# Entity-Relationship Model v.04 ## Diagram ![ERModel_v04](ERModel_v04.png) Notation: Chen. Rectangles are entity sets, diamonds are relationships, ellipses are attributes, underlined ellipses are primary keys, the dashed ellipse is a derived attribute. A double line between an entity set and a relationship marks **total participation** (every instance of that entity set must participate); a single line marks partial participation. Two deliberate modeling decisions worth stating up front: - **No foreign keys appear in the diagram.** Connections between entity sets are expressed as relationships, per the notation. Foreign-key columns appear only in the relational model in [RelationalDesign](../P2-RelationalDesign/RelationalDesign.md). - **`Holds` and `Contains` are relationships, not entity sets.** Both are M:N and both carry their own attributes, which is exactly what a Chen relationship is for. They become tables (`holdings`, `watchlist_items`) only in P2. ## Data requirements Each entity set is given as a short rationale for why it exists as its own set, its keys, and its attributes as a table. Each relationship is given as its cardinality and participation, a short rationale, and — where it carries data — an attribute table. ### Entity sets #### Users Registered participants of the platform. Every action in the simulation is attributed to a user, and the two balance attributes are what makes the simulation work: cash that is free to trade is tracked separately from cash that is currently committed to open positions, so the platform can refuse a purchase without having to recompute the whole portfolio first. **Keys:** candidates `{id}`, `{username}`, `{email}`; primary key **`id`**. A surrogate UUID was chosen because it is opaque and stable — `username` and `email` are both things a user may legitimately want to change later, and every relationship in the diagram points at `Users`, so a mutable key would propagate changes across the whole database. | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `id` | UUID | PK, required | | `username` | text(50) | required, unique | | `email` | text(255) | required, unique, contains `@` | | `full_name` | text(200) | optional | | `password_hash` | text(255) | required — never the password itself; the prototype stores a SHA-256 hex digest | | `available_balance` | numeric(18,4) | required, default 0, ≥ 0 | | `invested_balance` | numeric(18,4) | required, default 0, ≥ 0 | | `reserved_balance` | numeric(18,4) | required, default 0, ≥ 0 — cash set aside for the user's open buy orders (added in v04, after P7) | | `created_at` | timestamptz | required, defaults to now | | `updated_at` | timestamptz | optional (null until first change) | #### Cryptos The catalog of crypto assets the platform knows about. Kept separate from `Markets` because an asset exists independently of the pairs it is traded in — the same asset can be quoted against several currencies, and a user's holding is in the *asset*, not in a particular pair. **Keys:** candidates `{id}`, `{symbol}`; primary key **`id`**, for the same reason as in `Users`. `symbol` is kept as a unique natural key because that is what users type and see. | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `id` | UUID | PK, required | | `symbol` | text(20) | required, unique (e.g. `BTC`) | | `name` | text(255) | required (e.g. `Bitcoin`) | | `created_at` | timestamptz | required, defaults to now | #### Markets A tradeable pair: one crypto asset quoted in one currency, e.g. BTC/USD. This is where prices live, and it is the thing an order is placed *on*. Modeled as its own entity set rather than an attribute of `Cryptos` because a market has its own lifecycle — it can be deactivated without deleting the asset — and because trades, candles and orders all reference the pair, not the asset. **Keys:** candidates `{id}`, `{crypto_id, quote_currency}` — that pair is unique by definition, since a given asset can only be quoted once per currency; primary key **`id`**, so that the many entity sets referencing a market carry one narrow column instead of a composite key. | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `id` | UUID | PK, required | | `quote_currency` | text(3) | required, default `USD` | | `is_active` | boolean | required, default true — inactive markets are hidden from the trading menus but keep their history | | `created_at` | timestamptz | required, defaults to now | #### Orders A user's instruction to buy or sell on a market. Needed as a separate entity set because an order is a record of *intent* that outlives its execution: it keeps the requested quantity and price even after it has been filled, which is what makes the ledger auditable. Placing an order is what triggers a **reservation** of whatever it commits: the crypto being sold (`Holds.reserved_quantity`, below) on a sell, and the cash (`Users.reserved_balance`) on a buy. Since v04 (after P7) an order can wait in the order book and be filled in parts, so `status` is a real lifecycle driven by `filled_quantity`: `open` (nothing filled yet), `partially_filled`, `executed` (completely filled), or `cancelled`, which releases what is still reserved. See [UseCase0005](../P3-UseCaseModel/UseCase0005.md) for the reserve-then-settle sequence and [AdvancedDatabaseDevelopment](../P7-AdvancedDatabaseDevelopment/AdvancedDatabaseDevelopment.md) for the rules that keep it consistent. **Keys:** candidate `{id}` only — there is no natural key, since the same user can place two identical orders on the same market in the same second, and both are legitimately distinct; primary key **`id`**. | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `id` | UUID | PK, required | | `side` | text | required, `buy` or `sell` | | `type` | text | required, `market` or `limit` (both executed since P7) | | `status` | text | required, `open`, `partially_filled`, `executed` or `cancelled` | | `quantity` | numeric(20,4) | required, > 0 | | `filled_quantity` | numeric(20,4) | required, default 0, between 0 and `quantity` — how much has been traded; remaining = `quantity − filled_quantity` (added in v04, after P7) | | `price` | numeric(18,6) | the limit price; for a market order, the market price when it was placed | | `placed_at` | timestamptz | required, defaults to now | | `executed_at` | timestamptz | optional, set when the order settles | #### Transactions The financial ledger: every movement of virtual cash, in one place. This exists so that a balance is never just a number someone edited — it is the sum of an auditable list of entries, which is also what the "explain every step" goal of the project needs. **Keys:** candidate `{id}` only; primary key **`id`**. | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `id` | UUID | PK, required | | `type` | text | required, `deposit`, `buy`, `sell` or `fee` | | `amount` | numeric(18,4) | required, signed — negative for money leaving the cash balance, positive for money arriving | | `currency` | text(3) | required, default `USD` | | `created_at` | timestamptz | required, defaults to now | | `description` | text | optional, free-form | #### MarketTrades Individual executed trades on a market, from the user's own fills and from the market simulator. This is the single source of truth for the current price: the price of a market is the price of its most recent trade, never a column someone writes directly. **Keys:** candidate `{id}` — `{market_id, executed_at}` looks unique in principle, but two trades can share a timestamp, so it is not a safe key; primary key **`id`** (a plain auto-incrementing integer here rather than a UUID, because this is the highest-volume entity set and it is only ever read in timestamp order, never referenced by anything else). | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `id` | integer | PK, required, auto-generated | | `executed_at` | timestamptz | required | | `price` | numeric(18,6) | required, > 0 | | `quantity` | numeric(20,6) | required, > 0 | | `side` | text | optional, `buy` or `sell` | | `source` | text(50) | required, default `simulation` — distinguishes a simulated trade from a user's own fill (`user`) | Since v04 (after P7) a trade also records which orders it filled, through the relationships `FillsBuy` and `FillsSell` below. #### OrderEvents *Added in v04, after P7.* The audit trail of an order: one event for its placement, one for every (partial) fill, and one for a cancellation. The `Orders` row only holds the current state; this entity keeps the history of how the order got there. Events are recorded automatically by the database. **Keys:** candidate `{id}` only; primary key **`id`** (auto-incrementing integer, events are only read in order). | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `id` | integer | PK, required, auto-generated | | `event_type` | text | required, `placed`, `partially_filled`, `filled` or `cancelled` | | `quantity` | numeric(20,4) | required — the ordered quantity for `placed`, the filled amount for a fill, the unfilled rest for `cancelled` | | `price` | numeric(18,6) | optional — the order price, or the trade price for a fill | | `status_after` | text | required, the order's status after the event | | `created_at` | timestamptz | required, defaults to now | #### MarketCandles OHLCV aggregates per market and timeframe — the data a price chart is drawn from. Stored rather than computed on the fly because the point of the project is a chart-driven interface, and re-aggregating the whole trade history for every screen refresh does not scale. **Keys:** candidates `{id}`, `{market_id, timeframe, candle_time}` — a market has exactly one candle per timeframe per time bucket; primary key **`id`**, the composite is enforced as a uniqueness rule because it is the real-world constraint and it is what prevents duplicate candles. | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `id` | integer | PK, required, auto-generated | | `timeframe` | text | required, `1m`, `5m`, `1h` or `1d` | | `open`, `high`, `low`, `close` | numeric(18,6) | all required | | `volume` | numeric(20,6) | required | | `candle_time` | timestamptz | required — the start of the bucket | #### Watchlists A named list of assets a user wants to monitor. A separate entity set rather than a flag on the relationship between users and assets, because a user may want several lists ("long term", "watching today") and each needs its own name. **Keys:** candidate `{id}` — `{user_id, name}` would also work if list names were required to be unique per user, which the model does not impose, so it is not listed as a candidate key; primary key **`id`**. | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `id` | UUID | PK, required | | `name` | text(100) | required | | `created_at` | timestamptz | required, defaults to now | ### Relationships #### QuotedOn — Cryptos (1) : Markets (N), total on Markets Ties a market to the asset it trades. One asset can be quoted in many markets; every market must have exactly one asset, hence total participation on the `Markets` side. No attributes. #### PlacedOn — Markets (1) : Orders (N), total on Orders Records which market an order was placed on. Every order must name a market; a market may have no orders yet. No attributes. #### Places — Users (1) : Orders (N), total on Orders Records who placed an order. Every order belongs to exactly one user; a new user has no orders. No attributes. #### Records — Users (1) : Transactions (N), total on Transactions Attributes each ledger entry to a user. Every entry belongs to exactly one user. No attributes. #### Settles — Orders (1) : Transactions (N), partial on both sides Links a ledger entry to the order that caused it. Partial on the `Transactions` side because deposits have no originating order, and partial on the `Orders` side because an order that never executes never produces a ledger entry — which is why the corresponding column is nullable in P2. No attributes. #### Fills — Markets (1) : MarketTrades (N), total on MarketTrades Every executed trade happened on exactly one market. No attributes. #### FillsBuy — Orders (1) : MarketTrades (N), partial on both sides *Added in v04, after P7.