Is B-booking allowed?

Acting as counterparty to client trades is a recognised model in many jurisdictions, under licence and with conflicts managed and disclosed. ASIC's RG 227, for example, describes the market maker model and asks issuers to explain it and publish a hedging policy. What applies to you depends on your licence; check with your compliance adviser.

What is a hybrid broker?

A broker that sends some client flow to liquidity providers and keeps the rest on its own book, by rules per instrument, client group, account or trade size. The rules live in the bridge or platform, and the desk reviews them as client behaviour changes.

Does EntropyX Labs supply a bridge or liquidity?

No. EntropyX Labs does not route orders, supply a bridge or provide liquidity. EA Panel shows exposure, enforces caps and runs interventions on MT5; routing stays with your platform and bridge providers.

A-book vs B-book: execution and exposure

What are A-book and B-book?

A-book and B-book are two ways a broker handles client orders. A-book passes them to a liquidity provider, so the broker earns spread or commission without carrying the market risk. B-book keeps them on the broker's own book, so the broker carries the risk. Many brokers run a hybrid, and a dealing desk manages the resulting exposure.

Updated 2026-11-13 · By EntropyX Labs engineering

How the two models work

ASIC's guide for CFD issuers (RG 227) names the two pricing models in use. Under the market maker model, “client orders create a direct financial exposure for the issuer, which it may retain or hedge out”. Under direct market access, the issuer places a matching order in the underlying market and carries no market risk from the trade. These correspond to what brokers call B-book and A-book.

Many run both. TraderEvolution's routing page sets rules per instrument, client group or account; B2BROKER describes hybrid brokers segmenting flow by client profile, trade size and real-time exposure limits. Routing happens in the bridge or platform, not the CRM.

Exposure and the dealing desk

Whatever stays on the broker's book is exposure: its net open position per instrument and client group. The dealing desk watches it and decides what to hedge. ASIC's 2018 review of 57 retail derivative issuers found three strategies, in order of popularity: hedge all market risk with another party, hedge some and hold the rest, or hold it all. Moving risk to another party reduces market risk but increases counterparty risk.

Regulators ask for the policy as well as the practice. RG 227 benchmark 3 expects a written policy for managing market risk from client positions, naming hedging counterparties and how they are chosen, kept current on the issuer's website. Rules differ by jurisdiction; check with your compliance adviser.

What to ask a vendor

Does the dashboard show net exposure per instrument, group and book in real time, and from which data?
Can limits be set per instrument or group, and what happens when one is reached?
Which interventions can a dealer make alone, which need a second approver, and is each one logged?
Which system routes orders between books, and who may change those rules?

Where EntropyX Labs fits, and where it does not

EA Panel is the dealing desk's console on MT5: exposure and risk dashboards, caps the engine enforces, intervention workflows with approvals, role-based access and an audit log. Margin, leverage and swap settings on MT5 groups can be managed through it too, configured with your desk per engagement. EntropyX Labs does not route orders, supply a bridge or provide liquidity; the choice of A-book, B-book or hybrid, and the limits, stay with your desk.