Trade perpetuals on Lighter — fast, verified, yours.
The Lighter platform is a decentralized exchange for perpetual futures. Every order is matched on-chain and settled with a validity proof. No custodian holds your funds.
How it works
Getting started takes under five minutes. The Lighter protocol handles the hard part — order matching, margin accounting, and proof generation — so you focus on the trade. Think of it as a tutorial with real money on the line.
Connect your wallet
Use MetaMask, Rabby, or any WalletConnect-compatible wallet. The protocol supports Ethereum mainnet and the Lighter L2 network.
Deposit USDC collateral
Bridge USDC from Ethereum or deposit directly. Minimum is $10. Funds sit in the audited smart contract, never a hot wallet.
Pick a market and leverage
Select BTC-PERP, ETH-PERP, SOL-PERP, or LIT-PERP. Adjust leverage from 1× to 20×. The margin calculator shows liquidation price before you confirm.
Submit your order
Limit, market, and TWAP orders are supported. The matching engine processes them on-chain; you get a settlement proof within a few seconds.
Monitor and withdraw
Track positions in the Portfolio dashboard. Close any time. Withdrawals go straight to your wallet — no waiting period for standard exits.
Key features
ZK-proven order matching
Every fill generates a validity proof posted to the base layer. Anyone can verify execution without replaying the full order book — a design choice that sets Lighter apart from optimistic systems.
Cross and isolated margin
Run multiple positions under a shared cross-margin account, or ring-fence each trade with isolated margin. Switch modes without closing positions.
TWAP order type
Time-weighted average price orders let you split large fills over a chosen window — up to 24 hours — with automatic partial execution. Useful for entries that would otherwise move the market.
Public liquidity pools
LPs deposit USDC into public pools and earn a share of trading fees. The pool's strategy is governed on-chain, not by a multisig. Yield numbers update every epoch (~8 hours).
LIT staking
Stake LIT tokens to receive a portion of protocol revenue. Unstaking has a 7-day cooldown. The staking contract was tested with Foundry, the same toolchain Uniswap v4 uses for invariant testing.
Open API and SDK
REST and WebSocket endpoints cover order placement, position queries, and historical data. A TypeScript SDK ships with the repo. If you've integrated with Uniswap's subgraph before, the data model will feel familiar.
Permissionless market listing
New perpetual markets go live through community governance proposals. Any LIT holder with enough voting weight can submit a listing request. Three markets passed in the first six months.
Lighter by the numbers
These figures come from on-chain data and the Lighter analytics dashboard. They change daily. The point is that real volume flows through the protocol — not test trades.
Cumulative trading volume since mainnet launch
Perpetual markets actively listed on the platform
Unique trader addresses have used the protocol
Year the Lighter mainnet went live on Ethereum
Why Lighter
Honestly, most perpetual DEXs make the same promises. Here's what actually differs with Lighter's protocol.
Your keys, your positions
Funds never leave your custody until a trade settles. The smart contract holds collateral; no team multisig can freeze or redirect it during normal operation.
Verifiable execution
Because Lighter uses ZK proofs rather than fraud windows, you don't have to wait days to know whether a fill was valid. The proof is on-chain immediately. Learn more at ethereum.org's ZK-rollup docs.
Competitive funding rates
The funding rate mechanism mirrors standard perpetual futures conventions. Rates are calculated every hour and paid continuously, not in 8-hour chunks that surprise you overnight.
Built for builders
The team behind Lighter open-sourced the Foundry test suite and a reference market-maker bot. If you want to write a trading strategy, the tooling is already there — no NDA required.
FAQ
Quick answers to common questions. For deeper reading, visit the full FAQ page.
What is Lighter?
Lighter is a decentralized perpetuals exchange that processes orders on-chain using a custom ZK-powered matching engine, giving traders verifiable execution without trusting a centralized operator. It launched on Ethereum mainnet in 2023.
How do I start trading on Lighter?
Connect a compatible Web3 wallet, deposit USDC as collateral, select a market such as BTC-PERP or ETH-PERP, set your leverage up to 20×, and submit your order. The interface confirms the transaction within seconds. A step-by-step walkthrough is on the home page.
Is Lighter safe and audited?
The Lighter smart contracts have been reviewed by independent security firms. The team built the test suite using Foundry, and all audit reports are publicly available in the project repository on GitHub. No audit eliminates all risk, but the codebase has been scrutinized by multiple parties.
Can I use Lighter if I already trade on Uniswap?
Yes. Lighter is a separate protocol focused on perpetual futures rather than spot swaps. If you are comfortable with Uniswap's interface, you will find Lighter's layout familiar within a few minutes. The main difference is the margin and leverage panel on the right side of the trading view.
Why should I choose Lighter over a centralized exchange?
Lighter keeps your funds in self-custodied smart contracts. No withdrawal limits, no KYC gate for basic trading, and every settlement proof is posted on-chain so you can verify it independently. That's the core value of the Lighter platform.
What markets are available on Lighter?
Lighter currently lists perpetual markets for BTC, ETH, SOL, and LIT. Additional markets are proposed and voted on by the community through on-chain governance. Three new market proposals passed in the protocol's first six months.
How does Lighter handle liquidations?
When a position's margin ratio falls below the maintenance threshold, the Lighter liquidation engine closes the position at the best available order book price. Proceeds go to the insurance fund first, then any surplus returns to the trader. Liquidators earn a small incentive fee for executing the close.
More detailed answers and edge cases are covered on the FAQ page. For protocol architecture, check the About page.