DeFi

Perpetuals (Perps)

Derivatives contracts that track an asset's price without expiration, enabling leveraged long/short positions. On Solana, Drift Protocol and Jupiter Perps are the leading perps platforms. Traders deposit collateral and open positions at up to 10-100x leverage. Funding rates keep the contract price aligned with the spot price.

IDperpetualsAliasPerps

Plain meaning

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Derivatives contracts that track an asset's price without expiration, enabling leveraged long/short positions. On Solana, Drift Protocol and Jupiter Perps are the leading perps platforms. Traders deposit collateral and open positions at up to 10-100x leverage. Funding rates keep the contract price aligned with the spot price.

Mental model

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Think of it as a market mechanic used to price, route, or move capital through liquidity apps.

Technical context

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AMMs, routing, liquidity, lending, and trading infrastructure.

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Perpetuals (Perps) (perpetuals)
Category: DeFi
Definition: Derivatives contracts that track an asset's price without expiration, enabling leveraged long/short positions. On Solana, Drift Protocol and Jupiter Perps are the leading perps platforms. Traders deposit collateral and open positions at up to 10-100x leverage. Funding rates keep the contract price aligned with the spot price.
Aliases: Perps
Related: Drift Protocol, Leverage
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Branch

Drift Protocol

A decentralized perpetuals and spot exchange on Solana featuring a hybrid order book + AMM model (DLOB). Drift offers up to 20x leverage on perpetual contracts, spot margin trading, and lending/borrowing. Its backstop AMM provides liquidity when the order book is thin. Drift also offers prediction markets and a BET token.

Branch

Leverage

Using borrowed funds to amplify trading exposure beyond deposited capital. In perps, 10x leverage means $100 collateral controls a $1,000 position. Gains and losses are multiplied proportionally. If losses approach the collateral amount, the position is liquidated. Higher leverage increases both potential returns and liquidation risk.

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DeFi

Drift Protocol

A decentralized perpetuals and spot exchange on Solana featuring a hybrid order book + AMM model (DLOB). Drift offers up to 20x leverage on perpetual contracts, spot margin trading, and lending/borrowing. Its backstop AMM provides liquidity when the order book is thin. Drift also offers prediction markets and a BET token.

DeFi

Leverage

Using borrowed funds to amplify trading exposure beyond deposited capital. In perps, 10x leverage means $100 collateral controls a $1,000 position. Gains and losses are multiplied proportionally. If losses approach the collateral amount, the position is liquidated. Higher leverage increases both potential returns and liquidation risk.

DeFi

Phoenix

A high-performance on-chain order book DEX on Solana with a fully on-chain FIFO matching engine. Phoenix is designed for low-latency trading without cranks—orders are matched atomically within the same transaction. It supports limit orders, market orders, and provides a maker rebate structure to incentivize liquidity.

DeFi

Order Book (On-Chain)

A trading system that matches buy and sell orders at specified prices, implemented fully on-chain. Unlike AMMs, order books enable limit orders and don't require liquidity pools. Solana's high throughput makes on-chain order books viable. Phoenix uses a FIFO matching engine; OpenBook (Serum v4) uses a crank-based model.

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DeFidrift

Drift Protocol

A decentralized perpetuals and spot exchange on Solana featuring a hybrid order book + AMM model (DLOB). Drift offers up to 20x leverage on perpetual contracts, spot margin trading, and lending/borrowing. Its backstop AMM provides liquidity when the order book is thin. Drift also offers prediction markets and a BET token.

DeFileverage

Leverage

Using borrowed funds to amplify trading exposure beyond deposited capital. In perps, 10x leverage means $100 collateral controls a $1,000 position. Gains and losses are multiplied proportionally. If losses approach the collateral amount, the position is liquidated. Higher leverage increases both potential returns and liquidation risk.

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DeFi

AMM (Automated Market Maker)

A protocol that enables token swaps using algorithmic pricing against pooled liquidity instead of matching individual buyers and sellers. AMMs use mathematical formulas (typically constant product x*y=k) to determine prices based on the ratio of tokens in a liquidity pool. On Solana, major AMMs include Raydium, Orca, and Meteora.

DeFi

CLMM (Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker)

An AMM design where liquidity providers concentrate their capital within specific price ranges instead of across the full 0-to-infinity range. CLMMs dramatically improve capital efficiency—LPs earn more fees per dollar deposited within their active range. If the price moves outside the range, the position becomes inactive. Orca Whirlpools and Raydium CLMM are leading implementations on Solana.

DeFi

Liquidity Pool

A smart-contract-held reserve of two or more tokens that enables trading via an AMM. Users deposit token pairs in specified ratios to become liquidity providers and earn trading fees. Pools are identified by their token pair and fee tier. Pool depth (total value locked) determines price impact for trades.

DeFi

LP Token

A token issued to liquidity providers representing their proportional share of a pool's reserves and accrued fees. LP tokens can be burned to withdraw the underlying assets. The value of LP tokens changes as the pool's token ratios shift and fees accumulate. LP tokens are often stakeable in yield farming programs for additional rewards.