About Synthetix

Last updated: Mar 24, 2026

Synthetix is the first decentralized perpetual futures protocol built on Ethereum Mainnet. The Synthetix exchange provides offchain order matching, on a high-performance Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) with onchain settlement on Ethereum, the world's most secure smart contract platform.

Synthetix is powered by stakers of the SNX token, our liquidity providers, and our community. By staking SNX, users secure the protocol and participate in protocol governance. Liquidity providers enable deep, efficient markets, while the Synthetix community drives innovation and growth.

Synthetix is designed for:

Traders seeking deep liquidity, low slippage, and advanced trading features on a decentralized platform.
Stakers who want to earn rewards and participate in protocol governance by staking SNX.
Liquidity Providers who supply capital to earn a share of trading fees and protocol incentives.

How Synthetix differs from traditional exchanges

	Traditional exchange	Synthetix
Fund custody	Exchange holds your funds	You access your funds via your wallet
Accounts	Requires sign-up and KYC	No account or identity verification
Rules	Controlled by a company	Enforced by smart contracts
Settlement	Internal ledger	On-chain and transparent

How perpetual futures work

Synthetix trades perpetual futures, derivative contracts with no expiry date. Instead of converging to a spot price at expiry, perpetuals use a funding rate to keep the contract price close to the underlying index.

When the perpetual trades above the index price, longs pay shorts.
When the perpetual trades below the index price, shorts pay longs.

Funding accrues continuously and settles to subaccount balances. See Funding for rates and mechanics.

What to Explore Next

Now that you understand how Synthetix works, you can explore specific parts of the protocol in more detail:

👉 Products — Learn about Synthetix trading, staking, and liquidity products
👉 Synthetix History — Understand how the protocol has evolved over time