Underlying Tiers

Assets on Starbase are classified into three tiers based on liquidity. Tier assignments determine rate limits and multicast channel assignments.

Overview

Assets are classified into three tiers based on their liquidity. Tier assignments follow Coinbase International Exchange’s perpetual futures tier classification and determine:

• Rate limits — see API Rate API Rate Limits
• Multicast channel assignments — see Multicast Channels

Tier classification is based on the base currency of the underlying index. All underlyings sharing the same base currency belong to the same tier — for example, both BTC_USD and BTC_USDC are Tier 1.

PAXG is classified as Tier 2 on Starbase, differing from its Tier 3 classification on Coinbase International Exchange.

Tier 1

The most liquid assets. Tier 1 instruments have dedicated multicast channels and the highest allocated rate limits.

Underlying
BTC_USD
BTC_USDC
ETH_USD
ETH_USDC

Tier 2

Established assets with moderate liquidity. All altcoin options are Tier 2 regardless of the underlying’s tier.

Underlying
ADA_USDC
AVAX_USDC
BCH_USDC
BNB_USDC
DOGE_USDC
DOT_USDC
LINK_USDC
LTC_USDC
NEAR_USDC
PAXG_USDC
SOL_USDC
TRX_USDC
UNI_USDC
XRP_USDC

Tier 3

Lower-liquidity assets.

Underlying
ALGO_USDC
BTCDVOL_USDC
TRUMP_USDC

Tier Change Policy

Tier assignments determine which multicast channel an instrument belongs to, so changing a tier has operational consequences for trading clients. To give clients time to adjust:

• Tier changes are made only during planned deployments.
• Affected clients receive at least one week’s prior notice before any tier change takes effect.