Question 1

What is escrow and how does it protect a trade?

Accepted Answer

Escrow is a mechanism where the seller's crypto is locked on BitMoment's side for the duration of the trade. Fiat goes directly between users via banks, while crypto is released only after payment confirmation.
BitMoment acts as an independent third party. We don't participate in the trade as a buyer or seller — our job is to keep the crypto safe and protect the interests of both participants. The platform has no incentive to favour either side: escrow guarantees that neither party can cheat the other.
How it protects both sides:

For the buyer: the seller cannot "disappear" with the crypto after receiving payment — it's already in escrow and unavailable to the seller.
For the seller: the buyer cannot receive crypto until the seller confirms seeing the payment. If payment doesn't arrive, the crypto returns to the seller on trade cancellation.

When a trade is opened, the crypto amount plus the platform commission is locked in escrow (if you're the seller-ad-creator). On cancellation, everything is refunded. On completion, crypto goes to the buyer.
If the parties cannot agree, a dispute is opened and a moderator decides who gets the locked crypto.
Detailed breakdown: How escrow protection works.

Question 2

How do I open a trade?

Accepted Answer

Open Market in the top menu.
Pick the "Buy" or "Sell" tab, the currency, and optionally filter by payment method.
Find a suitable ad and click "Buy" or "Sell".
In the trade dialog, enter the amount (in fiat or crypto — auto-conversion).
Pick a payment method (for buying — from the trader's methods; for selling — your own payment detail).
Click "Open trade". The trade page with chat and timer will open.

Requirements:

Completed verification (KYC 2).
Account must not be blocked.
Counterparty must not be in your blocked list and vice versa.
For selling — sufficient crypto balance, accounting for the platform commission.
Meeting the ad's requirements (rating, trade count, etc., if the trader set them).

Step-by-step with screenshots: Your first crypto purchase.

Question 3

I paid but the seller doesn't release the crypto — what do I do?

Accepted Answer

Don't close or cancel the trade — if you actually paid, cancelling will return the crypto to the seller and your money stays with them.
Make sure you clicked "I paid" — this starts the timer for the seller to confirm.
Wait. A bank transfer can take from one minute to a few hours depending on the payment method.
Message in the trade chat — ask the seller if they see the incoming payment.
Open a dispute — the button appears on the trade page. Attach evidence: a transfer screenshot from your bank app, a statement, a receipt. See What evidence to attach in a dispute.

Important: a forged payment screenshot is easily caught and works against the sender. Attach genuine documents only. See Fake payment screenshots.
The dispute is resolved by a moderator. If the payment is confirmed, the crypto will be transferred to you. More details: How to behave in a dispute.

Question 4

Why isn't my ad visible on the market?

Accepted Answer

Check this list:

Is the ad active? On the "My ads" page, the status toggle should be on. It may have been disabled manually or automatically (see below).
Price within the allowed range around Rapira? The market rate changes in real time — if your price drifted out of the range, the ad stops showing.
Enough balance (for selling)? The platform auto-pauses ads when crypto balance is insufficient for the minimum trade amount. The ad list will show "Paused — insufficient balance" status.
Payment detail's daily limit exhausted? Each payment detail has a daily limit. When exhausted, ads hide. The limit resets at 00:00 (GMT+3).
Payment detail disabled? If you deleted or disabled the payment detail linked to the ad, it lost its payment method and was auto-disabled.
Are you seeing your own ad on the market? Yes — the current market shows your own ads to you (with a "Yours" badge). But you can't open a trade on your own ad.

If all checks pass but the ad still doesn't show — contact support.

Question 5

How do I create a buy/sell advertisement?

Accepted Answer

Go to Dashboard → My ads → Create ad.
Choose the type: Buy (you buy crypto from clients) or Sell (you sell).
Choose the cryptocurrency and fiat.
Set a price within the allowed range around the market rate. A margin slider shows the percentage and warns if you go outside the range.
Set min and max trade amounts.
Pick payment methods and link specific payment details (multiple allowed). One detail per method per ad.
Write the trade conditions (minimum 10 characters) — clients see this in the ad card.
Optional: payment window (e.g. 30 minutes), counterparty requirements (rating, trade count), working schedule.
Publish — the ad goes live on the market.

Trader requirements:

Completed verification (KYC 2).
For selling — your balance must cover the minimum trade amount, accounting for the platform commission.
Success rate ≥ 80% over the last 30 days (for repeat ads).
There's a limit on the number of simultaneously active ads.

Detailed guide: How to create a trader ad.

Question 6

What does "available" mean in a sell ad?

Accepted Answer

In sell ads on the market, under the trader's limits you'll see an "Available" line — for example, "Available: 198 USDT".
This is the maximum amount of crypto the trader can actually sell right now. It depends on their current balance: even if the ad states a large limit, they can't sell more than what's on their balance.
Why it matters:

A trader may have an ad with a large limit but less crypto on balance right now. "Available" shows the real cap so you don't open a trade for an amount the seller can't cover.
If you try to open a trade above "Available", the system won't let you and will suggest the maximum possible amount.

