THE QUESTION
Which side are you on?
Subnet alpha goes up or down, and the market's liquidity pool takes the other side of your trade. You hold a long or a short on a subnet - never both at once.
LONG
You make money if alpha goes up. You borrow TAO and buy alpha with it, up to 1.5x.
You put up TAO · you owe TAO
SHORT
You make money if alpha goes down. You borrow alpha and sell it for TAO, up to 1x.
You put up TAO · you owe alpha
POSITION
One position, one transaction.
Open with a deposit and pick a side: long if you think the price will rise, short if you think it will fall. Put more in and the position grows.
To take money out before closing, trade the other side. You get that part of your deposit back, less the interest you owe and less any loss. If the price went the wrong way and that part is worth less than it owes, you get nothing back for it.
Before you take money out or close, you name the smallest amount you will accept. If the price moved and you would get less, the trade is cancelled and nothing is taken from you. Cashing out in pieces costs the same as cashing out in one go.
One position per subnet. Top it up as often as you like.
add(netuid, side, deposit, leverage, min_amount_out)close(netuid, min_amount_out)- Open
- your first deposit opens a position
- Grow
- put more in and it gets bigger
- Reduce · Flip
- trade the other side to take money out
- Close
- close it and take everything out
ONE POSITION PER SUBNET
TAO DEPOSIT
NO EXPIRY
INTEREST
Interest, charged every week.
You pay interest on what you borrow: 52% a year on a short, 26% on a long. It builds up continuously and is charged once a week, out of your deposit. Nothing is paid up front.
- Interest / yr
- 52 % short · 26 % long
- Collected
- weekly
- Runway
- time until interest eats the depositEST.
- Leverage
- 1x short · 1.5x long
No expiry. Your position stays open until you close it - or until your deposit can't cover the interest.
CUSTODY
You close it. Nobody else.
Only you can close your position. No liquidators, no bots, no automatic closes - nobody else can touch your money.
One risk to know: if your deposit can no longer cover the interest, your position is closed for you and everything left in it goes to the pool - you get nothing back. Close it yourself before that point. And if the position is worth less than it owes, closing pays you nothing either.
Owner-only. The chain charges interest weekly, and closes the position if your deposit stops covering it.
Custody diagram. The chain account holds your deposit in TAO, the position's value and what it owes, and the staked alpha. Money a partial close already bought back waits there too, until the position closes in full. Closing it yourself is the only exit you control; the chain charges interest weekly, and the one dashed path, labelled taken by the chain, is the forced exit that ends a position it can no longer pay.
POSITION
Every number, from the chain.
Everything here is read from the chain: your deposit, what you borrowed, the interest you owe. Profit, loss and runway are just arithmetic on top - check any of it yourself.
- Your deposit
- the TAO you put up. You get it back as you close, unless the position is worth less than it owes
- What it holds
- the value the position carries and what it owes, each in its own token
Position diagram: one connected figure. The subnet's liquidity pool, whose reserves set the price, sits at the centre, and every other node joins it. Above it, your deposit of 10.0000 τ, returned as you close unless the position is worth less than it owes, and the interest charged weekly. Below it, what the long holds and what it owes: the TAO you pay back, and the alpha it carries.
- Your deposit
- 10.0000 τ
- Borrowed
- 15.0000 τ
- Leverage
- 1.50x
- Interest / yr
- 3.9000 τ
- Interest owed
- builds up continuouslyEST.
- Runway
- time until interest eats the depositEST.
Estimates are computed off chain and labelled as such.
PROTOCOL
The market behind the position.
Every trade has a liquidity pool on the other side. It lends you the TAO or alpha you trade with.
Every limit and every rate here is set by the network - nobody can change them for you.
- LENDING LIMIT25 % of the pool, per side
- INTEREST / YR52 % short · 26 % long
- MIN DEPOSIT0.1000 τ
Max leverage 1x short, 1.5x long · interest weekly.
QUESTIONS
What you might want to know.
The mechanics behind a position - leverage, interest, custody and how to get out in the order people usually ask about them.
What is SubnetPerp?
SubnetPerp takes either side of Bittensor subnet alpha without you owning the underlying. Go long if you expect a subnet's alpha to gain against TAO, or short if you expect it to fall. The protocol's liquidity pool is the counterparty to every trade, and each position is one call on chain.
See how a position works →What is subnet alpha?
Alpha is a Bittensor subnet's own token, priced against TAO on that subnet's pool. Every subnet issues its own alpha, so its price moves with the subnet's own demand as well as with the wider market - which is what makes a subnet worth taking a view on one at a time.
Read the live market →How does a long on a subnet work?
A long borrows TAO and buys alpha with it, so you profit when alpha rises against TAO. You post your deposit in TAO, you owe TAO when you close, and you can run leverage up to 1.5x on the position.
How does a short on a subnet work?
A short borrows alpha and sells it for TAO, so you profit when alpha falls against TAO. You post your deposit in TAO, you owe alpha when you close, and leverage runs up to 1x on the position.
How much leverage can I use?
Up to 1.5x on a long and up to 1x on a short. You pick the leverage when you open the position or add to it. The caps are per side and they keep the pool's exposure to a subnet in bounds, because the pool is the counterparty holding the other side of your trade.
Open the trade desk →How much do I need to open a position?
The minimum deposit is 0.1 τ. Above that there is no fixed position size: your deposit and the leverage you choose set how large the position is, and you can add to it later without closing it first.
How is interest charged?
Interest accrues on the borrowed side and is charged weekly, every 50,400 blocks - seven days at twelve seconds a block. The protocol's default rates are 52% a year on a short and 26% a year on a long, and the rate is fixed for you when you open the position or add to it.
See the interest mechanics →Is there a liquidation price or an expiry?
Neither. A SubnetPerp position has no expiry date and no liquidator, so nothing closes it out for you at a price. What it costs to hold is the weekly interest on the borrowed side, and you decide when to reduce, close or grow the position yourself.
Do I keep custody of my funds?
Yes. Your position is opened and held on chain by your own key, and this app only builds and submits the call - it never takes custody of your TAO or your alpha. The counterparty is the protocol's liquidity pool, not another user, so there is no counterparty to default on you.
How custody works →How do I open, add to or close a position?
Connect a Substrate wallet, pick a subnet, then open, add to, reduce or close - one call each. Reducing works by trading the other side for the amount you want out. You hold one position per subnet per account, so you are never long and short the same subnet at once.
Open the trade desk →Can I check a past trade?
Yes. The explorer lists every indexed derivative call and the events each one produced, with its block number, timestamp, signer and transaction hash, so you can trace a position's history back through the chain rather than taking a balance on trust.
Open the explorer →START
Start with a position you can check.
See how it works, check the numbers, then take your position.