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Hedging & Neutral Strategies

Putting spot and perpetuals together opens up ways to trade without betting on direction. They all share one prerequisite: a spot long and a perp short working efficiently in the same account — which is exactly what the unified margin structure exists for.

Two Classic Neutral Plays​

Buy the Cheap Token, Short the Equal Perp (Earn the Spread)​

A stock token sometimes trades below its underlying stock (a discount). Buy the discounted token and simultaneously short an equal-sized perpetual: price risk cancels out, and when the gap converges (the token recovers, or the perp falls), close both sides and keep the spread.

The honest math: spread convergence is the profit; funding is a cost or a subsidy. If your short side pays negative funding and the gap converges slowly, funding eats the profit. Before opening, check: expected spread gain > expected funding cost + friction. Otherwise wait.

Lock the Token for Yield, Short the Equal Perp (Earn the Yield)​

Lock or stake the token to earn protocol rewards, and short an equal perp to cancel price risk: up and down offset, and you mainly collect the lockup yield, with funding added or subtracted.

The difference between the two plays: the first earns a one-time spread (it needs the token to be discounted); the second earns continuous yield (no discount needed — lockup rewards keep flowing). Nearly identical positions, completely different profit sources.

Why It Works Better Here​

Done elsewhere, these strategies span two venues: buy the token on a stock-token platform, open the short on a derivatives exchange — two margin accounts, transfers back and forth, doubled capital and fees, plus cross-venue price and custody risk along the way.

Here:

  • One account: spot and perpetuals share the same pool and the same margin — the spot position itself is the margin. Opening the short needs no separate collateral and no moving assets around; the next step, portfolio margin, lets hedged legs offset and charges by net risk;
  • One price source: the perp's accounting price comes from the very pool where the spot trades — there is no extra basis from "spot at one venue, perp marked at another";
  • when to trade and how big is a strategy call; the account structure puts nothing in the way.

LPs Can Hedge Too (Phase 2)​

The protocol can compute what LPs hold and how risky it is. Later, LPs will be able to open offsetting positions in the same account to hedge their in-pool exposure — no need to move funds to another platform and assemble a hedge there. This is a Phase-2 capability with the direction already set.

Status: Honestly Labeled​

  • Unified margin (one account, spot-as-margin, same-pool pricing) is the foundation that exists today;
  • Stock tokens are a roadmap capability — and the neutral plays above work equally for any listed pair;
  • the strategies themselves need no new protocol feature: spot + perp + one account, and they stand.