Exchange depth belongs in the launch plan.

01 /

Look beyond the headline spread

At launch, the best bid and ask offer an immediate picture of where buyers and sellers meet. They say much less about the quantity available behind those prices. A narrow spread can coexist with a shallow book; a larger instruction may need to cross several price levels.

Coinbase’s order-book documentation makes this distinction explicit: level-one data contains the best bid and ask, while deeper levels describe the wider book. For a launch review, a top-of-book feed alone cannot answer questions about larger order sizes. [1]

Our suggested starting point is a small measurement set that remains consistent across the launch window: spread, buy-side and sell-side depth within defined price bands, and estimated execution cost for a few representative sizes. Choose the sizes for the asset and intended participants, rather than importing thresholds from a much larger market.

02 /

Make depth observations comparable

Record the venue, pair, timestamp, reference price, and currency conversion used for each observation. Distinguish missing data from a genuine absence of quotes. Otherwise, a technical interruption can be mistaken for a market event, or silently disappear from an average.

For a simple snapshot illustration, imagine an ask of 1,000 tokens at $1.00 followed by 4,000 tokens at $1.02. Buying all 5,000 tokens against that unchanged book would cost $5,080, or $1.016 per token before fees. The best ask describes the first part of the order; the weighted average describes the whole illustrated fill.

Real execution can differ because orders are added, cancelled, or filled before an instruction arrives. Snapshot estimates are a planning input. They are not a firm quote or a promise of executable capacity.

03 /

Separate opening conditions from normal trading

A launch window can involve several operational states: deposits enabled, orders accepted, an opening auction where supported, continuous trading, and withdrawals available. Use the venue’s actual rules to determine which states apply. Do not assume that an indicative auction price is a price available for immediate execution.

Before the opening, verify inventory availability, account access, supported networks, and who is monitoring the transition. During the opening, record interruptions and changes to the venue’s operating state. After the opening, examine whether depth persists as early orders clear.

A useful observation schedule includes quieter periods as well as the busiest moments. Liquidity that appears only around a launch announcement may not describe the conditions participants face later. Review how quickly the book replenishes, whether one side remains thin, and whether a single venue accounts for most observable capacity.

04 /

Turn observations into readiness decisions

A readiness review should end with a decision and an owner. If access is incomplete, the response may be an operational fix. If the measured book is materially thinner than the planning assumption, the response may be to revisit timing, intended order size, or the mandate’s limits. These actions require the relevant approvals.

• Access: are the required accounts funded and permitted to trade?
• Data: are feeds current, comparable, and complete enough for the decision?
• Capacity: how do both sides of the book behave at representative sizes?
• Continuity: who responds if quoting or venue access is interrupted?
• Review: what change would invalidate the current readiness assessment?

Exchange depth belongs in the launch plan because it changes what a launch can support. A well-defined review makes those limits visible before they are tested by real instructions.