# Orderbooks ### What Is an Orderbook? An orderbook is the live list of all buy orders (bids) and sell orders (asks) for a specific trading pair.\ It’s the engine that powers almost every crypto trade, showing you: * Who wants to buy * Who wants to sell * At what price * And how much they want to trade Every time you buy or sell an asset, you’re interacting with this orderbook either adding liquidity to it or taking liquidity from it. ### Bids vs Asks The orderbook has two sides: #### **Bids** Orders from traders who want to buy.\ They list: * Price a buyer is willing to pay * Size they want to buy #### **Asks** Orders from traders who want to sell.\ They list: * Price a seller wants * Size they want to sell The space between the highest bid and lowest ask is the spread. A tight spread = better trading conditions.\ A wide spread = more slippage and worse prices. ### Why Orderbooks Matter Understanding orderbooks helps you: * Avoid slippage * Enter positions more efficiently * Detect support/resistance clusters * Identify liquidity gaps * Know when to use limit or market orders ### Depth and Liquidation Visibility Orderbook depth indicates how much size exists at different price levels.\ Deep books = stable markets.\ Shallow books = volatile markets. On Supercexy, the orderbook is powered by Hyperliquid’s L1 engine, giving you: * Ultra-fast updates * Deep liquidity * Precise fills * Lower price impact The orderbook is the heartbeat of crypto trading; understanding it gives you a major edge. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://supercexy.gitbook.io/supercexy-docs/knowledge-base/orderbooks.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.