Hello, Buffellows!
Buffer v2.5 is live on Mainnet & brings with it significant platform advancements. This article will give you an overview of all the new features, and how they change the game for Buffer traders.
Compared to our previous blog posts, this is a gargantuan-sized article - so to save you some screen time, let’s just get right into the exciting bits. 😉
1-Click Checkout for Up/Down Options
One-click trading (1CT) allows users to access the seamless experience of a CEX with self-custody, unlocking new potential for better scalability.
The new 1CT enables users to execute trades on Buffer by simply signing a single approval transaction. No more manual wallet confirmations.
It emulates the familiar trading experience of CEXs, where users can log in and start trading until the end of the trading session for the day.
But the performance and trading experience aren’t the only benefits –
1CT enables an array of features for Buffer, setting the foundation for some of the most requested product updates by popular demand.
This design allows us to offer instant trading since we can give a confirmation using the Pyth oracle’s price feed before the transaction is added to the blockchain.
How does it work & what makes Buffer’s 1 Click trading (CT) unique?
The functionality of 1CT works by:
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The user-generated 1 Click trading account by signing a hashed message from the trading account. Once the 1CT is activated, the front end gains permission to sign messages on behalf of the user without requiring Web3 Wallet approvals (this step does not incur any transaction cost/gas fees 😀).
Info:* The key is only for authorizing actions within Buffer and cannot approve any external actions from the dApp. The private key is never transmitted over the internet and is safely stored within your browser's local storage.*
- In addition to 1CT account creation, users generate a separate signature as verification of their registration initiation. These signatures are stored off-chain. When a user attempts to open a trade on Buffer, the on-chain registration process is triggered. At this stage, the dApp retrieves the off-chain stored signature associated with the user and mints a new option for the user (this step does not incur any transaction cost/gas fees either 😀 😀).
The mechanics explained above are what makes Buffer's 1CT so special.
Typical 1CT implementations mandate the transfer of assets from an EOA account to a linked smart contract wallet to trade.
We have abstracted this requirement cutting down the steps needed to open positions on Buffer - to offer 2x faster trading experience with fewer button clicks.
Zero Gas Everything
One random Monday evening, a Buffellows this seemingly random question -
“Although trades are completely gas-free, I still need to pay gas for registering my 1 click trading account and to approve the token spend amount post registration.
Can devs do something???
Devs can and devs did - no more gas or wallet approvals for registration or spend approvals, or anywhere - ‘truly‘ zero gas everything!
You don’t need to hold ETH for gas at any part of your journey - this has been made possible with the latest update to our gasless trading facility
All operations inside Buffer can be executed in the form of "gasless" transactions.
Here’s a high-level explanation of how it works on Buffer:
With the new update, once you place a trade, the keepers take over to pay for the transaction off-chain.
The keepers price the gas fee into the settlement fees and can even lower transaction costs by batching multiple orders to compete for the best price.
So you can trade freely without ever worrying about running out of $ETH or the constant approvals that could cost you valuable seconds when timing an entry.
100% real-time trading.
The facility allows gas payments for trades with any tokens in the trader’s wallet supported as the base counter-trading currency(currently $USDC, $ARB, and $BFR).
This all is made possible with the EIP 2612 permit that allows the trader to grant contract allowance through an off-chain "permit" message. This eliminates the need for a separate approve() transaction. Besides seamless UX, it also can help users reduce their approval footprint, and allow them to interact with dApps more safely.
Sound familiar? To some of you, it might. This was one of the key architectural choices announced for Uniswap X recently - only we at Buffer made the same decisions months ago!
Early Close
Although with binary options, the risk-reward of the trade is always known upfront, as markets move and the time to expiration changes, your trade risk-reward profile will also change.
With early close, you can choose to close a position early (a) to lock in profits, or (b) to limit losses when trading up/down options on Buffer.
As such the early close function would be a useful feature for traders who are always asking questions like - would I initiate this position with the current risk-reward profile?
How does it work?
