OSTTRA data on the April tariff shock

We’ve been going back through OSTTRA’s data on the April 2025 tariff shock. It is one of the Stress Events that needs to be included in modelling.

From 2 to 10 April, the value of margin calls across bilateral derivatives surged 180%. Counterparty disputes rose 25% in the same window. OSTTRA, which reconciles over 90% of bilateral derivatives globally, illustrated the fund-level impact: 100 margin calls a day at an average $5 million ($500 million in daily collateral) jumping to $1.4 billion under the shock.

Traditional clearing absorbed it. LCH, CME, and Eurex processed record cleared margin volumes without a clearing member default (Risk.net, April 2025). Continuous position surveillance, intraday margin calls, pre-defined default procedures: those mechanisms predate the event by years.

Crypto derivatives clearing has not been tested on this kind of move, this scale of margin pressure. The CFTC’s August 2026 framework will be written around infrastructure that is demonstrably operational at the time the rules are finalised. The informal engagement period is running now.

The question is not whether crypto derivatives clearing will be regulated. It is whether the infrastructure being built will pass the same test traditional clearing already has. How will it have to be designed to manage these shocks.

This first appeared on LinkedIn on 28 April 2026. If you want to comment or discuss, that’s the place.