USDT liquidity in the UAE: order-book depth and cost
How much it costs to buy 100,000 to 10,000,000 USDT on the public order books that quote it against the UAE dirham (Binance, Bybit, OKX) and the US dollar (Kraken, Coinbase). One snapshot a month, same method each time. Latest snapshot: 2026-09-23 07:50 UTC.
- The three dirham venues held 9.97 million USDT of visible offers between them; 10 million USDT was not fillable from visible books.
- Buying 5 million USDT across the three combined cost +13.1 bp over parity including a 0.10% taker fee.
Cost by size
Volume-weighted price walking the ask side, in basis points over parity (3.6725 AED or 1.0000 USD per USDT), including a 0.10% taker fee. A line stops where the visible book runs out.
| Venue | 100k | 500k | 1m | 2m | 5m | 10m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AED venues combined USDT/AED | +3.2 | +3.2 | +3.8 | +6.3 | +13.1 | n/f |
| OKX USDT/AED | +3.2 | +3.2 | +6.0 | +12.4 | +18.3 | n/f |
| Bybit USDT/AED | +3.2 | +5.3 | +7.3 | +10.7 | n/f | n/f |
| Binance USDT/AED | +9.5 | +17.6 | +36.1 | n/f | n/f | n/f |
| Kraken USDT/USD | +8.3 | +8.7 | +8.9 | +9.2 | +22.6 | n/f |
| Coinbase USDT/USD | +9.0 | +9.1 | +9.4 | +16.5 | n/f | n/f |
n/f: the visible book could not fill the size.
Top of book
| Venue | Best ask | Spread, bp | Ask depth | Within 25 bp of parity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance USDT/AED | 3.672 | 2.7 | 1.20m | 0.68m |
| Bybit USDT/AED | 3.67 | 2.7 | 2.05m | 2.05m |
| OKX USDT/AED | 3.67 | 2.7 | 6.72m | 5.76m |
| Kraken USDT/USD | 0.99982 | 0.1 | 8.82m | 3.35m |
| Coinbase USDT/USD | 0.99986 | 0.1 | 2.19m | 1.80m |
Method
Each venue's public order book is fetched once. To price a purchase, ask levels are taken from the best price upward until the size is filled, and the average price paid is compared with parity. "AED venues combined" merges the three dirham books, the best case for a buyer holding funded accounts on all three. When the book cannot fill a size, no cost is reported. Raw books are not redistributed; the collector script reproduces the measurement from public endpoints.
Download and cite
- Data: execution_cost.csv, book_summary.csv, run_metadata.json (CC BY 4.0)
- Archived with a DOI, all versions: doi:10.5281/zenodo.22912475
- Collector script (MIT): codeberg.org/meridian-otc/usdt-liquidity-uae
- What the numbers mean for a large buyer: Buying USDT in the UAE: OTC desk vs exchange
Cite as: IWGT, USDT order-book depth and execution cost for UAE buyers, 2026-09-23, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22912475. Market microstructure data, not investment advice.