Sharded Markets
Understanding shards
Compare shard health, fees, primary intent size bands, and advanced order limits.
Open Markets, then select the Shards tab to compare status, participant label, fees, size limits, and settlement model. Select a shard name to inspect health, isolated liquidity, metrics, fills, and its HCS topic.
Primary intent size bands
| Shard | USDC value | Participant label |
|---|---|---|
| Micro | 0 < value ≤ 10 | Retail |
| Retail | 10 < value ≤ 50 | Retail |
| Institutional | value > 50 | Institutional |
For BUY, value is exact USDC input. For SELL, value is minimum USDC receive. A shard must also be active, provisioned, and accessible.
Advanced signed order limits
Advanced signed orders use separate direct-order notional limits based on size × price.
| Shard | Direct-order notional range |
|---|---|
| Micro | 1–1,000 |
| Retail | 1,000–50,000 |
| Institutional | 50,000–500,000 |
These limits are separate from primary intent size bands. Follow the advanced signed orders guide for that workflow.