* The buy order a trade filled. An order can be filled by many trades (partial fills); a trade fills at most one buy order, and none when the simulated market was the buyer. No attributes. #### FillsSell — Orders (1) : MarketTrades (N), partial on both sides *Added in v04, after P7.* The sell order a trade filled, symmetric to `FillsBuy`. A trade between two users' orders participates in both. No attributes. #### Logs — Orders (1) : OrderEvents (N), total on OrderEvents *Added in v04, after P7.* Every event belongs to exactly one order. No attributes. #### Aggregates — Markets (1) : MarketCandles (N), total on MarketCandles Every candle summarises trades of exactly one market. No attributes. #### Owns — Users (1) : Watchlists (N), total on Watchlists Every watchlist belongs to exactly one user. No attributes. #### Holds — Users (M) : Cryptos (N), partial on both sides, **with attributes** A user's position in an asset. M:N because one user holds many assets and one asset is held by many users, and partial on both sides because a user may hold nothing and an asset may be held by nobody. Modeled as a relationship rather than an entity set because a position has no identity of its own — it is entirely described by *which user*, *which asset*, and how much. `reserved_quantity` mirrors `available_balance`/`invested_balance` on `Users`: two independently updated stored numbers, with the amount actually free to use computed on demand rather than stored (`quantity − reserved_quantity` here, `available_balance` alone on the cash side). Without it, nothing stopped a user from placing a second sell order against crypto already promised to a first one — `quantity` alone cannot tell "owned" apart from "owned, but already committed elsewhere." See [history](#entity-relationship-model-history), v03. | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `quantity` | numeric(20,4) | required, ≥ 0 — total amount owned | | `reserved_quantity` | numeric(20,4) | required, default 0, `0 ≤ reserved_quantity ≤ quantity` — committed to the user's own open sell orders, not yet removed from the position | | `avg_price` | numeric(18,6) | required, ≥ 0, **derived** (dashed ellipse) — the weighted average of the prices at which the position was accumulated; derivable from the buy history, stored anyway so unrealised P/L can be shown without replaying the whole ledger | | `created_at` | timestamptz | required, defaults to now | | `updated_at` | timestamptz | optional | #### Contains — Watchlists (M) : Cryptos (N), partial on both sides, **with attribute** Which assets are on which watchlist. M:N: a list holds many assets, an asset appears on many lists. Partial on both sides — an empty list is valid and an asset need not be on any list. | Attribute | Type | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `added_at` | timestamptz | required, defaults to now — recorded so a list can be shown in the order the user built it | ## Entity-Relationship Model History - **v01** — First complete version. Built from the entity notes in [`ep-diagram.md`](ep-diagram.md) (the initial hand-written model), with three changes made to that initial model while drawing it: 1. `Markets` was promoted from an implied attribute of the asset to its own entity set, so that prices, orders, trades and candles can all reference a pair rather than an asset. 2. `holdings` and `watchlist_items` were re-expressed as the M:N relationships `Holds` and `Contains` with their own attributes, instead of entity sets with foreign keys — the initial notes listed them as tables, which is a relational concept that does not belong in a Chen ERD. 3. `avg_price` was marked as a derived attribute rather than a plain one, to make the denormalisation explicit rather than hidden. - **v02** — Student review pass over the AI-generated v01 in the TerraER GUI. - **v03** — Added `reserved_quantity` to `Holds`, and reworded `Orders.status` to state its reserve → settle → (cancel) lifecycle explicitly, instead of leaving `open`/`cancelled` as unused enum values. Triggered by a design review that pointed out the model had no way to stop a user from placing a second sell order against crypto already promised to a first, unsettled one — `quantity` alone cannot distinguish "owned" from "owned, but already committed." Also redrawn more compactly: every entity and relationship (with its own attributes moved along with it) was pulled proportionally toward the diagram's centroid, shrinking the canvas by roughly 45% with the same topology and no new overlaps. See [ERModelAIUsage](ERModelAIUsage.md) for the reasoning and how the diagram file itself was produced, and [RelationalDesign](../P2-RelationalDesign/RelationalDesign.md) and [UseCase0005](../P3-UseCaseModel/UseCase0005.md) for how the new attribute is enforced. - **v04 — after P7.** Phase 7 (order, balance and trade consistency) needed data the model did not have, so the model was extended to stay in line with the database: - `Users.reserved_balance`: cash reserved by open buy orders; - `Orders.filled_quantity` and the status value `partially_filled`: orders can now be filled in parts; - the relationships `FillsBuy` and `FillsSell` between `Orders` and `MarketTrades`: which orders a trade filled; - the entity set `OrderEvents` with the relationship `Logs`: the automatically recorded history of every order. Nothing existing was removed or changed. See [AdvancedDatabaseDevelopment](../P7-AdvancedDatabaseDevelopment/AdvancedDatabaseDevelopment.md). The diagram files are `ERModel_v04.xml` / `ERModel_v04.png`; earlier versions are kept. Reasoning for the AI-assisted part of this phase, and the full interaction log, are on [ERModelAIUsage](ERModelAIUsage.md).