Trading rules

Both Bisq traders must follow these trading rules to ensure smooth and successful trades.

To trade on Bisq, you assume one of two roles, no matter what national currency or cryptocurrency you’re trading: you either buy bitcoin or sell bitcoin.

The rules below are default rules for every transaction. Offer makers sometimes specify their own additional terms for handling payments. For example, a seller using cash deposits might require a picture of a receipt torn in half with "NO REFUND" written on it. Face-to-face traders often specify terms about where and how to meet.

Make sure you’re okay with an offer-maker’s terms before you accept an offer!

Rules for bitcoin sellers

Whether making or taking an offer, bitcoin sellers put all the bitcoin they’re selling in the multisig escrow, so there’s less for them to do and fewer rules they need to follow.

Click Confirm payment after receiving payment

Sellers have until the end of the maximum trade period to do so.

Account signing, introduced in Bisq v1.2, enables a seller with a signed payment account to sign a buyer’s payment account when they successfully receive a payment. For such trades, it is recommended that the seller take as long as possible (i.e., wait until close to the end of the trade period) to confirm receipt of payment to reduce the chance of a chargeback.

Collaborate with mediators and arbitrators

In case of a dispute, users must respond to inquiries within 48 hours and providing materials as requested to determine an outcome.

Mediators may take up to 48 hours to respond to messages, and arbitrators may take up to 5 days to respond to messages.

Do not change payment details once trade is in progress

Once the deposit transaction is published, the trade is in progress, and its terms cannot be changed. The seller had agreed to be paid as specified in the trade contract.

In the event of an unexpected circumstance (e.g., hitting a bank-imposed transfer limit), seller can propose alternatives through trader chat or mediation, but buyer is not required to comply. It is the seller to ensure that the payment account in their offer will work before an offer is taken.

Do not confirm payments with mismatching details

Payer name, payment method, institution, trade ID (if provided), and other details of a payment should exactly match the details in the trade contract. If not, the payment should not be accepted.

This is especially relevant for trades in which a signed seller trades with an unsigned buyer, because confirmation of payment receipt signs the buyer’s payment account. In case of such an issue, a dispute should be opened.

Do not communicate with buyers away from Bisq

Using email addresses, phone numbers, and other means to contact traders is strongly discouraged. The trader chat feature built into Bisq should be used instead: not only is it more private, but the chat record can more easily be made available to mediators and arbitrators (useful in case a trader’s chat messages indicate they broke a rule).

At this point, the software itself does not provide a way to relay the message record between 2 traders to a mediator or arbitrator, so other means of sharing the chat record will be used if needed.

Rules for bitcoin buyers

To avoid unexpected issues, make sure you can actually carry out a payment with the payment method you’ve set up in Bisq. Examples: Wells Fargo doesn’t allow cash deposits into bank accounts not owned by the depositor, and Zelle has weekly and monthly transfer maximums that are easy to overlook. The software will warn you about known issues, but cannot possibly keep up with all the newest banking and money transfer rules.

Make payment reasonably early within trade period

Buyer should complete at a time such that the seller has enough time to acknowledge receipt of the payment before the trade period is over. Waiting until the very end of the trade period to make a payment is not advised, as then the seller cannot reasonably act in time to acknowledge receipt (also, it’s annoying). The lengths of trade periods vary based on payment method.

This is especially important for buyers with unsigned payment accounts trading with sellers with signed payment accounts. A seller will not want to confirm receipt of a payment made at the last minute from an untrusted account, so if you’re a buyer looking to get your payment account signed, you should make the payment as soon as possible.

Use same payment account in trade contract

Intermediary banks or other payment methods from the same bank are not acceptable. Account information (e.g., name, account number, etc) of the account used to make the payment must exactly match the information in the Bisq payment account details.

If such a payment cannot be made, please communicate the issue through trader chat, or you’ll need to make your case to a mediator or arbitrator.

Click Payment started after sending payment

Seller cannot mark payment as received until buyer confirms that they have sent it.

Don’t forget to do this!

Leave the "reason for payment" field empty

As of 1.5.5, reason for payment should NOT be specified.

Some payments offer a way to specify a reason for payment (some payment methods call it "Message" or "Information for recipient" or similar). Leave this field BLANK. Do not put the trade ID, any mentions of "Bisq" or "Bitcoin" or "crypto", or any other text whatsoever.

Violating this rule can cause serious problems for you or your trading peer: many banks don’t like anything related to Bitcoin, and may take draconian measures if they sense such a transaction.

Pay any transaction fees

Any fees incurred to make the payment via the agreed payment method (e.g., bank fees for bank transfer, money-order fees for money orders, etc) are the buyer’s responsibility to pay.

The seller should receive the exact amount of the trade. The only exception to this rule is if the receiving institution imposes a fee on incoming payments—these fees are borne by the seller.

Collaborate with mediators and arbitrators

In case of a dispute, users must respond to inquiries within 48 hours and providing materials as requested to determine an outcome.

Mediators may take up to 48 hours to respond to messages, and arbitrators may take up to 5 days to respond to messages.

Do not communicate with sellers away from Bisq

Using email addresses, phone numbers, and other means to contact traders is strongly discouraged. The trader chat feature built into Bisq should be used instead: not only is it more private, but the chat record can more easily be made available to mediators and arbitrators (useful in case a trader’s chat messages indicate they broke a rule).

At this point, the software itself does not provide a way to relay the message record between 2 traders to a mediator or arbitrator, so other means of sharing the chat record will be used if needed.