Concepts

Crypto-Powered Commodities Trading

Open Mandi combines two worlds: traditional commodities trading and modern cryptocurrency. Instead of wiring money through a bank, you use stablecoins to trade gold and silver futures. Here's how it all fits together.

What are Stablecoins?

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, which can swing wildly in price, stablecoins are pegged to real-world currencies — usually the US dollar.

Open Mandi accepts two stablecoins:

• USDT (Tether) — the most widely used stablecoin, where 1 USDT is designed to equal 1 US dollar
• USDC (USD Coin) — a fully-reserved stablecoin backed by US dollar assets, where 1 USDC is designed to equal 1 US dollar

Why Use Stablecoins for Trading?

Using stablecoins instead of traditional money offers several advantages:

• Speed — crypto transactions settle in minutes, not days. Traditional bank wires can take 1-3 business days.
• Accessibility — anyone with an internet connection can participate. No need for a bank account or brokerage relationship.
• Transparency — blockchain transactions are publicly verifiable. You can confirm that deposits and withdrawals actually happened.
• Lower barriers — traditional futures brokers often require large minimum deposits. Open Mandi lets you start with as little as $5.

How Your Funds are Managed

When you deposit USDT or USDC into Open Mandi, your balance is tracked on the platform. Your funds are used as collateral for trading futures and can be exchanged between USDT and USDC using the built-in stablecoin exchange.

Every transaction — deposits, withdrawals, trades, and fees — is recorded in a transparent ledger that you can review at any time.

Settlement and Finality

When a trade is matched on Open Mandi, settlement happens immediately. There's no waiting period. Your balances are updated in real time, and your positions reflect current market prices.

This is a major advantage over traditional markets, where settlements can take two business days (known as T+2 settlement).

The Two-Stablecoin System

An interesting feature of Open Mandi is that USDT and USDC trade against each other on an open market. Even though both are designed to be worth $1, the exchange rate between them on our platform is determined by supply and demand.

This means the rate might be slightly above or below 1:1 at any given time, depending on what traders are buying and selling. This teaches an important concept about how markets work: prices are determined by participants, not by decree.

Advantages Over Traditional Brokerages