Block Trade

A block trade is a single, privately arranged purchase or sale of a large quantity of a cryptocurrency or crypto derivative that is negotiated away from an exchange's public order book and then reported once the deal is settled. Because the price and size are agreed beforehand between the two parties, neither side has to "walk the book," absorbing progressively worse prices as a large order eats through the visible bids or asks.

Exchanges and derivatives venues typically set a minimum notional size to qualify. Deribit, for example, requires at least 25 BTC or 250 ETH (or an equivalent combination of options and futures legs) before a trade can be arranged through its block or Request-for-Quote system, and even then the trade is only publicly visible in the trade history after execution, tagged with a distinct block-trade identifier. Spot-focused venues and dedicated Over-the-Counter (OTC) desks, such as those run by major exchanges or principal trading firms, apply their own thresholds, often starting around $100,000 and scaling into the tens of millions.

Block trades matter because crypto order books, even on the largest venues, are thin relative to the size some funds, miners, or treasuries need to move. Executing that volume openly could trigger sharp slippage or invite front-running. By routing the trade privately and letting a counterparty warehouse the position, both sides get price certainty and the wider market avoids a sudden, disorienting swing in visible liquidity. The main tradeoff is reduced transparency: outside observers only learn about the transaction after it has already happened.