Open/Close

What Is Open/Close?

Open/close refers to the price at which a particular cryptocurrency opens at a given time period, such as the beginning of the day, or the price at which a cryptocurrency closes at that same time period, such as the end of the day. These words were generally more relevant in traditional financial markets because trading occurs at specific times of the day.

Diving Deep Into the Concept of Open/Close

In software development, open/close usually relates to the programming principle of extending software parts (functions, modules, etc.) without permitting any changes to the source code. The code allows for flexibility while limiting the possibility of altering its essential components. 

This avoids the need to rewrite the software whenever new requirements arise entirely. Bertrand Meyer first articulated it as part of the SOLID concept of object-oriented programming. Because of the immutability of blockchain and crypto projects, open/close is very critical. 

Once installed, blockchain, as well as its parameters, are difficult to modify. This is because all network nodes and participants must agree upon any modification, and a consensus must be formed, which is not always simple. 

As a result, blockchain platforms and decentralized applications are often only modifiable via a hard fork, which requires starting on a new chain. Hard forks are a bothersome and risky operation for users. 

It is impractical to hard fork projects each time they have to pursue improvements and add/modify capabilities. As a result, blockchain programming strongly relies on the open/close concept, which means leaving flexibility for capability expansion without creating severe modifications.