All trades are ‘post-trade settled’ or ‘second settled’, this means that when the desk agrees on trade and books it, it’s final, and only then would they enter into a settlement. It’s important to note that our OTC requires the first few trades to be pre-funded, after this a client can lock in a price and send funds later. This is different from how you would make a trade through an exchange, where you would have to deposit your dollars first before you are able to make trades with it to buy bitcoin. So there is a lot more counterparty risk involved for OTC desks which is why most of them require counterparties to sign an OTC agreement. These agreements are in place to ensure that legally both parties are bound to the terms of the deal they agreed upon.
