How Atlas Works
Atlas is a GMX-style perpetual DEX on Cardano. Traders open leveraged positions against a shared liquidity pool (the Vault), and LPs earn fees by providing that liquidity.
The Core Loop
For Traders
- Deposit stablecoin collateral and choose your leverage
- The protocol locks your collateral plus the opening trading fee and reserves additional liquidity from the Vault
- Your position is created on-chain
- When you close, your PnL is settled against the Vault
For LPs
- Deposit stablecoins into the Vault and receive LP tokens
- The Vault serves as counterparty to all trades
- You earn borrow fees from every open position
- When traders lose, the Vault (and your share) grows
For Stakers
- Stake $ATLAS tokens to earn a share of trading fee revenue
- Trading fees collected on position opens go to the protocol treasury
- A portion of treasury revenue is distributed to stakers each epoch
Key Mechanics
Position Sizing
When you open a position with collateral and leverage:
size = collateral × leverage
For example: $10 at 5x leverage = $50 position size.
The Vault reserves liquidity equal to your position size to back potential payouts.
Liquidation
Your position has a liquidation price calculated at entry. If the oracle price crosses this threshold, your position is automatically closed to protect the Vault.
The liquidation ratio is a configurable protocol parameter. Your position is liquidated when unrealized losses consume a significant portion of your collateral. Check the trading interface for the current ratio.
Fee Structure
| Fee | Rate | Destination |
|---|---|---|
| Trading fee | Configurable (% of position size) | Protocol treasury |
| Borrow fee | Variable (based on utilization) | Vault (LP revenue) |
Trading fees are charged when opening a position. Borrow fees accrue over time and are deducted when closing.
Security
Positions and vault state are stored on-chain, and settlement rules are enforced by Cardano validators. Off-chain services coordinate batching, oracle updates, and monitoring, but payouts and protocol state transitions must satisfy the on-chain rules.