Everything you need to know about trading perpetuals on Lighter — from your first deposit to advanced order types. You can also visit the about page for a deeper look at the protocol, or head back to the home page to start trading.
Lighter is a decentralized exchange built specifically for perpetual futures trading. Unlike most DEXs that use an AMM-based pricing engine, Lighter runs a fully on-chain central limit order book. Every order, match, and settlement happens transparently on-chain — no off-chain sequencer hiding your trades.
The result: tighter spreads, deterministic execution, and no front-running from opaque matching engines. Traders who have used centralized venues will find the order book familiar. The key difference is that custody always stays with the user.
Connect a compatible wallet on the Lighter app. Navigate to the Portfolio page and select Deposits. You can fund your account from multiple sources — card, Bitcoin, Coinbase, Tron, Solana, USDT, and more are all supported. Choose the asset and network, then follow the on-screen steps to confirm the transfer.
Once your deposit is confirmed, funds appear in your trading balance and you can open positions immediately. There is no waiting period for standard deposits. Large deposits may take a few extra block confirmations depending on the source chain.
An on-chain order book records every bid, ask, fill, and cancellation directly in the protocol's smart contracts. This matters for two reasons. First, the matching logic is auditable — anyone can verify that the best-priced order was filled before a worse-priced one. Second, there is no separate "matching server" that can be manipulated or go offline.
For active traders, this means the price you see is the price you get. Slippage surprises caused by opaque AMM curves or off-chain re-ordering are not a factor here.
Yes. The Lighter protocol has undergone security reviews by independent auditors before mainnet deployment. Audit reports are made available publicly so anyone can inspect the findings and the team's responses.
User funds are held in non-custodial smart contracts. The protocol never takes custody of assets in a way that requires you to trust an intermediary. Withdrawals are processed on-chain and cannot be blocked by a central party. That said, all smart contract protocols carry inherent risk, and it is good practice to only trade what you can afford to lose.
Lighter supports perpetual futures across a range of major and emerging crypto assets. The LIT/USD pair is one of the native markets, alongside BTC, ETH, and other liquid assets. The team adds new markets as liquidity and risk parameters allow.
Each market has its own tick size, minimum order size, and funding rate calculation. You can find current market details in the Trade section of the app. Markets use USDC as the settlement currency.
Leverage multiplies your position size relative to your margin. At 10× leverage, a 1% price move produces a 10% gain or loss on your collateral. Lighter supports cross-margin and isolated-margin modes — cross-margin shares collateral across positions, while isolated caps risk to a single trade.
Maximum leverage depends on the market and is capped by the protocol's risk engine to keep the system solvent during volatile conditions. The current leverage limits are visible in the order entry panel for each market. Start conservatively until you are comfortable with how the funding and liquidation mechanics work.
Funding rates are periodic payments exchanged between long and short traders to keep the perpetual contract price anchored to the spot price of the underlying asset. When longs outnumber shorts and the perpetual trades at a premium, longs pay shorts. The opposite applies when shorts dominate.
On Lighter, the funding rate is computed from the difference between the mark price and the index price over a defined interval. You can track current and historical funding rates in the Funding History tab of the Portfolio page. Funding accrues continuously and is settled at each funding interval.
Fees on Lighter follow a maker-taker model. Makers — orders that add liquidity to the book — pay lower fees than takers who remove liquidity with market orders. Exact fee tiers are listed in the protocol documentation and may vary by trading volume tier.
There are no deposit fees charged by the protocol, though the source network may charge a gas fee for the on-chain transaction. Withdrawal fees also depend on network conditions. The fee breakdown is shown before you confirm any trade or transfer.
LIT is the native token of the Lighter platform. It is used for staking within the protocol, and stakers earn rewards from protocol activity. You can track your staking equity directly on the Portfolio page under the Staking tab.
The team behind Lighter also uses LIT as a way to credit trading incentives — you may see a "Credited in LIT" line in your portfolio summary. Full token economics are described in the official documentation.
Public Pools let users provide liquidity to Lighter markets and earn a share of trading fees. Think of it as becoming a passive market-maker without needing to manage individual orders. You deposit into a pool, the protocol allocates that capital across the order book, and fees accumulate pro-rata to your share.
Your Public Pool equity appears as a separate line in the Portfolio overview. Risks include pool drawdown if the protocol takes losses on positions, so review the pool's strategy before depositing. Pool performance history is visible in the Public Pools section of the app.
TWAP stands for time-weighted average price. A TWAP order breaks a large trade into smaller child orders and executes them over a chosen time window. The goal is to reduce market impact — instead of hitting the book with one large order that moves the price against you, the trades are spread out.
This order type suits traders who need to build or unwind a significant position without paying a large premium. You can configure the duration and slice size. Active TWAP orders appear in the TWAP tab on the Portfolio page, and you can cancel at any time before completion.
Liquidation occurs when your margin ratio falls below the maintenance margin requirement. At that point, the protocol closes your position to protect the overall solvency of the exchange. You lose your remaining collateral in the affected margin account.
To avoid liquidation, keep an eye on the Cross Margin Ratio shown in your Portfolio overview. Adding collateral to your account raises this ratio and moves your liquidation price further away. Reducing leverage or closing positions partially are also effective tactics during high-volatility periods. Setting alerts on your margin ratio is good practice.
Yes. Lighter is available on iOS via the App Store (app ID 6752246796) and on Android via Google Play. The mobile app supports the same core features as the web platform — trading, portfolio tracking, deposits, and withdrawals — optimized for touch interaction.
You can download the iOS version from the App Store or the Android version from the Play Store. The web app also works well on mobile browsers if you prefer not to install a native app.
Centralized exchanges hold your funds. If they freeze withdrawals, get hacked, or face regulatory action, your capital may be at risk. On Lighter, you retain custody through smart contracts — the protocol cannot freeze your withdrawals unilaterally.
On-chain settlement also means full transparency. Every trade is verifiable on-chain, and there is no insider advantage from seeing your order flow before it is matched. For traders who value verifiability and self-custody, that distinction is significant. The trade-off is that gas costs and on-chain confirmation times apply, though Lighter's architecture is designed to keep these minimal.
The primary support channels for Lighter are the official Discord server and the Twitter account linked in the footer below. For technical documentation, the docs site covers most scenarios in detail.
If you encounter an issue with a specific transaction, have the transaction hash ready before reaching out — it speeds up diagnosis considerably. The community on Discord is also active and often answers common questions faster than official support tickets.
Want to learn more about the protocol? Visit the about page for background on Lighter's technology and mission.