The rate isn't the price.
Two prices live behind every "$3,200" you see on a buy button. Opta shows both, and shows the gap.
The advanced-trading view
Best bid · best ask. Tight, public, machine-readable. The number you'd see on Binance's "Spot trading" tab.
Example 4.85 spread · 0.05% deviationThe retail-buying view
A single price baked with a hidden margin on top of the orderbook. The number on the "Buy crypto" button on coinbase.com.
Example 4.85 + 1.4% retail spread = the rate you actually payWhy the gap exists
The orderbook is regulated, observable, and competitive. The Convert button isn't. Most retail conversion surfaces add an undisclosed margin on top of the orderbook mid (sometimes 0.5%, sometimes 3%), depending on the asset, the size, and the time of day.
You can't see it on the button. You can see it after the trade lands, when your wallet shows fewer coins than the math said you'd get.
Why Opta shows a range, not a single number
For surfaces with hidden retail spread, a single quote would lie. We show a range (the orderbook lower bound and the realistic retail upper bound), so you see the worst-case price before you click.
In the comparison ranking, retail-surface results sort by their lower bound, flagged with a small RANGE badge so they don't visually outcompete a real fixed quote.
LiveSee variance ranges live on /accuracyKey terms · · · ·