Choosing an algo

What DMA, Chase, TWAP, Sniper and Spreader each do, side by side, and the trade-off each one makes.

Every order in Aura runs one of five algos, picked in the ticket's algo menu. This page says what each one does, compares them in one table, and sets out the trade-off each one's design makes. Each algo's page has its fields and details.

The five algos

DMA

DMA sends one limit order at your price and ends with it. IOC takes what the book has at your price or better and cancels the rest. Post takes what crosses on arrival and rests the rest until it fills or you cancel it. DMA never reprices or resends.

Chase

Chase rests a limit order at the touch and follows the book as it moves. When the spread is wider than one tick, it improves one tick inside it. Otherwise it joins the best bid (for a buy) or the best ask (for a sell). With a Chase distance set, it rests that many basis points from the touch instead. It never prices across the spread, and your Limit price, if you set one, caps where it goes.

TWAP

TWAP spreads your quantity over a Duration. It releases a share at the start of each Interval, in proportion to time, so the last share is smaller when the duration isn't a whole number of intervals. Chase works each release at the book. A release that hasn't filled carries forward to the next, because the schedule counts the total released so far. At the end, At end decides what happens to anything left: Cancel remainder, Continue as Sniper or Continue as Chase.

Sniper

Sniper only takes liquidity and never posts. Each order is an IOC priced 20 basis points through the far touch, so it stays marketable if the book moves, and capped by your Limit price if you set one. Each one is sized at up to a quarter of the depth on the top 10 levels of the far side. With a limit, Sniper waits, resting nothing, until the book is marketable within it. Without one it keeps taking until your quantity is done.

Spreader

Spreader works two markets with the same base asset on one account. The lead leg is the ticket's market and side. It's priced off the hedge market's book, under a spread limit in basis points of the hedge price. The hedge leg trades the opposite side of the second market and covers what the lead filled. Each leg either posts (Post, which works like Chase) or takes (Take, which works like Sniper).

Side by side

Algo	Passive or aggressive	How it prices	Over time	How it ends	Markets
DMA	Your choice: IOC takes, Post rests what doesn't fill on arrival (and never takes with Post only)	At your Limit price, which is required	One order, sent on submit	With its one order: filled, cancelled by the exchange (an IOC's rest), cancelled by you, expired, or rejected	Every market your account trades
Chase	Passive	One tick inside a spread wider than one tick, else at the touch; or Chase distance from the touch. Capped by an optional Limit price	Follows the book until filled	Filled, cancelled, expired, or stopped by a rejection or a remainder too small to send	Every market your account trades
TWAP	Passive while the schedule runs	Chase's pricing for each release	A release each Interval across the Duration	At the schedule's end, by At end	Every market your account trades
Sniper	Aggressive	20 bps through the far touch, capped by an optional Limit price	Repeated IOC orders, each up to a quarter of the far side's top 10 levels	Filled, cancelled, expired, or stopped by a rejection or a remainder too small to send. With a limit it waits for its price	Every market your account trades
Spreader	Per leg: Post or Take	Lead priced off the hedge book under the spread limit	The hedge follows each lead fill	When both legs are done. A cancel or an expiry cancels both legs	OKX spot and perpetuals (not inverse perpetuals); Coinbase spot and futures; Bybit spot and perpetuals. The two legs share a base asset. Not on Kraken

The trade-offs

Each algo's design says what it gives up for what it gets.

Algo	What it gives up
DMA	It's exactly one order. An IOC can leave part of your size unfilled, and a resting Post stays at its price while the market moves.
Chase	It rests passively and pays in fill uncertainty.
TWAP	It paces your size by time. Releases rest the way Chase does, so a release may not fill before the next one. At end decides whether the rest is cancelled or kept working.
Sniper	It pays the spread, bounded by its limit, to avoid resting. It never posts.
Spreader	The spread limit is where the lead is placed, not a promise of the spread you get. When the hedge takes, its fill can land past the limit by however much the book moved while the order was on its way. The hedge always follows the lead, and covering is best effort. If you cancel, or the order expires, both legs stop and the order reports any quantity left unhedged.

Setting	Which algos
Limit price	Required for DMA. An optional cap for Chase, TWAP and Sniper. A Spreader applies it to the lead leg as Lead limit price.
Post only	Every algo that posts: DMA (with Post), Chase, TWAP, and a Spreader with a posting leg. Not Sniper.
Reduce only	Every single-market algo, on perpetuals. A Spreader sets it per leg.
Quantity in the quote asset	Chase, TWAP and Sniper, on spot, perpetuals (not inverse perpetuals) and futures. DMA and Spreader are in the base asset. An inverse perpetual is sized in USD only.
Starts	Every algo but DMA.
Expires	Every algo. In a TWAP with Cancel remainder, the schedule's end takes its place.

For the ticket itself, see Placing an order.