# What Is Variational

Variational is a protocol for on-chain derivatives trading across crypto, equities, commodities, and forex. By aggregating the deepest possible liquidity for each market from CEXs, DEXs, and TradFi dealers, Variational plugs DeFi directly into the global economy.

The Variational Protocol currently powers two primary applications: Omni (a zero-fee perps trading venue) and Pro (an institution-focused settlement layer for customized derivatives).

## Omni

Omni is the first app built on the Variational Protocol. It allows users to trade perpetuals across both crypto and traditional markets within a single cross-margined account.

* ​[***Zero Fees***](/omni/trading/fees.md)***:*** Omni does not charge any fees. By vertically integrating the platform's liquidity provider, Omni generates revenue by retaining the market-making yield that is usually extracted by external market makers. 
* [***TradFi Liquidity Depth***](/omni/the-omni-liquidity-provider-olp.md)**:** The Omni Liquidity Provider directly accesses liquidity from CEXs, DEXs, and TradFi dealers to offer the tightest possible spreads on each listed crypto or RWA market.
* ​[***Hundreds of Listings***](/omni/listing-engine.md)**:** By connecting to existing liquidity instead of bootstrapping new order books, Omni is able to list and maintain far more markets than order book exchanges. Over 450 crypto and RWA markets are currently live, with 100+ more RWA markets planned for listing this summer.

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[About Omni](/omni/about-omni.md)
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## Pro

[Our team](/getting-started/core-contributors.md) 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:

1. Institutional derivatives trading currently happens either in manual direct channels (e.g. Telegram groups) or on platforms like Paradigm and Deribit.
2. Direct channels are extremely manual, inefficient, and risky.
3. 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](https://insights.deribit.com/exchange-updates/deribit-reports-q4-and-2024-year-end-volumes-provides-operational-update/).

Pro can offer the same level of customization as direct channels while providing the efficiency of automated on-chain systems.

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[About Pro](/pro/about-pro.md)
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## Investors

Variational is backed by industry leaders, including Dragonfly Capital, Bain Capital Crypto, Coinbase Ventures, and more.


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