About the client The client is a US-based startup founded by professionals from traditional finance. The company operates an alternative trading system (ATS) that provides access to digital assets for both buy-side and sell-side participants. Its model also includes tokenization of traditional assets such as fixed income, equities, and real estate, with support for fractional ownership. Business challenge The client needed to build a trading platform for accredited individual and institutional traders, with the following requirements: Order execution through an integrated matching engine Pre-trade risk controls A high-performance order management system Integration with an investor portal and digital custodians Support for tokenized assets and fractional trading Compliance with regulatory reporting requirements The system had to operate within a broader ecosystem that included onboarding (KYC/AML), custody, and asset servicing. Solution Devexperts delivered a solution with three parts: a core platform (matching engine, OMS, user interface, and admin tools), system integrations, and trading features tailored to the client’s requirements. Core platform Matching engine A lightweight version of the DXmatch matching engine was embedded into the order management system rather than deployed as a separate service. This reduced infrastructure overhead while maintaining execution performance. Order management system (OMS) The OMS handles order routing and processing across multiple asset classes within a single environment. User interface The DXtrade web trading terminal was adapted to support client-specific workflows and extended trade data from the matching engine. Administrative interfaces A real-time risk monitoring interface for operators A configuration interface for instruments, users, commissions, and integrations Integrations Custodian integration The system was designed to support multiple custodians with potentially different transaction lifecycles. For this purpose, we’ve built a custodian bridge that reports transaction settlement status to the OMS in a standardized way, while the actual settlement process may differ between custodians. Transaction settlement included locking funds and assets on both sides of the trade, accounting for commissions and settlement fees (so-called gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain), and reporting the final transaction status once both assets and funds had been transferred to the respective counterparty. An integration with a transfer agent module was built to additionally control whether the trader was allowed to sell a desired amount of the asset. Pricing and reporting The system included a pricing gateway that calculated the prospective cost of a trade for a given asset, including commissions and gas fees. DXtrade’s commission engine supports flexible fee structures (percentage-based, flat rate, BPS), configurable by client group and instrument. Trade fees are applied as part of the settlement process. Finally, a special module was built to query up-to-date gas fees for the given blockchain/custodian in near real time. All trades and all orders standing in the book were reported in real time to platform users and external 3rd parties via the API. Historical trade data was aggregated and displayed in a chart widget of the trader’s UI. Transactions in both final and non-final statuses were reported in real time and at the end of the day to the 3rd parties for internal accounting and for regulatory purposes. To comply with regulatory requirements, trade data was reported via a FIX drop copy connection in real time. Investor portal integration A separate website aimed at client onboarding (including KYC and AML verification processes) and initial asset listing was integrated with the DXtrade platform via the standard DXtrade REST API, allowing the creation of client accounts and enabling real-time trading. The platform supports SSO, enabling seamless access between the investor portal and the trading terminal without requiring multiple logins. The investor portal integrates with a transfer agent, ensuring that end users pass all required checks before being allowed to trade on the platform. Trading features Instruments ERC-20 and ERC-1400 security tokens Trading against stablecoins and fiat (USD) Order types Limit orders only Supported time-in-force: GTC, Day, GTD, IOC Pre-trade validation Ensures sufficient assets and funds Prevents double-spending Pricing and market data L1 and L2 quotes Trade data for risk control and display Historical price aggregation USD conversion for portfolio valuation User notifications Users receive email notifications through: Localized messages: DXtrade sends notifications to the investor portal, which maps user IDs and determines delivery. Direct API access: The investor portal retrieves real-time updates and lost messages using the DXtrade notification API and FIX API. Result The platform was delivered and launched on schedule, giving the client a functioning trading venue for digital assets and tokenized instruments. More importantly, it established the operational foundation required for an ATS: controlled onboarding, validated trading, and consistent post-trade processing across custodians. By integrating execution, risk checks, custody workflows, and reporting into a single system, the client avoided the need to build and maintain multiple disconnected components. This reduced operational overhead and simplified day-to-day processes, including trade validation, settlement tracking, and regulatory reporting. The architecture also supports the client’s business model around tokenized assets. Fractional ownership, fee handling, and settlement logic are aligned with how these instruments are issued and transferred, enabling the platform to handle both traditional and tokenized assets in a single environment. Outcomes: Stable execution and order handling through the integrated OMS and matching engine Standardized settlement across multiple custodians with different lifecycles Real-time and end-of-day reporting aligned with regulatory requirements Integrated onboarding and trading experience through SSO System design supports adding new assets, custodians, and user groups without restructuring
