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What Is the Qualifying Band in Community Maker Yield ? Under SIP-5A, satisfying the two-sided quoting requirement alone is not enough for maker orders to be considered eligible liquidity. Orders must also remain within the qualifying band defined for the specific market. Maker orders outside this band are excluded from the Community Maker Yield calculation. The qualifying band is measured relative to the mark price. Because the mark price continuously changes, the qualifying band moves with it. As a result, a maker order that is initially inside the qualifying band may move outside of it over time as the mark price changes. This is an important consideration for makers. To maintain eligibility, makers may choose to update their orders or position their quotes accordingly, depending on their trading strategy. The qualifying band parameters are configured separately for each market and managed by StandX Operations. According to the documentation, factors such as market volatility, market depth, and trading hours may be considered when determining these parameters. The current qualifying band values for each market are published on the corresponding Campaign Page. The qualifying band is only one of the mechanisms used to determine eligible liquidity. To qualify for the Community Maker Yield calculation, maker orders must also satisfy the other eligibility requirements defined in SIP-5A, including two-sided quoting, minimum uptime, proximity weighting, per-side cap, and other eligibility checks. #standxblog# @StandX_Official @Stander_StandX

What Does the Two-Sided Quoting Requirement Mean in Community Maker Yield ? Under SIP-5A, qualifying for the Community Maker Yield calculation requires eligible maker orders to be present on both the bid and ask sides of the order book at the same time. The documentation refers to this requirement as two-sided quoting. Maker orders resting only on the bid side or only on the ask side do not satisfy this requirement on their own. To be considered for the eligible liquidity evaluation, qualifying orders must exist on both sides simultaneously. However, two-sided quoting alone is not sufficient. Once this requirement is met, the other eligibility mechanisms—including the qualifying band, minimum uptime, proximity weighting, and per-side cap—are also applied. Even if an order satisfies the two-sided quoting requirement, it is not included in the Community Maker Yield calculation unless it also meets these additional eligibility criteria. In practice, this means that providing liquidity on only one side of the order book is not enough to qualify for Community Maker Yield. Eligible liquidity is determined only after the two-sided quoting requirement and all other eligibility mechanisms defined in SIP-5A have been satisfied. #standxblog# @StandX_Official @Stander_StandX

How Is Eligible Liquidity Determined in Community Maker Yield ? Under SIP-5A, not every maker order placed on the order book is included in the Community Maker Yield calculation. Daily distribution is based only on contributions that qualify as eligible liquidity. Eligible liquidity is not determined by a single condition. The SIP-5A documentation defines eligibility through the combined application of multiple mechanisms. The first requirement is two-sided quoting. To qualify as eligible liquidity, qualifying maker orders must be present on both the bid and the ask sides of the order book. One-sided liquidity is not included in the Community Maker Yield calculation. The second requirement is the qualifying band. Maker orders must remain within the qualifying price band defined for the specific market. Orders placed outside this band are not treated as eligible liquidity. The third requirement is minimum uptime. Eligible orders must remain active on the order book for a minimum period of time. Orders that are placed briefly and then quickly canceled are not included in the evaluation. Once these core eligibility requirements are satisfied, proximity weighting is applied. The distance between an order and the mark price affects the weight used in the calculation. Eligible liquidity positioned closer to the mark price is not weighted the same as eligible liquidity placed farther away. The calculation also applies a per-side cap. The maximum amount of eligible liquidity counted on each side of the order book is limited. Any liquidity above that limit is excluded from the Community Maker Yield calculation. In addition, the documentation states that wash trading, related accounts, and other behaviors that could compromise the integrity of the system are excluded from reward distribution. Only after all of these evaluations have been applied is eligible liquidity determined. The daily Community Maker Yield distribution is then calculated exclusively from the liquidity that satisfies these eligibility requirements. #standxblog# @StandX_Official @Stander_StandX

Why Was the Market Maker Uptime Program Expanded into Community Maker Yield ? The SIP-5A documentation introduces Community Maker Yield as an extension of the existing Market Maker Uptime Program. In the new design, the eligible liquidity measurement used by the uptime program is preserved, while that same measurement also becomes part of the Community Maker Yield distribution. With this change, eligible liquidity on the order book is no longer just a metric being tracked. The same measurement is now incorporated into the daily Community Maker Yield calculation. The documentation does not change the underlying approach used to evaluate eligible liquidity. What changes is that the measurement is now connected to the economic distribution mechanism. As a result, participants who provide eligible liquidity can receive a share of the Community Maker Yield pool according to the rules defined in SIP-5A. The key change introduced by SIP-5A is not the replacement of the existing measurement framework, but the integration of that same measurement into the Community Maker Yield mechanism. For that reason, SIP-5A creates a direct connection between the Market Maker Uptime Program and Community Maker Yield. Eligible liquidity continues to be measured, while that same measurement also serves as one of the inputs for Community Maker Yield distribution. #standxblog# @StandX_Official @Stander_StandX

