Back to the terminal THIS DOCUMENT DESCRIBES THE DEMO STAGE

ACX Terminal — White Paper

What this is, how it actually works, and why it exists. Written in full, with no shortcuts.
Contents
  1. What ACX Terminal is
  2. The problem we are solving
  3. How trading actually works
  4. Platform fee
  5. Why this is trader-vs-trader, not trader-vs-platform
  6. Current status: demo, not real money
  7. Regulatory path
  8. Risks
  9. Next steps

1. What ACX Terminal is

ACX Terminal is a peer-to-peer price-prediction trading interface for crypto assets, built in the style of a classic MetaTrader 4 terminal. Traders open positions on whether an asset's price will go up ("BUY") or down ("SELL") over a fixed time window, and at the end of that window the outcome is settled directly between the traders who took opposite sides — never against the platform.

The version you are using right now is a demo environment. All balances are virtual. There are no real deposits and no real withdrawals. The purpose of this stage is explained in full in Section 6.

2. The problem we are solving

Most binary-options platforms on the market today (PocketOption, IQ Option, and similar) are built so that the platform itself is the counterparty to every trade. When a trader wins, the platform pays out of its own pocket; when a trader loses, the platform keeps the money. This creates a direct, structural conflict of interest: the platform's financial result is the exact opposite of its own customers' result. This is what people commonly call a "bucket shop" or "kitchen" — regardless of whether a specific platform manipulates prices outright, the relationship itself is already a conflict of interest.

ACX Terminal is built on a fundamentally different mechanic: the platform is never a party to any trade. It only matches opposing orders between real traders and takes a fixed, disclosed fee — regardless of who wins.

3. How trading actually works

Rounds

For every pair (for example, BTC/USDT) and every expiration window you select (3 minutes, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day), the system creates a round — a fixed time window aligned to clean clock boundaries. Every trader placing an order on the same pair and the same expiration at the same time is trading inside that same round's shared order book.

This is a real order book, not a shared pool

This is a direct copy of the mechanic Polymarket actually runs on — not an approximation, and not a pool that gets split after the round closes. Every order is a limit order: "I will pay up to X cents for one BUY share" (or SELL share). A trade between a BUY order and a SELL order only happens when their prices add up to at least $1, and it always executes at the exact pair of prices that sum to exactly $1. That dollar is real collateral contributed by two real opposing traders — the platform never puts money into it and is never a party to it.

The core invariant: a winning share is worth exactly $1, a losing share is worth exactly $0

This is the "precise system" that distinguishes Polymarket-style pricing from a simple pool split. No matter how many shares end up trading in a round, at settlement every filled share on the winning side redeems for exactly $1 (minus the disclosed 10% fee), and every filled share on the losing side redeems for exactly $0. Your profit on a share is the difference between $1 and the price you paid for it — not a proportional slice of a shared pool.

a trade executes when: BUY price + SELL price >= $1 execution price: the resting (older) order keeps its own quoted price, the new (incoming) order pays $1 minus that price for every filled share on the winning side: payout per share = $1 x (1 - 10%) = $0.90 for every filled share on the losing side: payout per share = $0

What the displayed price means

The number shown next to BUY and SELL (for example, 45¢ and 58¢) is the real, immediately tradable price right now — the best available price on the opposite side of the order book. If the book is completely empty, both sides default to 50¢, but that is not a trade price, because no trade can happen without a real counterparty on the other side.

If an order doesn't find a full counterparty

A limit order can fill partially if the opposite side of the book doesn't have enough volume at an acceptable price. The filled portion settles under the rules above; the unfilled remainder keeps resting in the order book, where it can still be matched by the next trader who arrives before the round closes.

Example

Trader A places a BUY order for 10 USDC first, into an empty round — the book is empty, so the order simply rests. Trader B then places a SELL order for 10 USDC. The system finds A's resting order: 50¢ and 50¢ sum to exactly $1, so the trade executes — both traders receive 20 shares at $0.50 each. If BUY ultimately wins, A receives 20 x $0.90 = $18, and B loses the full stake. The platform earns or loses nothing beyond its disclosed fee on this trade, regardless of the outcome.

What happens if your order never finds a counterparty

If your order — or part of it — never finds a real counterparty before the round closes, no real trade ever happened for that portion, and it is refunded to you in full, with no fee, regardless of which way the asset's price moved. The platform never automatically becomes your counterparty and never keeps an unmatched stake — this is exactly what separates this model from a "kitchen".

4. Platform fee

The fee is fixed at 10%, applied only to shares that actually win a real, matched trade. It is written directly into the backend source code as an open, visible constant, and cannot be changed through any administrative panel — changing it requires editing the code and redeploying the platform, which by itself leaves a record in the code's change history rather than happening silently while the system is running.

5. Why this is trader-vs-trader, not trader-vs-platform

This is the central principle the entire architecture is built around:

6. Current status: demo, not real money

At this stage, the platform operates exclusively with a virtual balance. Connecting a wallet through MetaMask is used only as a trader identifier — no transaction involving real funds is ever sent or requested. There are no real deposits and no real withdrawals. The purpose of this stage is to let real traders see, risk-free, how an honest, transparent peer-to-peer mechanic actually works, before the platform moves to real assets.

7. Regulatory path

Platforms organizing crypto-asset transactions in the Republic of Armenia are regulated under the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On Crypto-Assets" (HO-159-N), adopted on May 29, 2025. The Central Bank of Armenia has published a package of secondary regulations that took effect on January 31, 2026, covering licensing procedures, minimum capital requirements, and related processes. Existing market participants have a transition period to obtain a license — until January 31, 2027.

One open legal question that requires a qualified lawyer's opinion before any move to real money: whether a fixed-expiration price-prediction mechanic is a crypto-asset under this law, or a derivative financial instrument regulated under separate securities legislation. The two regimes involve different licensing procedures. Licensing in Georgia is also being considered, as an alternative or additional jurisdiction.

This section reflects publicly available information about the legislation at the time of writing and is not legal advice. The final decision on the applicable regulatory regime will be made after consulting a qualified lawyer specializing in Armenian law.

8. Risks

There is no financial risk in the demo environment — all balances are virtual. If and when the platform moves to a version with real assets, the usual risks of any price-prediction market will apply: the risk of losing a stake in full, crypto-asset volatility, smart-contract or infrastructure risk, and the risk of regulatory changes. This document is not financial advice and should not be read as a recommendation to trade.

9. Next steps

  1. Demo stage: open testing of the mechanic by real users, with no financial risk.
  2. Collecting feedback and an independent assessment of the mechanic's fairness from traders themselves.
  3. A legal opinion on the applicable regulatory regime (crypto-asset vs. derivative instrument).
  4. Obtaining a license in the chosen jurisdiction.
  5. Moving to real assets only after licensing is complete — not before.