Create your first combo
A combo is one long leg and one short leg. This guide goes from the form to resuming opening, and shows how to confirm the combo is trading.
Before you start
The exchange accounts for both legs are added on the Accounts page and show Connected. See Connect an exchange. A combo can’t be created without an available account.
Fill in the combo
Open Combos and choose New combo. Fill in the long leg first, then the short leg.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Exchange / market | Where this leg trades: the exchange, and a spot, margin or futures market. |
| Coin / quote | Enter only the base asset, for example BTC, then pick the quote or settlement currency. |
| Trade account | Which account places this leg’s orders. If you select several accounts, one combo is created for each long and short account pairing. |
| Order type | Market, Post-only, or Post-only, catch up at market. |
| Leverage | A whole number of at least 1. It is written to the exchange when you save. Combos on the same trading pair in the same account share one leverage setting and change together. Only contract legs have it; spot and margin legs don’t. |
| Order price | For a leg that posts orders: Join best or Improve by 1 tick. |
| Target position | The hedged position the combo opens up to, in USD. |
| Minimum order size, Maximum order size | The size range of each order, in USD. The minimum can’t exceed the maximum. |
| Open trigger, Close trigger | The combo opens in batches while the spread is at or above the open trigger. With a position open, it closes in batches while the spread is at or below the close trigger. The open trigger must be greater than the close trigger. |
| pause-opening line, alert line, liquidation guard line, exit buffer | How close to liquidation the combo pauses opening, turns reduce-only and reduces at market. The first three must decrease in that order. |
Example: Open trigger 0.3%, Close trigger 0.05%, Target position 10,000 USD, Minimum order size 500, Maximum order size 2,000. Once the spread reaches 0.3% or more, the combo opens in orders of 500–2,000 USD until it holds 10,000 USD. When the spread later falls to 0.05% or lower, it closes in batches.
The form gives a rough estimate of the funds each leg ties up, from the values you enter: about the target position ÷ leverage for a contract leg, the full amount for a spot leg, and no figure for a margin leg. An alert left empty is off. You can save a set of values as a preset and apply it next time. Parameters and Risk controls explain every field.
When the form is complete, choose Create combo. Check Also create the reverse combo to create a second combo with the two legs swapped.
After saving
The new combo appears in the first row with the status Reduce-only. It doesn’t open a position.
Leverage is sent to the exchange on save. If the exchange doesn’t accept the leverage for a leg, Leverage synchronization results shows the outcome for each leg.
Resume opening
After you choose Resume opening, the combo places real orders from its parameters. When the spread reaches the open trigger, it opens a position with the funds in your accounts.
Check the legs, sizes and triggers once more.
In the combo’s actions, choose Resume opening.
To pause opening later, choose Reduce-only. To stop the combo, choose Stop. See Stop and run.
Confirm it is trading
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Monitoring | Running and waiting for an open or close condition |
| Opening, Closing | Placing orders |
| Holding | A position is open |
| At target | The target position is reached |
| Reduce-only | No opening; closing and reducing continue |
| Stopped | Not trading |
While the combo is placing orders, blocked, failing or waiting, the Message column says what it is doing or waiting for, for example Waiting to fill while an order rests on the book. In steady states such as watching or holding, the column is blank. If no order goes out, see Why isn’t my combo placing orders.
Create from a Z Market Lab opportunity
After you pair, choose Send to ZML Trade on an opportunity. It arrives in Signals in Trade. In Inbox, choose Review and create a combo, check the accounts, legs, sizes, order, risk and alert parameters, then choose Confirm and create a reduce-only combo.
You can also set Receiving rules to create combos automatically from Combo templates. These combos start in reduce-only too. If you turn on Auto-open after creation, new combos start and place orders by themselves. When the source already has its maximum number of running combos, a new combo is still created in reduce-only and doesn’t start. Automatic creation also has an hourly limit. Signals over it are created later, and any that expire first aren’t created.