Paradex exchange profile

Paradex is a derivatives-led exchange on a dedicated Starknet appchain. The platform presents spot, perpetual futures and dated options through a shared trading environment. Its privacy design keeps individual positions and profit-and-loss information out of the public view; this does not remove margin requirements or the operator’s role in delivering the interface.[1]

On 20 October 2026, DefiLlama showed approximately US$447.1 million of perpetual notional over 30 days, US$457.81 million of options notional, US$3.92 million of options premiums and US$2.34 million of spot turnover. Notional measures contract exposure, while premiums measure option prices exchanged. These are separate activity measures, and none establishes how many individual customers traded.[38]

Illustration: two US$10,000 Pro taker perpetual fills at 0.045% cost US$9 equivalent, before funding, spread and withdrawals. This assumes no discounts and unchanged notional.[3]

DIME staking can reduce Pro taker spot/perpetual fees by up to 30%; payment in DIME is separately documented with a 40% discount. DIME payment uses its market conversion price. Unstaking requires a request, a 24-hour cooldown and a subsequent confirmation. Token-price exposure and the release process remain relevant even when trading fees fall.[32]

Funding accrues continuously from an index updated each second; the published rate normally uses an eight-hour reference period. Positive funding is paid by longs to shorts, with the direction reversing at a negative rate. The calculation blends external and internal impact-price information and smooths the result. A quoted eight-hour rate is not an instruction to wait for one scheduled settlement.[8]

For an illustrative constant 0.01% rate per eight hours and US$10,000 of constant exposure, two hours accrues US$0.25 equivalent: 10,000 × 0.0001 × 2/8. This assumes unchanged prices and USDC at US$1. The documented index omits a pause when the gap between ticks exceeds 30 seconds.[8]

A positive account value is not the same as available derivative margin. Non-USDC spot holdings currently increase account value but do not increase free collateral; only USDC supports trading collateral in this model. Those non-collateral spot balances are not included in liquidation. Multi-collateral treatment is described as a future development.[5]

During an insurance-fund shortfall, the loss factor applies to withdrawals until the fund is recapitalised. Consequently, an exit can return less than the nominal withdrawal amount. This is a protocol loss-allocation rule, not a bank-withdrawal fee or a fixed insurance deductible.[10]

Matching occurs in cloud infrastructure; trades are then validated on-chain against risk requirements. The interface can update balances before chain validation finishes. A rejected fill can be rolled back as a trade bust. Apparent execution and final settlement therefore require separate monitoring, especially for a hedged strategy using another venue.[11]

The audit index publishes May 2025 Cairo Security Clan work for Paraclear, vault and related contracts, earlier bridge reviews by Zellic and Trail of Bits, and a March 2025 API/web penetration test. These are dated, component-specific records. They do not establish continuing solvency or that every subsequent application change was covered.[29]

Paradex excludes US and Canadian persons as defined in its restrictions, and people or territories subject to the specified sanctions. The list also names US-associated territories and other excluded locations. Eligibility depends on the person and legal location, not simply whether a wallet can connect.[37]

The terms prohibit using a VPN to bypass restrictions and require legal capacity to enter the agreement. They place responsibility for Ethereum, Starknet and API credentials on the user.[36]

Official links identify Discord, Telegram announcements and the platform’s social account. These channels support incident communication and account enquiries. The reviewed official-links page does not establish a telephone dealing service or a guaranteed resolution time.[30]

Scheduled weekday maintenance is listed at 04:30 UTC, normally lasting about 15 minutes. Recovery passes through roughly two minutes of cancel-only and two minutes of post-only operation before normal trading. During those modes a five-basis-point boundary around external fair price constrains orders. A maintenance announcement is therefore relevant to pending instructions as well as new trades.[12]

The agreement uses England and Wales law. Written claims go first to [email protected]; after 60 days from receipt without resolution, either party may seek SIAC arbitration in Singapore before one arbitrator. Filing must occur within one year after the underlying act, omission, event, circumstance or claim first arises. The contractual liability ceiling is the preceding month’s fees, subject to liabilities that law cannot exclude.[36]

The terms identify Paradex Corp. and affiliates and expressly state that Paradex is not registered or licensed by a regulator. They distinguish the software provider from the protocols. No financial-services permission, deposit-protection entitlement or regulator-backed compensation promise is established by the platform’s technical architecture.[36]

Paradex’s January 23, 2026 post-mortem described a January 19 maintenance failure in which a restart race condition corrupted market data and reset some funding indices, producing unintended liquidations. The response included disabling access, rolling the chain back to a pre-maintenance state and cancelling open orders except TP/SL. The inspected reproduced statement illustrates a material operational control beyond ordinary trade validation.[39]

Current documentation spans spot, perpetuals, dated options, vaults and a dedicated chain. Marketing about one product’s speed or cost should be read against the particular order route and account rules. The available public material did not establish a separately audited count of active individual traders.[1]

Operator

Paradex Corp. and affiliates

Exchange model

Hybrid

Service scope

Appchain markets and separately allocated vault strategies.

Client types

Retail clients; Professional clients; Institutional clients

Pricing publication

Public pricing

Pricing scope

Order classification determines execution fees; continuous funding is separate.

Funding scope

USDC through Ethereum and supported external bridges.

Custody and asset handling

User signing keys; cloud matching and on-chain risk validation.

Client eligibility

Restricted-person rules; wallet or embedded-account access.

Support

Official Discord and announcements; contractual written-claim procedure.

Authorisation and registration scope

Terms expressly state no regulatory registration or licence.

Exchange metadata checked 20 Oct 2026Source 1Source 36Source 11Source 17Source 2Source 32