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A year and a half ago, we launched Omni to bring broker-style trading on-chain. Back then, we got excited about hitting $1M in daily volume. As we relentlessly iterated on our product with UI redesigns, spread improvements, new order types, and more listings, our user base grew exponentially. Eventually, we started seeing $10M, $100M, $500M, $1B+ days.
Now, Omni is one of the largest on-chain trading venues by any metric: $3B+ in daily volume and nearly $2B in open interest. More than half of the platform's activity is in non-crypto markets. That rapid growth is driven primarily by swaps, our new instrument bringing TradFi liquidity on-chain.
Omni was (and continues to be) shaped by the feedback of traders. Hyperliquid proved that if you do right by your community, they will do right by you. That's why 32% of $VAR is going to Variational traders at TGE, fully unlocked. No external market makers on Omni, and no points for OLP. 100% of the allocation goes to real users.
We have so much left to build: trading API, 24/7 swaps liquidity, spread rebates, OLP deposits, spot markets, and Pro for options. TGE will be just the start of our journey to make Variational the best place for retail and institutions to trade any global market on-chain.
I'm excited to share more about our upcoming partnerships. For now I'll just say that the wait will be worth it. See you in Q4.
Now, Omni is one of the largest on-chain trading venues by any metric: $3B+ in daily volume and nearly $2B in open interest. More than half of the platform's activity is in non-crypto markets. That rapid growth is driven primarily by swaps, our new instrument bringing TradFi liquidity on-chain.
Omni was (and continues to be) shaped by the feedback of traders. Hyperliquid proved that if you do right by your community, they will do right by you. That's why 32% of $VAR is going to Variational traders at TGE, fully unlocked. No external market makers on Omni, and no points for OLP. 100% of the allocation goes to real users.
We have so much left to build: trading API, 24/7 swaps liquidity, spread rebates, OLP deposits, spot markets, and Pro for options. TGE will be just the start of our journey to make Variational the best place for retail and institutions to trade any global market on-chain.
I'm excited to share more about our upcoming partnerships. For now I'll just say that the wait will be worth it. See you in Q4.
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Variational is the cheapest place on-chain to trade both small ($10k) and large ($1M) orders for every TradFi market with a swap listed.
Variational is the cheapest place on-chain to trade both small ($10k) and large ($1M) orders for every TradFi market with a swap listed.
TradFi liquidity on-chain.
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lucas.var retweeted
Swaps allow traders on Omni to execute $1M+ orders on traditional markets with under 1 bip in total execution cost.
Placing the same size order on even the most liquid comparable on-chain perp would cost more than 4 times as much.
Placing the same size order on even the most liquid comparable on-chain perp would cost more than 4 times as much.
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Thanks to everyone who joined! Glad to kick off a content series on how Variational Pro will bring trillions of dollars in institutional trading on-chain across rates, options, and other derivatives.
As @andyyy says, "be more bullish."
As @andyyy says, "be more bullish."
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Come learn how Pro will bring institutional trading on-chain.
Any specific questions @andyyy and I should cover?
Any specific questions @andyyy and I should cover?
In 12 hours, @variational_lvs and @andyyy will go live for a discussion on Variational Pro!
Link below 👇
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Our structural edge is a broker-like model
. @variational_lvs lays out why nobody built the "Variational" model earlier, and why he doesn't expect to stay the only one doing it
"There's a lot of great reasons why people are rebuilding order books in crypto, and we saw the success of Hyperliquid. I'm a huge fan and was a . There's a lot of merits to building exchange infrastructure."
"It's not our main structural edge. Our structural edge is the broker-like model. We architected variational to work exactly for this - RFQ for order matching, broker-like model for trading and settling and clearing."
"We've been working with many of these large financial institutions for years to get them comfortable with doing this. It's the culmination of a very long amount of effort. We were able to be the first to do it. We won't be the last, but I hope and expect it will continue to be the biggest."
@variational_io
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lucas.var retweeted
By connecting to TradFi liquidity, swaps are already bringing new markets on-chain for the first time and cutting execution costs by orders of magnitude vs perps - but there's still much more to come:
➡️ FX pairs
➡️ Swaps on single stocks
➡️ 24/7 swaps
➡️ International listings
➡️ FX pairs
➡️ Swaps on single stocks
➡️ 24/7 swaps
➡️ International listings
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2025: Initial growth, proving Omni's broker-like model
2026: RWA perps and swaps, bringing TradFi liquidity on-chain
2027: Variational Pro for options, structured products, and other OTC derivatives, bringing institutional trading on-chain
2026: RWA perps and swaps, bringing TradFi liquidity on-chain
2027: Variational Pro for options, structured products, and other OTC derivatives, bringing institutional trading on-chain
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lucas.var retweeted
This Tuesday, @andyyy of @therollupco will interview @variational_lvs about Variational Pro live on an X Space!
