basis for Processing.

We process your personal data where necessary for the performance of our contractual obligations to you (e.g., providing access to the Platform), for compliance with our legal obligations (e.g., regulatory reporting), and for our legitimate interests (e.g., security, fraud prevention, and service improvement). In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, such as for marketing or the use of certain cookies.

Data Sharing and Transfers.

Personal data may be shared with service providers, affiliates, and regulatory authorities, as needed. Where data is transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) or other jurisdictions with equivalent protections, we ensure adequate safeguards are in place in accordance with applicable laws, including the use of Standard Contractual Clauses where necessary.

Your Rights.

If you are located in the EU, UK, or other jurisdictions with similar legal frameworks, you may have rights in relation to your personal data, including the right to:

• Access your data
• Request correction or deletion
• Restrict or object to processing
• Data portability (where applicable)
• Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

You may exercise these rights by contacting us at [email protected].

Cookies and Tracking Technologies.

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies on our websites for essential operations, analytics, and user experience enhancement. Details regarding our use of such technologies, and how to manage your preferences, can be found in our Cookie Policy. Our Cookie Policy may be updated from time to time. The current version is available here.

For questions regarding our data privacy practices, you may contact us at [email protected].

Governing Law and Dispute Resolution.

For clarity, the governing law, jurisdiction, and dispute resolution terms applicable to a Subscriber’s use of the Platform are set forth in the Subscriber Agreement and incorporated herein by reference.