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Baseline Cryptocurrency Index
Baseline Cryptocurrency Index

APEX:E3 Labs

APEXE3HQ avatar
Written by APEXE3HQ
Updated over a week ago

The following description describes a baseline index offering that can be built in accordance to the timeline specified in the agreement schedules.


Any significant changes to the baseline may result in extending the timeline and resource requirement.

Consider a client wanting to build an index of stablecoins, blockchain protocol coins, and lending protocol tokens.

A set of coins and tokens that fit this criteria consist of:

USDC, BTC, ETH, AAVE, MAKER, ADA, TRX, COMPOUND, DAI, USDT

The client also wants to ensure that the list of tokens are then filtered by certain conditions. For example the client wants to make sure that The set consists of coins and tokens with over a $3 billion dollar market capitalization.

This means the set above now becomes:

USDC, BTC, ETH, AAVE, ADA, TRX, USDT

Finally the client wants to make sure that the 24hr traded volume for each coin and token in the set is greater than $3 billion.

So finally the set becomes:

BTC,ETH,ADA,TRX,USDT

Filtering is applied in the pre and post calculation of the index Constituent and the Index itself.

  • Index Eligibility Criteria

Inputted by user to determine which constituents should be added to index

  • Index Constituent Calculation: Receives input from the ‘Eligibility Criteria’ and combines it with data from the APEX system. Then assigns a ‘1’ or ‘0’ value to each potential constituent depending on whether they meet the ‘Eligibility Criteria’, effectively filtering out those that are unwanted in the ensuing weighting.

  • Index Constituent Weighting: Receives input from the ‘Constituent Calculation’, effectively filtering out those with a ‘0’ value by multiplying their weightings by 0. This constituent weighting could then be made bespoke to the customer.

For example, a customer wants a weighting based on ‘market cap’. The weighting for constituent x would be:

βx = 1 * M

Where:

βx is the weighting of the constituent

1 is the value assigned to the constituent in the ‘Constituent Calculation’

M is the market cap of that constituent

  • Index Score Calculation: This is the output of the index. It will be one number. It is calculated by:

Y = β1x1 + β2x2 + β3x3 + …

Where:

Y is the Final Index Price

βn is constituent weighting for x

xn is the constituent

This hypothetical portfolio of cryptocurrencies represents the market as a whole. However, indices can be created for subsections of the market (e.g. emerging markets index, security coins index, Ethereum-based index, Exchange coin index).

This index can act as a potential basis for a myriad of instruments/securities including an index ETF and tradable mutual funds.

This particular index Helps reduce volatility, generated by individual risky cryptocurrencies, by balancing them with others. It leverages the strength of the APEX Infrastructure advanced analytics, research and market knowledge to effectively and efficiently track markets associated with constituent cryptocurrencies

.

Baseline Customisable Eligibility Criteria & Rebalancing Period

An eligibility criteria can be used to determine index constituents. This criteria is applied each time the Index re-balances.

The eligibility criteria can vary over time so it needs to be customisable.

A baseline eligibility criteria requires an index constituent to have :

  • An average market cap over the last 30 days (e.g. > $1Bn)

  • A daily trading turnover over last 30 days (e.g. > $5m)

  • Liquidity

  • Trading pairs (e.g. must be tradable with USD)

  • Number of pricing sources that meet due diligence standards (e.g. must be available to trade on trusted exchanges)

  • Must be free-floating (not tied to any other asset)

  • Must have met above conditions for three rebalancing periods

    1. Rebalancing periods include altering the weighting of certain components so that they do not violate the floor or cap rules (i.e. do not constitute <1% or >30% of index)

  • Respectable firm/team

List of baseline criteria for eligibility

Market Cap -(Numerical)

Turnover (spot/deriv) -(Numerical)

Liquidity -(Categorical, Bucketed)

Number of Trading Pairs -(Numerical)

Number of Pricing Sources -(Numerical)

Developer Commits(?) -(Numerical)

Currency/Stablecoin/Smart Contract Platform -(Categorical)

Volatility -(Numerical)

Own blockchain -(Boolean)

Minimising the impact of potential price manipulation on the index

Cryptocurrency price manipulation has been reported by independent sources so it is known to exist. The eligibility criteria can take qualitative factors into account to minimise the impact of potential price manipulation. The criteria may decide to only include Digital Assets that have been:

  • vetted by 3rd party auditors.

  • Listed on 3 or more crypto exchanges that have FIAT banking licenses

    • If an exchange has a FIAT banking license, it implies that it is subject to regulatory scrutiny

  • Aggregate the Digital Asset markets price across exchanges that have banking licenses

If the index price calculation utilises orderbook analytics, it can use the APEX Digital Asset spoof orders detector as a potential discounting factor.

Baseline Index Price Calculation Methodology

  • Select a number of constituents required for the index, this number should then remain constant.

  • Decide weighting of each constituent

    • This can be done by using free-float market capitalization based on circulating supply.

    • Weight caps and floors are also applied so as not to overweight or underweight.

    • If constituent exceeds cap, weight is reduced and excess weight redistributed to across all other constituents in proportion to their weight.

    • If the constituent is below floor, it will be rounded up with the increase removed from the balance of the constituents below the cap proportional to their weights.

  • Weights are calculated at each rebalancing.

  • The volume of a currency that is in actual circulation, could be used rather than just being hodl-ed, as a way of differentiating ourselves? For example, if 15% of a cryptocurrency is being ‘moved around’ [definition pending] then a ‘float factor’ of 0.15 is applied to the market capitalisation before weighting is applied. Note: ‘float-adjusted weighting’)

  • Decide on an initial index value (e.g. $10,000,000)

    • Calculated as

    • IV (0)= Initial value of index on trading day t=0

    • X (i,0)= Number of units of component i in index after cap and floor rules applied

    • P (i,0) = Price of component i in the index on trading day t=0

    • n = Number of components in the index

  • The index price is then calculated:

where

  • IP(s)= Current index price at time s

  • D(t)= Index Divisor

  • The index divisor (D(t) above) is a number used to set the index price at a base level (e.g. 2,000). If the market cap changes significantly because of an event such as a hard fork, deletion or alteration of a constituent, then a new index divisor will be calculated so that the index price remains constant.

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