@saphyre has launched perpetual futures trading on @SeiNetwork, adding a derivatives venue to what is already the chain's busiest exchange. Perpetual futures are contracts that let traders be
@saphyre has launched perpetual futures trading on @SeiNetwork, adding a derivatives venue to what is already the chain's busiest exchange. Perpetual futures are contracts that let traders bet on price moves with no expiry date. Saphyre says users can trade stocks, gold, currencies and crypto through the product.
Trading fees range from 0.025% to 0.05% per trade, according to the exchange's site. Orders are handled by Monaco's trading engine.
Access is invite-only. Traders who used the public test version before the October 21 cutoff get in immediately and receive one invite code to share. Every $250K in live trading volume unlocks another code, which ties wider access to how actively users trade.
Perpetual contracts have no settlement date, so traders can hold long or short positions without rolling them over. Positions are typically kept in line with the spot price through periodic funding payments between longs and shorts, a mechanism also used in the regulated SEI contract described below.
Saphyre is the dominant trading venue on the network. DefiLlama data shows it with $5.97M in daily spot volume and $16.21M in total value locked (TVL). Crypto Briefing reported that Saphyre handled about $276 million of $278 million in monthly DEX volume on Sei, with the network's cumulative DEX volume reaching $15.9 billion. The exchange evolved from DragonSwap, according to the same report.
That concentration cuts both ways. Crypto Briefing noted that when one exchange processes nearly all monthly volume, the network's trading activity depends heavily on that single protocol. Some analysts have also questioned the exact share: DiarioBitcoin cited DefiLlama data putting Saphyre closer to 83% of monthly volume, depending on how the periods are compared. Methodologies differ, so figures vary by tracker and date.
The launch comes as derivatives exposure to $SEI is also expanding elsewhere. OG.com Markets, a CFTC-regulated platform operated by Nadex, listed a USD-settled SEI perpetual futures contract, which ChainCatcher reported was self-certified on October 8. That product is a separate, regulated offering for US investors and is unrelated to Saphyre's onchain exchange.
Perpetual futures are leveraged products and carry significant risk, including rapid liquidation during volatile moves. The invite-only rollout suggests Saphyre is limiting early access while it scales the product.
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