Glossary

Assessment cap — the most a member can be charged in one default event, set at twice its default fund contribution. See Default waterfall.

Clearing — everything that happens between a matched trade and final settlement.

Clearing member — an address with posted collateral and a position limit. Members are onboarded once and trade across every venue.

Collateral — assets posted to secure obligations, sized against position limits. Counted after a haircut.

Concentration cap — the maximum share of a member's limit that may sit in one asset, 25%.

Counterparty — after novation, always Spire Protocol.

Cure period — the 600 seconds a member has to resolve a margin call before default is declared.

Default fund — mutualised capital that absorbs losses after a defaulter's own margin.

Default waterfall — the fixed order in which capital is consumed after a default.

Finalisation — the 30 second phase at the end of a window during which no fills are accepted and nets are computed.

Finality — the point after which a settled obligation cannot be reversed.

Fill — a venue's signed statement that two participants agreed on a price. The input to novation.

Free collateral — collateral value after haircuts, less initial margin and the default fund contribution. Negative free is a margin call.

Gross — the sum of absolute sizes before netting. The number that would have to move under prefunding.

Haircut — the discount applied to posted collateral before it counts toward a limit.

Initial margin — collateral held against a novated position, set by asset tier.

Margin call — the state a member enters when free goes negative. New notional is refused until it is cured.

Net — what actually moves at the close of a window, after offsetting obligations collapse.

Netting — collapsing offsetting obligations so that only the difference settles.

Novation — discharging a bilateral trade and replacing it with two obligations facing the clearing layer.

Obligation — one side of a novated trade. One fill produces two, and they are independent.

Position limit — the maximum exposure a member may hold, derived from its collateral.

Prefunding — holding the whole asset before trading it. What clearing exists to remove.

Settlement window — the interval inside which obligations accumulate and net, 300 seconds.

Solvency proof — evidence that posted collateral covers outstanding obligations, without revealing individual positions.

Tier — an asset's risk classification, 1 to 3, which sets its margin rate.

Utilisation — the share of a member's limit currently in use, in basis points.

Variation margin — the mark to market applied at every window close.

Venue — a place where trades are matched. Sends fills, never holds counterparty risk after novation.