Set a reminder below to learn more about Variational's upcoming second app for options and custom derivatives 👇
Set a reminder below to learn more about Variational's upcoming second app for options and custom derivatives 👇
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The only place anywhere (not just on-chain) for retail to directly trade volatility (not ETFs that track it poorly), the China Index (real exposure), and more.
All in one account. All with zero fees and TradFi liquidity.
All in one account. All with zero fees and TradFi liquidity.
Variational now lists 9 swap markets not available anywhere else on-chain:
➡️ Cocoa
➡️ Volatility Index
➡️ Dollar Index
➡️ Heating Oil
➡️ FANG+ Index
➡️ US30 Index
➡️ US2000 Index
➡️ Taiwan Index
➡️ China Index
Which markets do you want to see brought on-chain next?
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lucas.var retweeted
2w net revenue since swaps launched:
sep 4: $2,278,641
sep 18: $2,479,527
oct 2: $3,383,789
oct 16: $3,682,137
not bad
sep 4: $2,278,641
sep 18: $2,479,527
oct 2: $3,383,789
oct 16: $3,682,137
not bad
Welcome back to the Variational biweekly update!
PRODUCT
➡️ The most recent mainnet release was v0.38.1
➡️ Improvements to portfolio page
➡️ Extended QR-linked mobile session log in timer to 30 days
➡️ Preparations for trading API release
➡️ /v2/stats read API endpoint
METRICS
$417.92B
➡️ Current Dual-Sided OI: $2.04B
➡️ TVL (Excludes OLP Hedging Accounts): $290.88M
➡️ Total Markets Currently Listed: 575
➡️ Total Rewards Claimed: $8,831,643
➡️ Total Losses Refunded (Sunset): $4,559,196
➡️ Total Referral Rewards Claimed: $4,272,447
➡️ 2w Spreads Paid (Gross Revenue): $6,561,755
➡️ 2w Net Revenue: $3,682,137
➡️ 2w Rewards: ($303,768)
➡️ Referral Rewards: ($303,768)
➡️ 2w Net Profit: $3,378,369
➡️ 2W Protocol Treasury Inflow: $1,312,351
➡️ 2W OLP PnL: $2,066,018
➡️ Lifetime OLP PnL: $23,424,969
➡️ Current Protocol Treasury Holdings: 11,077,933 USDC
Thank you for your continued trust and support!
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lucas.var retweeted
. @variational_lvs makes the case that fees aren't a scam, they're just outdated
"I hesitate to call them a scam, because there's a lot of great platforms out there that charge fees. But there's a reason why in very mature financial markets, the market has kind of coalesced use it is very possible."
"It is possible using a brokerage-like model. It is possible through liquidity aggregation. It needed to be innovated in crypto."
"I think long term there's no reason for most retail traders to be paying fees. We're trying to lead the charge on building fair and transparent markets that are as friendly to retail as possible."
@variational_io
"I hesitate to call them a scam, because there's a lot of great platforms out there that charge fees. But there's a reason why in very mature financial markets, the market has kind of coalesced use it is very possible."
"It is possible using a brokerage-like model. It is possible through liquidity aggregation. It needed to be innovated in crypto."
"I think long term there's no reason for most retail traders to be paying fees. We're trying to lead the charge on building fair and transparent markets that are as friendly to retail as possible."
@variational_io
E185: @variational_io - Zero Fees, More Assets, No Funding Rate
@variational_lvs co-founded a hedge fund at 20 that Digital Currency Group acquired a year later, then walked away from that exit to build Variational that now sits second only to Hyperliquid in open interest and ment: crypto rebuilt exchanges before it built brokers, and that architectural gap is what's holding on-chain trading back.
0:00 Intro
2:20 Merch, Travel & Being Back in Singapore
5:13 Who Is Lucas Schuermann?
5:24 How Lucas Thinks About Building Trust
6:03 Starting College at Age 12
8:26 How Do You Actually Skip That Many Grades?
