Smart Routing
Smart Routing: split crypto orders across accounts
Updated Ninja Terminal team
Short answer
Smart routing in Ninja Terminal chooses which of your connected accounts should take an order, or splits it across several. It ranks accounts by health first, lowest margin use, then most free collateral. Each account receives only what its safety checks allow, and the preview lists every venue that was skipped and why.
If you run several accounts, the same question comes up on every trade: which account should take this one? Smart routing answers it with live account data instead of habit. It applies to Quick Entry and to the quick trade buttons in the news feed, and it is the default way the order form routes.
How does smart routing choose accounts?
Routing runs in four steps.
- Find candidate markets. Ninja Terminal looks for the symbol on each exchange you have connected, as a perpetual and as a spot market.
- Find eligible accounts. An account is eligible when it is enabled, unlocked, and connected for that product.
- Measure safe capacity. Each eligible account gets a safe notional size, based on its free margin and the reserves described below.
- Rank and fill. Accounts are ranked, then filled in order until the requested amount is covered.
Ranking is by account health, not by raw buying power. Ranking by leverage would push orders into the thinnest account, which is the one closest to liquidation. So the order is:
| Priority | Signal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Lowest margin utilization (maintenance margin over equity) |
| 2 | Most free collateral |
| 3 | Largest safe capacity |
| Ties | Your selected account, then the preferred market, then perpetuals before spot |
Each account can fund only one slice of a plan. In split mode, the router keeps adding accounts until the requested size is covered or no account has safe room left. In single-account mode, it picks the best one and skips the rest.
What safety checks can block a venue?
Each check below can reduce an account’s capacity or remove it from the plan. The defaults are shown, and the limits are adjustable in Trading settings under Quick Trade Routing.
| Check | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Avoid position flips | Rejects an entry that would trade against an opposite position on that account | On |
| Live account data | Requires a live private futures stream before planning a derivatives order | On |
| Equity reserve | Keeps a share of account equity unused | 10% |
| Minimum reserve | Keeps an absolute amount of collateral unused, capped at half of the free balance on small accounts | $25 |
| Max margin ratio | Rejects accounts whose margin ratio is at or above the limit | 65% |
| Maintenance buffer | Multiplies current maintenance margin before capacity is allocated | 2x |
| Liquidation distance | Rejects an account whose same-side position is already within this distance of liquidation | 8% |
| Max price age | Rejects a market whose mark or last price is older than this | 3 seconds |
| Max position age | Rejects stale position data when the private stream is not live | 15 seconds |
Margin that earlier slices of the same plan have reserved but the exchange does not yet show is subtracted too, so two quick orders do not spend the same collateral twice. The exchange’s own limits apply on top: the maximum order size it reports, and position caps at your leverage. When a position cap is the limit, the preview says which exchange capped it and suggests lowering leverage. See maintenance margin and liquidation price for the definitions.
What does the route preview show?
Before you press Enter, the preview lists every planned slice with the exchange, account nickname, leverage, market, size, quantity, mark price, margin used, free balance after the order, and the effect on your position. It also shows how much of the requested size is planned, for example “$80,000 of $100,000”. A separate “Other venues” list names each skipped venue with its reason, such as a stale price, locked credentials, or a margin ratio above the limit. When book data is available, the preview estimates the average fill price and slippage in basis points.
Can I control where orders go?
Yes. Several controls narrow the router.
- Execution strategy. Auto-route spreads across connected accounts. Selected account uses one account you pick. Alt+1 to Alt+9 switches the selected account.
- Routing policy. Split across safe accounts, or use one account.
- Enabled exchanges. Disabled exchanges are ignored even when connected.
- Market type. Typing
spotorperpin Quick Entry restricts the route to that market type. Without it, perpetuals are preferred and spot is used only when no perpetual exists. - Full amount only. On by default. No partial orders when the whole size is not safe.
- Exchange pin. A pinned exchange limits symbol matching and execution to that venue.
A single routed order is capped at $5 million notional. Orders open as protected limit orders, as described on the Quick Entry page. Hedge-mode accounts can hold both sides of a market, and the router tracks each side separately. See hedge mode vs one-way mode.
Smart routing reads the accounts you connected in accounts and key security. It is a position-sizing and venue-selection aid. It does not give investment advice and cannot remove market risk.
Frequently asked questions
How does Ninja Terminal pick which account takes an order?
It computes the safe capacity of every eligible account, then ranks them by lowest margin utilization, then most free collateral, then largest safe capacity. In split mode it fills accounts in that order until the requested size is covered.
Can smart routing send an order to the wrong market type?
No, not if you name the market. Typing spot or perp in Quick Entry restricts routing to that market type. Without it, routing prefers perpetuals and uses spot only when no perpetual exists on any eligible exchange.
What happens if the full size is not safe to open?
By default the order is not sent. The Full amount only setting blocks partial orders. If you turn it off, Ninja Terminal sends the part that passes the safety checks and tells you how much was routed.
Can I turn off smart routing?
Yes. In the order form you can choose a single selected account instead of auto-route. You can also pin Quick Entry to one exchange, or disable exchanges so the router ignores them.