What Is Variational
Variational is a protocol that provides infrastructure for peer-to-peer derivatives trading.
Multiple apps have been built on the Variational Protocol, including Omni for simple perpetuals trading and Pro for advanced traders and institutions to trade customizable OTC derivatives.
Omni
The first live app on the Variational Protocol is Omni, the most rewarding place to trade perps. Omni lets users trade hundreds of markets with tight spreads and zero fees, all while earning loss refunds and other rewards.
Zero Fees: Omni does not have trading fees. The only fees on the platform are a 0.1 USDC fee for each deposit/withdraw to protect against spam.
Loss Refunds: Every time a user closes a losing trade on Omni, they have between a 2% and 4% chance to get the entire loss instantly refunded.
Hundreds of Listings: Omni lists hundreds of markets, with more added regularly via the automated listing process. In the future, Omni can also support exotic markets like RWAs, volatility, and more.
Deep Liquidity: The Omni Liquidity Provider accesses liquidity from CEXs, DEXs, DeFi, and OTC channels to offer the tightest possible spreads on each listed market.
Pro
Our team has seen firsthand the inefficiencies that exist in institutional OTC derivatives trading. Trades are commonly negotiated via Telegram chats and other informal channels, then manually settled retroactively, with slow processes for margin calls exposing participants to substantial counterparty risk.
The mission with Pro is to eliminate these inefficiencies and drastically streamline institutional OTC derivatives trading, unlocking billions of dollars in volume through better price discovery and accessibility.
Pro automates the entire flow of institutional trades, from booking and clearing to settlement, and brings it on-chain. Institutions can create completely customized derivatives, set specific margin and liquidation rules, escrow collateral in segregated contracts on-chain, and use the Variational Oracle for pricing.
TLDR:
Institutional derivatives trading currently happens either in manual direct channels (e.g. Telegram groups) or on platforms like Paradigm and Deribit.
Direct channels are extremely manual, inefficient, and risky.
Platforms like Paradigm and Deribit lack customization and only support options on majors (BTC, ETH, SOL), yet still process upwards of $1T in annual volume.
Pro can offer the same level of customization as direct channels while providing the efficiency of automated on-chain systems.
About ProInvestors
Variational is backed by industry leaders, including Bain Capital Crypto, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India/Southeast Asia), Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly, Hack VC, North Island Ventures, Caladan, Mirana Ventures, Zoku Ventures and more.
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