Abstract: In the midst of the market's intense fluctuations, for securities firms, stability of the trading system is more important than simply low costs.

At the beginning of this month, under the influence of factors such as the U.S. non-farm and unemployment rate data, and the risk of war, the stock markets in Japan and South Korea successively triggered circuit breakers, and several U.S. stock brokers also rarely issued announcements, stating "due to abnormal upstream systems during the U.S. stock night session, trading is temporarily suspended during the night session."

Closing the trading window during extreme market volatility moments forces ordinary investors to helplessly watch their assets shrink significantly. The culprit behind all of this is the U.S. stock night trading system service provider Blue Ocean, which serves multiple leading securities firms.

It is worth noting that among the affected Hong Kong and U.S. stock brokers, several have announced the provision of cryptocurrency trading services. Essentially, their cryptocurrency trading and U.S. stock trading have certain structural connections. What is the process of their cryptocurrency trading, and can it avoid moments like the "pulling the plug" in U.S. stock trading?

Blue Ocean: The upstream role in the trading process

To clarify the true reasons for several U.S. stock brokers "pulling the plug," we need to first understand Blue Ocean and its relationship with the brokers.

As a system service provider specializing in U.S. stock night trading, Blue Ocean has established partnerships with multiple brokers, dedicated to providing investors with services for trading U.S. National Market System (NMS) stocks during non-traditional trading hours (such as Asian market operating hours) through its Automated Trading System (ATS).

Specifically, Blue Ocean is mainly responsible for providing overnight stock and ETF trading, allowing clients of various brokers to trade from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Beijing time, striving to provide all-weather U.S. stock trading services. In short, Blue Ocean plays an upstream role in the U.S. stock trading process, focusing on specific periods (mainly non-traditional trading hours outside of traditional exchanges).

Last week, due to increased trading activity, Blue Ocean briefly closed for over two hours, canceling a small portion of trades, which in turn affected multiple downstream U.S. stock brokers, forcing them to issue announcements of the suspension of trading during the night session, causing significant losses to numerous investors.

Several U.S. stock brokers themselves were also affected—when choosing upstream trading service providers, they should not only focus on trading costs but also emphasize their technical capabilities and ability to respond to sudden risks.

In the rapidly changing financial markets, every minute of trading opportunity is crucial, especially during periods of intense market volatility. Brief trading interruptions can lead to investors' strategies not being implemented in a timely manner, thereby affecting investment returns.

Licensed exchanges: The core infrastructure behind cryptocurrency trading

Among these affected Hong Kong and U.S. stock brokers, several have recently announced the formal provision of cryptocurrency trading services to investors, and their cryptocurrency trading process has certain connections with U.S. stock trading in terms of trading structure:

According to regulatory requirements, only licensed exchanges can provide cryptocurrency trading services to Hong Kong investors. Currently, there are only two licensed digital asset trading platforms officially approved by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, one of which is OSL, whose parent company is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

This means that the aforementioned brokers providing cryptocurrency trading services are actually cooperating with licensed exchanges such as OSL, allowing clients to trade listed cryptocurrencies through comprehensive accounts.

It is understood that the specific trading process usually involves brokers opening an Omnibus Account with licensed exchanges such as OSL, and then conducting virtual asset trading for their clients based on each client's trading instructions at the licensed exchange. The traded currencies are also virtual assets or cryptocurrencies approved by the Securities and Futures Commission, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

In short, licensed exchanges such as OSL in the cryptocurrency trading process are akin to Blue Ocean in the U.S. stock trading process, both playing an upstream role compared to brokers:

• Brokers are closer to retail investors, especially traditional investors, who can access one-stop trading services for stocks, bonds, futures, options, funds, and virtual assets through a familiar broker app, providing great convenience.
• However, backend cryptocurrency custody, trading matching, and settlement are handled by licensed compliant entities such as OSL, ensuring the security of investors' cryptocurrency assets through strict security measures and professional technical teams.

This division of labor not only leverages the advantages of brokers in customer service and market promotion but also relies on licensed institutions for compliance, technical expertise, and risk control, jointly building a relatively complete and secure cryptocurrency trading ecosystem.

However, it also means that the smooth operation of the entire trading process depends on the close cooperation and efficient communication between brokers and licensed institutions. Any problems or delays on either side could potentially affect investors' trading experience and asset security.

Compared to U.S. stocks, cryptocurrencies themselves are traded 24/7, and the frequency and amplitude of market fluctuations and extreme market conditions are much higher than in the U.S. stock market—many friends have likely experienced lagging or even "pulling the plug" during rapid price increases or decreases, with almost no chance to react, only helplessly watching their positions suffer significant losses due to missed opportunities for position adjustments.

Therefore, ensuring smooth cryptocurrency trading under the premise of asset security is crucial. In this trading structure, how can licensed exchanges such as OSL avoid situations similar to "pulling the plug" in U.S. stock trading when extreme market fluctuations occur?

Investment, an important measure of good products

From a business perspective, investment and cost are also important measures of a product.

It is important to note that a good trading system undoubtedly requires a significant investment of time, money, manpower, and other resources, which is an objective law that cannot be bypassed by anyone. Attracting users with low prices and small profits in the short term will inevitably be difficult to sustain in the long run.

After all, for cryptocurrency trading, it involves a massive system: not only in trading technology research and development and trading system maintenance but also in the construction of the entire compliance framework, including license applications and operations, asset custody, fund security, and accounting audits, all of which require continuous investment and timely handling of potential faults and vulnerabilities to ensure the uninterrupted stable operation of the system.

Take OSL as an example. In addition to investing a substantial amount of funds in developing advanced trading technology to ensure rapid and accurate processing of every transaction in a high-concurrency trading environment, according to internal sources, its investment in compliance and security architecture is even more significant, most of which is dedicated to investor protection, including private key management and cold wallet maintenance. As a licensed exchange, OSL also needs to purchase third-party insurance for client custody assets.

In terms of token listing reviews, OSL also conducts due diligence on project teams, liquidity, technical security, and regulatory status to prevent the emergence of scams like Plus Token. In addition to the requirements of the Securities and Futures Commission, the OSL exchange's parent company is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is audited by one of the Big Four accounting firms.

Each of these aspects involves significant investment and cost, and this comprehensive security and compliance, as well as professionalism, are more important long-term competitive advantages than price.

From this perspective, low prices and loose rules have never been shortcuts. Even though this strategy may attract a certain number of users in the short term, insufficient investment in system construction, security guarantees, and compliance operations often leads to more losses than gains in the long run, easily resulting in serious problems such as system failures and data leaks.

In the 24/7 cryptocurrency trading market, every minute of trading opportunity is crucial. Each "pulling the plug" moment of system breakdown not only causes losses to investors but also weakens the market's trust and enthusiasm for cryptocurrency trading, and may even lead the industry into a crisis of trust, making it difficult to sustain development.

Conclusion

Security and system stability are the lifelines of cryptocurrency trading.

Especially for 24/7 continuous trading and the increasingly expanding demand for cryptocurrency trading, behind every "pulling the plug" failure, there may be a group of users who stop cryptocurrency trading. Therefore, for brokers providing cryptocurrency trading, users will undoubtedly pay special attention to whether the exchange can provide sufficient stability and security in the face of the possibility of intense market fluctuations.

The demand for compliance security and trading stability is rigid, and regardless of whether the market is ready, this turning point will eventually arrive as scheduled.

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