CEX (Centralized Exchange)

A Centralized Exchange (CEX) is a company-operated crypto trading platform that custodies user funds and matches orders on an internal, off-chain order book.

A CEX takes custody of deposited assets and matches buyers and sellers on its own order book, settling trades internally and only touching the chain for deposits and withdrawals. This gives deep liquidity and fast matching but concentrates trust and price data with the operator. Because CEX order books are off-chain, their prices come from exchange feeds rather than the blockchain. Our aggregated spot and OHLCV data can incorporate CEX venues to give a market-wide reference price.