Ascend Launches Prediction Perps on Midnight Mainnet for Private Group

Ascend Market has launched prediction perps on its Midnight-based mainnet platform. The product gives traders a way to take leveraged positions on changes in the market’s assessment of an event’s probability.

Members of Ascend’s private mainnet group are the first to receive access. The platform developed the product in collaboration with Dimes and plans a full public launch after the initial phase.

Ascend Begins Prediction Perps Rollout

The launch follows Ascend’s announcement in October that it would introduce prediction perps in stages. The platform had previously reported more than 75,000 transactions associated with Ascend on Midnight mainnet.

Ascend also offers perpetual markets for assets such as Bitcoin and ADA, alongside a spot exchange with an order book. The new product adds contracts linked to event probabilities to that trading offering.

The launch announcement did not identify the markets available to the private group or specify each partner’s technical responsibilities. Ascend also did not provide a date for the public release.

Trading Changes in Event Probabilities

A prediction market price can reflect participants’ assessment of a possible outcome. If a market prices the probability of an event at 60%, that figure can change as new information emerges and traders adjust their positions.

Prediction perps let traders take a position on the direction of that change. A long position provides exposure to an increase in the contract’s price, while a short position provides exposure to a decrease. Rather than relying solely on the final outcome of an event, a trader can open or close a position as the market’s price changes.

Perpetual contracts generally do not have a fixed expiration date. Ascend’s product also supports leverage, which increases a trader’s exposure relative to the collateral used to open a position. Leverage can amplify gains and losses, and an adverse price movement can lead to liquidation.

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Midnight’s Role in Ascend’s Platform

Ascend uses Midnight’s zero-knowledge infrastructure to support its trading platform. The technology allows a statement to be verified without revealing all the underlying information used to establish it.

According to Ascend’s technical documentation, its architecture includes separate systems for matching orders, managing accounts and evaluating risk. Their outputs are subject to zero-knowledge verification, with final state changes committed to Midnight.

The platform’s design is intended to make trading activity verifiable while protecting selected information, including details of user positions. For prediction perps, access remains limited to the private mainnet group while Ascend prepares the public launch.