9:45 Making Friends Six Years Younger Than Everyone Else
10:40 Are You Still a "Weirdo" at 30?
11:40 Starting a Hedge Fund at 20 - "Hubris of the Young"
14:09 From Paper-Reading Group to a Real Fund
16:50 Acquired by Digital Currency Group at 21
18:59 Why Sell the Fund to DCG?
19:54 Sponsors: Variational & @Bitwise
20:47 Did You Regret Selling That Early?
21:51 The Money DCG Made Off Their Work
22:38 Starting a Market Making Firm
24:46 Explain Variational Protocol to Your Mom
26:49 Biggest Mistake Building Variational
28:13 The "Holy Sh*t, We Built Something Massive" Moment
29:54 Reason #1: Zero Fees
32:59 How Do You Trust the Price With Only One Market Maker?
34:33 Are Trading Fees a Scam?
35:29 How Much Do Fees Actually Cost Traders?
36:33 Reason #2: Asset Selection & What "Liquidity" Really Means
40:20 Why Hasn't Crypto Solved This Already?
42:39 Where On-Chain Order Books Break at Scale
46:04 Sponsor: @KASTxyz
46:52 Why Wouldn't a Hyperliquid Trader Switch to Variational?
49:28 Who Gets Destroyed When Wall Street Liquidity Arrives On-Chain
51:18 Reason #3: Swaps
52:34 The Real Problem With Perps: Funding Rates
55:18 Roger's BitMEX Story: "Holy Sht, I Can Print More Bitcoin"
58:44 The Hard Lesson: Wiped Out by Funding Fees
1:00:38 Why Perps Are Easy but Options Aren't
1:01:13 What Is a Swap, Really?
1:03:20 How Swaps Beat Perps
1:05:28 Why Raise $50M in May?
1:07:30 Sponsor: @JupiterExchange & @ethena
1:08:14 Does VC Funding Help or Hurt a Project?
1:09:46 Variational vs. Hyperliquid: The Architecture Difference
1:11:44 Why Didn't Hyperliquid Build for Hundreds of Assets First?
1:13:14 Staying Relevant After the Points Program Ends
1:15:11 The "AWS of Liquidity" Analogy, Revisited
1:16:47 What Hyperliquid Gets Wrong About the Future
1:17:48 What Variational Could Get Wrong
1:19:06 Who Wins Long Term: Binance, Coinbase, Hyperliquid, or Variational?
1:21:39 Bitcoin Price Outlook & Crypto Adoption in 2026-27
1:23:59 Variational's Endgame
1:25:51 The One Thing to Remember
1:27:18 Closing Thoughts
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Our newest listing, a US2K (Russell 2000) swap, has a spread of less than 0.001% and, as always, no fees.
We’re just getting started.
We’re just getting started.
For most users, execution costs = fees + spread.
Exchange fees and thin on-chain orderbooks can eat into your returns on every trade.
On Variational, zero-fee trading meets TradFi-quality liquidity. Right now a $25K order on US30-SWAP has a total execution cost of 0.0005%.
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For most users, execution costs = fees + spread.
Exchange fees and thin on-chain orderbooks can eat into your returns on every trade.
On Variational, zero-fee trading meets TradFi-quality liquidity. Right now a $25K order on US30-SWAP has a total execution cost of 0.0005%.
Exchange fees and thin on-chain orderbooks can eat into your returns on every trade.
On Variational, zero-fee trading meets TradFi-quality liquidity. Right now a $25K order on US30-SWAP has a total execution cost of 0.0005%.
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Variational is now the largest on-chain venue by volume for RWA derivatives (perps and swaps). We're just getting started.
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For the first time in over a year, @variational_io has overtaken @tradexyz in RWA perp volume.
RWA perps are a major growth opportunity for Hyperliquid and prob 90% of future growth going foward.
HIP-3 delegates those markets to others, but it also means relying on them to ink competition will only increase going forward
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Variational now has 570 markets, of which 15 are swaps that hedge directly into tradfi and have predictable funding costs.
What swap should we list next to bring more tradfi-quality liquidity onchain?
What swap should we list next to bring more tradfi-quality liquidity onchain?
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lucas.var retweeted
Variational has 569 different crypto and traditional markets listed, the most of any major on-chain trading platform.
One account. Every market.
One account. Every market.
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lucas.var retweeted
Over the past two weeks, members of the Variational team visited Seoul for @kbwofficial and Singapore for @token2049 to spread the word about Variational and meet with traders.
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