Joan’s Index

I write a bi-weekly newsletter, featuring essays on tech, humans and economics.

Founder / Writer

MODA DAO

Advisor

Flare

Director Of Communications

Fishburners

Head Of Marketing

Joan Westenberg is a seasoned writer focused on tech and economics. She was honoured as one of the top 100 innovators by the Australian. Joan has written for Wired, The Australian Financial Review, the SF Chronicle, The Saturday Paper, Chainsaw, Yahoo,  TIME, Inc, the ABC, Crikey and others. Beyond her writing, Joan is an advisor to Culture Vault and MODA DAO, fusing her technological expertise with her passion for cultural innovation. Joan has spoken at SXSW, NFTfest, Microsoft Ignite, Web Summit etc.

Joan Westenberg

CEO at Margin Syndicate

I specialise in systematic derivatives execution across three primary strategy categories: flow-governed systematic futures, complex options strategies and cross-exchange arbitrage solutions. 

With 5+ years developing proprietary flow monitoring systems, I identify liquidity vacuums, market maker footprints and execution inflection points to deliver institutional-grade performance. 

My live trading platform has achieved 265% cumulative returns (401.7% CAGR) with exceptional risk metrics: Sharpe 6.73, Sortino 8.79 and maximum drawdown limited to -16.6%. 

I build fully autonomous trading engines that capture flow-driven junctures whilst maintaining -0.21 correlation to Bitcoin — precision execution built for real-world volatility.

Steven Paterson

OKX vs BYBIT INFRASTRUCTURE COMPARISON

After analysing performance data from the October 10-11 volatility events and comparing matching engine reliability across venues, here's what the data shows:

**API INFRASTRUCTURE:**

Both OKX and Bybit excel here:

- WebSocket stability: Excellent on both platforms
- REST API latency: 15-50ms range
- Rate limits: Generous for institutional accounts
- Documentation: OKX slightly ahead

**DERIVATIVES PRODUCT DEPTH:**

OKX advantages:
- Superior options market 
(more strikes, better    Greeks)
- Advanced order types 
(TWAPs, conditional triggers)
- Portfolio margin flexibility

Bybit advantages:
- Slightly deeper perpetual liquidity on major pairs
- Simpler API for pure perp/futures strategies
- Strong institutional co-location options

**THE VERDICT:**

For systematic derivatives trading requiring reliability during volatility:

**OKX ≥ Bybit >> Binance**

The gap between OKX and Bybit is minimal (~5% edge to OKX for complex strategies). Both are institutional-grade infrastructure.

The gap between OKX/Bybit and Binance is substantial—as demonstrated by Binance's infrastructure failures during critical volatility periods.

**PROFESSIONAL APPROACH:**

Don't go all-in on one exchange. Optimal allocation for systematic traders:

• 50-60% OKX (primary venue—earned through Oct 10-11 performance)
• 20-30% Bybit (redundancy + high-liquidity perps)
• 10-15% Hyperliquid (on-chain derivatives)
• 5-10% Deribit (BTC/ETH options vol market)

Multi-venue infrastructure ensures you're never captive to a single exchange's reliability.

**KEY TAKEAWAY:**

Infrastructure accountability matters more than VIP perks or fee structures. When systems fail during volatility, no amount of fee discounts compensates for execution failure.

Choose venues that have proven reliability when it matters most.

---

**Thoughts on exchange infrastructure quality? Which venues have you found most reliable for systematic trading?**

Quantitative Derivatives Trader | Systematic Flow Execution | Options & Futures Alpha

The Crypto Leverage Era Ended on October 10th - Most Traders Still Haven't Noticed

Yesterday's volatility generated $1.03 billion in liquidations across 189,151 traders ($725M longs, $307M shorts).

That sounds catastrophic. Until you add context.

We've witnessed $1.2 trillion in total crypto market cap erasure since October 6th - a 28% drawdown. Yesterday's liquidations represent just 0.086% of that loss.

In 2021-2022, identical volatility would have generated $3-5B+ in daily liquidations. We're seeing 70-80% less forced selling despite comparable price action.

Something fundamental changed. And it happened on a specific date.

October 10th, 2025: The Day Trust Died

During that liquidation cascade, Binance's infrastructure catastrophically failed. API systems rejected orders. Latency spiked to unusable levels. Systematic strategies couldn't execute.
But here's what kept working perfectly: the liquidation engine.

Traders watched helplessly as their positions were liquidated while their risk management orders were rejected by failing infrastructure. The system protected the exchange, not the users.

The message was clear: you're playing a rigged game.

The Rational Response: Reduce Leverage to Zero

Why risk 20x leverage when the infrastructure fails at the exact moment you need it? Why trust any exchange after watching Binance - the largest by volume - prioritise liquidations over order execution?

The market didn't just learn a lesson. It fundamentally restructured.

The Evidence:

Recent selling was driven entirely by spot CVD (cumulative volume delta), not perpetual cascades:
Funding rates: neutral at 0.01% throughout the entire move
Largest single liquidation: $96.51M (historically modest)
12H liquidations: $341.88M (2021 would see this in minutes, not hours)
Open interest: declining during the dump (positions closing, not cascading)
Spot ETF flows now dominate price discovery. The leverage era is over.

Why This Matters:

Everyone's waiting for traditional capitulation signals - the explosive liquidation cascades that created V-shaped recoveries in 2021. They won't come.
Market structure has permanently shifted:
Recovery will be spot-driven: slower, grindier, less dramatic
Traditional technical analysis based on leverage dynamics no longer applies
Systematic strategies outperform in orderly volatility
Discretionary traders are waiting for signals from a market that no longer exists

The Brutal Irony:
Exchanges like Binance, Bitget and MEXC destroyed the very leverage activity that generated their highest fees. Infrastructure failures didn't just hurt traders - they fundamentally altered market structure.
The market evolved through infrastructure failure.
For systematic traders: this is ideal. Volatility without chaos, opportunity without liquidation cascades.
For exchanges: you killed the golden goose.
For everyone else: stop waiting for 2021. That market is gone.
The data doesn't lie. The question is whether your strategy has adapted.

taplio

The Battle

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Steven Paterson

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Steven Paterson's LinkedIn Performance

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