If the trader's balance drops too low, the ad is auto-hidden from the market.
Buy ads have no such limit — the ad's regular limit applies.

Question 7

Can I cancel a trade after payment?

Accepted Answer

Once you click "I paid" (trade status PAID), the cancel button becomes unavailable for the buyer — this protects the seller from scammers who could falsely claim payment and then cancel to grab the crypto.
When can a trade be cancelled:

Before payment (status OPENED) — either buyer or seller can cancel without consequences.
After payment (status PAID) — only via dispute. A moderator decides: either crypto goes to the buyer (if payment confirms) or returns to the seller (if not).
After the payment window expires — the trade is auto-cancelled with crypto returned to the seller.

If you clicked "I paid" by accident without paying — message the counterparty in the trade chat and ask them to cancel via dispute as "cancellation". This is a normal situation, the dispute is closed quickly without losses for either party.
If the counterparty isn't responding and the trade is stuck — open the dispute yourself, the moderator will resolve it.

Question 8

How much time is given for payment?

Accepted Answer

The payment window is set by the trader in their ad — typically 15 to 60 minutes. The exact value is shown on the ad card on the market (⏱ N min badge) and on the trade page as a countdown timer.
How it works:

The timer starts when the trade opens.
Within the window, the buyer must pay and click "I paid".
If the timer expires and "I paid" wasn't clicked, the trade is auto-cancelled and crypto returns to the seller.
If you paid but didn't click — open a dispute to prove the payment.

Tip: don't open a trade if you aren't sure you can pay within the window. The market has time filters — pick a trader with a suitable window.
After "I paid" is clicked, the trade moves to PAID status and the timer stops — now it's the seller's turn to confirm receiving the payment.

Question 9

What's the trade commission and who pays it?

Accepted Answer

The platform's trade commission is paid by the ad author — the person who created the ad. The client opening a trade on someone else's ad pays the platform nothing.
The commission is collected automatically when the trade completes:

If the trader is selling crypto — the commission is reserved together with the crypto amount in escrow when the trade opens, and collected on completion.
If the trader is buying crypto — the commission is deducted from the amount they receive.

The exact commission is always shown in the interface before you open a trade and when you create an ad.
Referral program. If the ad author was invited by a referrer, part of the paid commission is credited to that referrer. See How does the referral program work.

Question 10

What's the difference between buying and selling on P2P?

Accepted Answer

Buying crypto: you transfer fiat (RUB or other) to the counterparty via any convenient method — bank card, SBP, YooMoney, etc. — and receive cryptocurrency in your BitMoment wallet. During the trade, crypto is held in platform escrow and automatically released to you when the seller confirms receiving payment.
Selling crypto: the opposite — you lock your crypto in escrow (plus the platform commission), the counterparty sends you fiat, and after receiving it you confirm the payment and the crypto goes to the buyer.
Key points:

Settlement is user-to-user. BitMoment isn't a bank — we're a middleman holding the crypto in escrow.
Commission is paid only by the ad creator. The client opening the trade pays nothing.
The trade type is set by the ad: some traders sell crypto (the client buys), others buy (the client sells).

Example. You want to buy cryptocurrency. You go to the market, click "Buy", pick a suitable trader's ad, and open a trade for the amount you need. At that moment, the crypto is locked in escrow. You send the fiat to the trader's payment details, then click "I paid" in the chat. The trader sees the deposit in their bank, clicks "Confirm receipt" — and the crypto instantly lands in your wallet.
Learn more: How escrow protection works, Your first crypto purchase, How to sell crypto.

Question 11

How does the exchange rate work and why ±5% of Rapira?

Accepted Answer

BitMoment pulls its base rate from the Rapira exchange (api.rapira.net) — a liquid Russian crypto exchange. It uses the bid.highestPrice quote for USDT/RUB and BTC/RUB pairs.
The rate updates in real time:

The server fetches it every 10 seconds.
On the market and in the ad creation form, the rate is pushed over WebSocket (you see a live updating value).

Trader's margin is the percentage the trader adds (when selling) or subtracts (when buying) from the base rate.
Examples:

Base USDT rate = 92 RUB. A seller with +3% margin sets a price of 94.76 RUB per 1 USDT.
Base USDT rate = 92 RUB. A buyer with −2% margin sets a price of 90.16 RUB per 1 USDT (they buy below base).
Base BTC rate = 6,800,000 RUB. A seller with +1.5% margin sets a price of 6,902,000 RUB.

Why the corridor is exactly ±5%:

It's a trade-off between trader profit and ad appeal. Too narrow — traders won't bother to publish; too wide — clients can be easily misled on price.
Ads outside ±5% are not allowed at publish time. If the base rate "drifts" after publication, the platform auto-hides the ad from the market — clients shouldn't accidentally open a trade at a stale price.

Fallback: if Rapira is temporarily unavailable, the platform uses the last cached rate plus backup sources (Binance P2P, CoinGecko). During an extended outage, price updates pause and a banner on the market explains the situation.

Trading

Useful guides in this category

Your first crypto purchase — step by step

How to sell crypto — step by step

How escrow protection works

How to create a trader ad

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