Atlas Opens Public Mainnet Beta for Perpetual Trading on Cardano

Atlas has opened its public mainnet beta for perpetual trading on Cardano. Users can connect a compatible wallet and take long or short positions using supported stablecoins as collateral.

The platform draws liquidity from a shared vault that acts as the counterparty to traders. The launch follows a public test phase and introduces initial limits on collateral, leverage and position size.

Atlas Introduces BTC/USD Trading on Cardano

Perpetual contracts are derivatives without a fixed expiration date. A long position gives a trader exposure to a rising price, while a short position provides exposure to a falling price.

Atlas supports market and limit orders, as well as take-profit and stop-loss triggers. Its smart contracts are written in Aiken, a language used to develop Cardano validators.

For BTC/USD on mainnet, Atlas documentation lists a minimum collateral requirement of 30 stablecoin units and maximum leverage of 5x. The platform also applies a position size cap. On the Preprod test network, the same market allows leverage of up to 50x and has no separate position size cap.

Leverage allows users to open a position larger than their deposited collateral. For example, 30 stablecoin units at 5x leverage create a position of 150 units. Gains and losses are calculated against the larger position, and an adverse price movement can lead to liquidation.

Trading Fees and Price Execution

Users need a compatible Cardano wallet, a stablecoin supported by the selected market and ADA for transaction-related requirements. Atlas lists Eternl and Lace among the compatible wallets.

For BTC/USD on mainnet, Atlas documentation lists an opening fee of 0.20% of the position size and an Atlas order fee of 1 ADA. Cardano transaction fees are separate. The figures are a snapshot checked on November 2, and the project notes that settings can change.

A borrow fee also applies while a position remains open. Atlas calculates it using a market-configured rate and completed five-minute holding periods, with the amount fixed when the position closes. Borrow fees flow to the liquidity vault.

For each trading action, an authorized operator supplies the price. Cardano validators check conditions including price freshness, execution limits and leverage, while the market price itself depends on the operator’s pricing system.

Closing a position takes two transactions. The first fixes the trading result and moves the position into a pending payout state. A separate settlement transaction updates the vault and pays the resulting stablecoins to the user.

[NEWSBREAK]

Atlas Vault and ATLAS Staking

Liquidity providers deposit stablecoins into the Atlas vault and receive LP tokens representing their share of the pool. The vault receives borrow fees and collateral from losing trades, while paying traders who close positions at a profit.

Profitable trades can reduce the value of LP tokens. Atlas states that neither deposited principal nor returns are guaranteed.

The project also offers ATLAS staking for a share of configured protocol revenue. Under the documented mainnet settings, a staking position becomes eligible for rewards after 30 days. Unstaking burns 10% of a position held for less than 30 days, 1% from 30 to fewer than 60 days, and 0.2% after 60 days. Atlas states that these values can be configured on-chain.

Before launch, Atlas reported that its vault had reached $50,000. A launch update shared by the project outlined plans for higher limits, more liquidity and additional deposit options in the following weeks.