Why Isn't SIP-4 Considered a Full Options Protocol ? One of the first concepts that stands out when reading SIP-4 is the term American-style execution right. At first glance, this can create the impression that SIP-4 is a traditional options protocol. The documentation, however, defines a much narrower scope for V1. In its V1 design, SIP-4 is limited to Block TP and Block SL use cases. Its objective is to introduce a new contractual structure that allows existing perpetual positions to be managed through execution rights under predefined conditions. As a result, the V1 design does not provide the broad range of products typically found in traditional options markets. Instead of supporting general-purpose options contracts, the documentation defines a structure focused on specific execution-right use cases. Reservation Fee, Guarantee Deposit, the expiry period, and the execution right are the core components of this design. While the terminology borrows concepts from options markets, the scope defined for V1 remains limited to Block TP and Block SL. For that reason, it is important to distinguish between the terminology used in SIP-4 and the actual scope of its V1 implementation. The documentation describes a structure built around specific execution-right use cases and does not define the broader set of functionality typically associated with a full options protocol. #standxblog# @StandX_Official @Stander_StandX

Why Does SIP-4 Have a "Taken" State ? In SIP-4, creating an execution right does not immediately move the agreement into the settlement stage. Before that can happen, the counterparty must reserve the execution right by paying the Reservation Fee. The documentation defines this stage as the Taken state. The Taken state indicates that the execution right has been reserved by a counterparty. At this point, the Reservation Fee has been paid, the Guarantee Deposit has been locked, and the agreement becomes active for both parties. From this stage onward, the execution right remains valid until the expiry period ends. The holder of the right can call Execute at any time during that window. Settlement begins only after the Execute call is made. Without the Taken state, there would be no clear distinction between the creation of an execution right and the stage where both parties become bound by contractual rights and obligations. Defining this transition explicitly within the state machine makes it possible to identify the agreement's status at any moment. The Taken state also marks the point at which the Reservation Fee and Guarantee Deposit mechanisms become active. The economic rights and obligations of both parties are established from this state onward. In SIP-4, the Taken state is more than a technical label. It represents the stage where the execution right has been reserved by the counterparty and the agreement enters its active lifecycle. #standxblog# @StandX_Official @Stander_StandX

How Does the SIP-4 State Machine Work ? In SIP-4, an agreement is not created and completed in a single step. The documentation describes its lifecycle as a state machine that progresses through a series of predefined states. When an agreement is created, the initial state is established. At this stage, the execution right, Reservation Fee, Guarantee Deposit, and expiry period are defined together. The rights and obligations of both parties are also established at this point. While the agreement remains active, the execution right stays valid throughout the expiry period. The holder of the right can call Execute at any time during that window. Once Execute is called, the agreement moves into the settlement process. Not every agreement ends with execution. If the expiry period is reached before the execution right is exercised, the execution right expires and the agreement comes to an end. Settlement does not occur, the Guarantee Deposit is released, and the rights and obligations arising from the agreement are terminated. The state machine allows the current status of the agreement to be clearly identified at any moment. Whether the execution right is still valid, whether the settlement process has started, or whether the agreement has already ended can all be determined by its current state. This structure also ensures that the agreement progresses through its lifecycle in a consistent manner. Each state depends on the outcome of the previous one, preventing the agreement from existing in multiple states at the same time. In SIP-4, the state machine is one of the core mechanisms that keeps the Reservation Fee, Execute authority, Guarantee Deposit, and expiry period working together within the same agreement. #standxblog# @StandX_Official @Stander_StandX

What Happens If Settlement Fails in SIP-4 ? Exercising an execution right in SIP-4 does not guarantee that the settlement process will be completed successfully. Once an Execute call is made, both parties must fulfill their obligations for the agreement to reach a successful conclusion. This possibility is also part of the SIP-4 design. When the agreement is created, the party assuming the execution obligation locks a Guarantee Deposit. According to the documentation, the purpose of this deposit is to support the fulfillment of obligations, make failure economically costly, and provide a source of compensation when necessary. If settlement fails, the Guarantee Deposit is the mechanism that comes into play. The documentation states that this collateral is designed for situations where contractual obligations cannot be fulfilled. How this mechanism is ultimately implemented is left to the protocol's final implementation. The Reservation Fee and the Guarantee Deposit serve different purposes. The Reservation Fee is paid to reserve an execution right. The Guarantee Deposit is associated with the obligations that arise during the execution process. Although both are components of the same agreement, they perform different functions. In SIP-4, a failed settlement is not treated solely as a technical outcome. The design also assigns economic consequences to that scenario. As a result, the execution obligation is supported by an economic security layer rather than relying solely on contractual commitment. #standxblog# @StandX_Official @Stander_StandX

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