As HBD keeps getting better some might want to add some more on their position especially in the savings account with 12% on an almost stablecoin . Now the question is where to get some HBD?
HBD is known for the extremely low liquidity. It is listed only on two exchanges Upbit and Bittrex. Bittrex has been down in the last period, and on Upbit can trade only Korean KYC users. This leaves most of the Hive user base with almost zero options for buying HBD on a CEX, and at the moment it is mostly available on the internal Hive DEX, where users can buy HBD with HIVE or on some of the pools on Hive Engine.
Here we will be looking at the historical data for liquidity and the trading volume for HBD on the different platforms as:
- Upbit and Bittrex
- Hive DEX
- Hive Engine Pools
For Upbit and Bittrex we are using the data for Coingecko. More then 95% of the trading volume for this data is from Upbit. For the trading volume we will be using the records from the transactions recorded on the blockchain, same as for the Hive Engine pools.
The period that we will be looking at is Jan 2021 till Feb 2022.
Liquidity
First let’s take a look at the liquidity, or the available supply on the different platforms.
HBD Liquidity On Upbit
First the chart for Upbit.
This is quite the ride for the HBD supply on Upbit. At the end of August 2021 there was an increase in the price of HBD on Upbit that caused a lot of HBD to be transferred there. More than 15M was transferred to Upbit in a period of few weeks reaching 18M HB supply on Upbit. Since then the HBD supply on Upbit is in downtrend and the current supply is around 3.7M HBD.
HBD Liquidity On Bittrex
Next lets take a look at the second CEX where HBD is listed, Bittrex.
A steadier numbers here with the supply in a range of 400k to 700k HBD. Less then 1M.
Starting from December the withdrawals and deposits for HBD on Bittrex has been on pause and there is almost no activity there now.
HBD Liquidity On Hive Engine
Now lets take a look at the Hive L2.
The Diesel pools on HE have been active for some time and have increased the overall activity a bit.
As we can see the HBD supply on HBD started increasing in August 2021 and has especially increased in November. This seems to be connected with the launch of Splinterlands SPS token, and then later with the launch of the BeeSwap BXT token that incentives the HBD pools on Hive Engine.
The BXT token has especially improved the HBD liquidity on Hive Engine. While the liquidity has improved it is still low with around 200k HBD in all the pools with the HIVE:HBD and HBD:BUSD some of the bigger ones. There is a proposal to furthere improve the HBD liquidity on Hive Engine with incentives from the DHF. You can check the proposal here.
HBD Liquidity In The DHF (@hive.fund)
In theory this HBD is not for sale, but if the price of HBD goes above $1 on the internal DEX, the @hbdstabilizer will start selling some of it on the DEX.
Here is the chart for the HBD in the DHF.
The HBD supply in the DHF keeps increasing and we are now at 13M HBD. This makes the @hive.fund the biggest holder of HBD. As mentioned not all of it can be used for trading, and in theory the DHF can pay a max of 1% of its holdings per day, or 130k HBD at the moment. The stabilizer is now at 76.8k HBD daily so this is the amount it can provide on the market now.
When we rank the above, we have this.
The @hive.fund is dominant now, followed by Upbit, Bittrex and then Hive Engine. A year ago Upbit was no.1, and Hive Engine was non existence. There has been some small improvements in the HBD liquidity.
Trading Volume
The data above was about the HBD holding on the different platforms where it can be bought. What about the actual trading volume. Here is the chart for the overall daily trading volume for HBD.
A lot of spikes in the chart. We can notice the large daily volume at the end of August 2021. Again, this is the period where there was an up pressure on the price of HBD on Upbit. On some days there is more then 15M daily trading volume. In the last period the trading volume is less then 1M HBD per day.
On average in the last 30 days the trading volume on the Hive DEX has been around 90k HBD daily, on Upbit around 180k and on Hive Engine around 6k.
Where does the trading volume comes from?
Here is data for the monthly trading volume share.
We can notice here that in the last months, the share for the trading volume for HBD has increased on the internal DEX, that now accounts for more than 30%. The trading volume on Hive Engine has also seen some growth, but overall the share is still small there with less then 5%.
For January 2022 we have this pie.
The internal Hive DEX is 32% for the trading volume of HBD, and Hive Engine at 3%.
Upbit is still dominant with 65%, but the trend has been in favor for the DEX.
At the end to answer the question from the title.
What Is The Best Place To Buy HBD?
If you are Korean, then that will be Upbit.
If you are not Korean that will be the internal Hive DEX, and then Hive Engine. Just a note on the internal DEX, to be careful with large buys, because the slippage can be big, since it depends on the order book. In some cases, it is better to buy on the Hive Engine pools. Buying 10k HBD in one transactions can cause big slippage on the DEX and Hive Engine. For amounts like this it will be better to do it in multiple transactions per day on the internal DEX.
Finally, to add HIVE to HBD conversions on the list.
For large HBD buys, say 100k or a 1M HBD the most practical way would be to buy HIVE first and then convert it to HBD using the on chain conversion. Note that the blockchain has a price of $1.05 when making this conversions or a 5% fee. Still for large buys this will most likely be the best way in a short period of time. The other way for a non Korean user will be multiple buys over a long period of time on the internal Hive DEX.
All the best
@dalz