A position can be closed early by clicking ‘early close’ on an open position in the ‘Trades’ tab directly below the trading dashboard (Fig.3).
Alternatively, you can also click on the ‘Close’ button on the ‘Trade’ activity dashboard (Fig.4)
Managing your positions and your risk is an integral part of any disciplined trading plan.
With the early close function, you can better manage your trades by locking in profits when it's favorable to do so or managing your risk and limiting losses when needed.
Limit Orders & Instant Trading
If you’ve sleuthed on crypto Twitter in the past month - you’d have noticed the shiny new term called ‘intents’ floating around on your TL.
Well, limit orders on Buffer are a stellar example of application-level intents. Let me explain.
But first, what use do limit orders serve for up/down options traders?
Well, tying in with the early close functionality, limit orders are an excellent way of allowing traders to execute greater control over their trade entries on Buffer Finance.
How are limit orders different from market orders?
In the context of Buffer, a market order tends to execute an up/down trade instantly at the current market price, whereas a limit order is used to do the same at a specific target price.
Limit orders are largely utilized by traders who want to execute their trades at a desired price range without constantly having to monitor market volatility.
It is also a way to hedge risk & ensure losses are minimized by capturing sale prices at specific levels.
How does it work?
This is the part where I geek out and bore you with intent trivia - don’t worry, I’ll keep it short.
Today, when a user signs a transaction, they authorize a function call which, depending on the state of the chain at the time of execution, can have radically different outcomes.
This is very counterintuitive to how most people expect transactions to work. Only if, I, as a user could indicate my goals, and then the transaction achieves said goal.
This is exactly what’s happening under the hood with limit orders and in fact also with 1 click trading (well it’s a lot more complex & sophisticated, than that - but enough with the technical jargon).
You indicate to the smart contract what price to execute the trade, if & once that condition is met - your up/down position is executed on Buffer.
You can also edit an open order’s trigger price, expiry duration, and trade time if the order hasn’t been fulfilled.
This can be done by navigating via the nifty trade history dashboard on the right or the main dashboard below the trading chart.
Private Trading
As a trader how do you maintain your competitive edge against copycat trading strategies? Lo & behold - private trading!
There are a lot of successful traders on Buffer - and they like to keep their strategies secret.
This new stealthy feature hides the direction of your trades from the public trading database. V2.5 hides the direction of trades by default to make copy-trading & strategy analysis impossible without permission.
Monetizing your position data will become available in a later update - generating additional revenue via copy-trading!
More Pairs and Faster Listing
We will be approving new assets based on community interest, risk analysis, and other factors. We have added new markets including forex and commodities along with the new pairs
Hey! Don’t fade the extras
We’ve added several smol yet powerful features to boost customizability on the dApp. They tie in nicely with our updated & advanced UI.
The ‘Wheel’ of Advanced Settings:
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Partial fill
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Modify slippage tolerance
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Customizable expiries for your limit orders
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Hide/show the trade size and/or favorite trade asset while sharing your trades on social media or if you want to see the share pop-up at all
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Choose the placement of your trading dashboard
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Choose the quadrant you want to see your platform notification appear
Revamped Trade Activity Dashboard
It’s no secret that the trading activity tracker on the old UI was painful - forcing you to leave the primary trade page to track your profile/platform trade data (*cringes in broken UX 🤕) - not anymore!
We have consolidated all the relevant trade data into one unified trading activity dashboard :
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Your market orders
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Your limit orders
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Your trade history
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Canceled trades
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Platform active trades
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Platform History
… which also, might I add, is collapsible - and adjustable in size (if you’ve used Slack before, you’ll get the point).
Conclusion & Thanks
There are a few more tweaks and new elements distributed across the UI, but for the sake of the reader - I am keeping the article limited to the core advancements.
On an ending note, we want to thank our community for all the crucial input and frank discussions. Thank you for all the overwhelming support but also the headwind, as we master challenges and push forward with our vision.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re a beautiful Optopi - much love! And for some reason if you still haven’t joined our socials, here are the quick links for that:
