Free to use. Here is what that does not cover.
We do not charge for the software. The screener, the Arcus board, the guides and Vesper itself cost nothing to use. What is not free is everything the market charges you, and pretending otherwise would make this page useless.
What costs nothing
Everything on this site is open to read with no account: the funding screener across the venues we track, the Arcus board with its 58 live markets, every article and every guide.
Vesper itself, the market-making bot that quotes from your own exchange account, is free to use today. There is no card to enter, no trial that quietly converts, and nothing to cancel later.
- Screener, Arcus board, articles and guides: open, no account needed.
- Vesper: free to use today.
- No card, no trial that turns into a charge.
What you still pay, and to whom
Your exchange's fees. Every fill pays the venue's maker or taker fee. That is the single biggest running cost of market making and it goes to the exchange, not to us. Our own articles are built around it: the round-trip cost is the floor the spread has to clear, and on the wrong book it never does.
Funding, when you hold a position. On the crowded side of a perpetual you pay it every hour, to other traders.
The market itself. Market making loses money in the ordinary course: adverse selection, inventory caught by a move. We publish how and why rather than hiding it. Free software does not make a losing book profitable.
- Exchange maker/taker fees: the main running cost, paid to the venue.
- Funding on the crowded side, paid to other traders.
- Trading losses. Free software does not remove them.
Why it is free right now, and what happens if that changes
We are early, and the measurements we take while people run the bot are worth more to us right now than a subscription fee would be. That is the honest reason.
If that changes, this page changes first, with the date at the top, and we will say so before it applies to anyone already running. Nobody can promise "free forever" and mean it, so we are not going to say it.
- Free today because early measurements are worth more to us than fees.
- If it changes, this page says so first, with a date.
- We will not promise "free forever". Nobody can keep that.
What we never charge for, whatever happens
We do not take custody of funds, so there is no deposit, no withdrawal fee and no spread taken by us. The key you connect can place and cancel orders and cannot withdraw. That is not a pricing choice, it is how the connection is built.
We take no share of your trading result. There is no performance fee, no profit split and no hidden markup on your fills. If that ever changed it would be a different product and it would say so here, loudly.
- No deposits and no withdrawal fees: we never hold funds.
- No performance fee, no profit split, no markup on fills.
- The key cannot withdraw. That is structural, not a plan tier.
Questions
Is SypherScore really free?
The software is, today. You still pay your exchange's maker and taker fees on every fill, funding while you hold the crowded side, and any trading losses. We take nothing from those.
Is there a trial that turns into a subscription?
No. There is no card to enter and nothing to cancel. If pricing is ever introduced, this page will say so with a date, before it applies to anyone already running.
Do you take a share of profits?
No. There is no performance fee, no profit split and no markup on your fills. We never hold your funds, so there is nothing for us to take a cut from.
What is the real cost of running a market-making bot then?
The round-trip fee on the venue you chose, measured in basis points, plus the spread you cross and the funding you pay while holding. If the book's typical spread does not clear that floor, the strategy loses regardless of what the software costs.
Will it stay free?
We do not know, and anyone who says they do is guessing. What we will do is change this page first, date the change, and tell people already running before it applies to them.