Lab: your first trade
15 min · 2 of 2
Eight steps from signing in to checking your own fill, with the smallest sizes the market allows. Every step tells you what you should see, so you can check your own work.
Before you start
Real money
Every balance on openibank.com is real. Use the smallest size the ticket allows — the point of this lab is the habit, not the trade. If trading is not open yet, read along; every step works the same on the day it opens.
- 1Look at the address bar. This venue is openibank.com, and only openibank.com. Bookmark it and arrive from the bookmark, never from a link in a message.
- 2Have a browser wallet ready (MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Rabby, Trust and others work).
- 3Have a small balance on the venue — the user manual shows how to deposit.
Step 1 · Sign in
- 1Press Connect, choose your wallet, and approve the connection.
- 2Press Sign in. Your wallet shows a short text naming this venue, your address and a one-time code.
- 3Read it. It must say it authorises no transfer, no trade and no spending. Then sign.
You should see
Your address in the header and your balances in the account panel. No password was created and no email was asked for — the wallet is the account.
Step 2 · Read the order book
- 1Red rows above the middle are asks — people selling.
- 2Green rows below are bids — people buying.
- 3The number between them is the spread.
- 4The Sum column accumulates size — how much you would have to take to move the price that far.
You should see
Two coloured stacks with a price between them, updating as orders arrive and leave.
Step 3 · A limit order that rests
- 1Choose Buy and the Limit type.
- 2Set a price clearly below the best ask, so it will not fill.
- 3Enter the smallest amount the ticket allows.
- 4Read the summary: order value and estimated fee.
- 5Submit.
You should see
A row under Open orders, and the order's value moved out of your available balance. It is reserved, not spent.
Step 4 · Cancel it
- 1Find the order under Open orders.
- 2Press Cancel.
You should see
The row disappears and the reserved amount is back in your available balance at once. Cancelling costs nothing.
Step 5 · Post only
- 1Place a limit buy AT or above the best ask, this time with Post only ticked.
- 2Submit.
You should see
A refusal: a post-only order may not cross the book. Post only guarantees you add to the book and pay the maker fee; when that is impossible it refuses rather than trading.
Step 6 · A small market order
- 1Choose Market and enter the smallest amount allowed.
- 2Submit.
You should see
The order fills at once. If you bought, the fee came out of the BTC you received; if you sold, out of the USDT you received.
Step 7 · Check the arithmetic
Compare your balances before and after. What you spent, what you received and the fee must add up exactly — no rounding in the venue's favour, no amount that appears from nowhere.
Step 8 · Verify it
Trust is cheaper when it is checkable. The audit page compares what the venue says it owes with what the chain says it holds, in your own browser.
What you should take away
- You can sign in without creating an account, and you know what a sign-in signature can and cannot do.
- You can read a book, place a limit order, cancel it, and see the reserve come back.
- You know what post only does and when a market order pays the taker fee.
- You can check the venue's arithmetic, and its solvency, yourself.