Level

Derivatives

Level is a decentralized perpetual exchange built on BNB Chain that innovates with a unique risk tranching system.

Risk Rating
Watch Out
Protocol Code Quality
Protocol Maturity
Protocol Design
Summary
What we like
Level offers users a unique take on the perpetual exchange model with risk tranching between liquidity providers.
What we like less
The team is anonymous and still has control over core contracts. The stated yield from fees is also deceiving as the LP performance has fallen due to recent trader wins.
What it means for you
Level has quickly become the top platform on BNB Chain for you to place directionally levered bets and hedge against market volatility. You can earn a portion of the platform's trading-related fees by providing liquidity or staking the LVL utility token.
Information
Exploit/Hacks
One
Info
  • Website
  • Token: LGO
  • Tags: Derivatives
Key Metrics
  • TVL: $12.6M (Rank #140)
  • TVL Ranking by Derivatives: #6
  • Blockchain: Binance, Arbitrum
  • Chain TVL
    • Binance: $6.75M
    • Arbitrum: $5.81M
Risk Assessment
Watch Out
Protocol Code Quality
  • Code not reviewed by any experienced auditors
  • Anonymous team reduces transparency
  • One mitigated protocol hack since launch
Protocol Maturity
  • Latest protocol version launched in 2022; maturity over one year minimizes technical risk as smart contracts are well battle-tested
  • Top 20% by total value locked slightly reduces risk
  • Multisig wallet controls protocol upgrades
  • Multisig consists of less than 4 signers, which makes the protocol more susceptible to centralization risks
  • Timelock is less than 48hrs, which provides users with less time to exit if any malicious upgrades are approved
  • Low voting power concentration reduces risk
Protocol Design
  • No death spiral concerns
  • Robust controls to mitigate oracle price manipulation
  • This protocol is susceptible to risks related to decentralized derivatives, such as LPs serving as the counterparty for all platform traders
Things to know about Level

How Level works

Level operates as a mix of a perpetual and spot exchange for traders, as well as a crypto index fund for liquidity providers. Perp traders can long or short assets from the protocol's liquidity pool with up to 30x leverage. Spot traders can swap tokens from the same pool with nearly zero price impact as Level uses Chainlink price oracles an aggregate of prices from leading volume exchanges. This is in contrast to the traditional automated market maker (AMM) formula so users don't incur slippage. Level innovated upon the perpetual liquidity provider token via risk tranching. Each tranche has different exposures to a basket of assets such as BTC, ETH, BNB, CAKE and BUSD. For example, the Senior LP tranche has 0% exposure to CAKE. As such, LPs are exposed to the price volatility of the underlying assets, adjusted by the positions of traders (LPs automatically take other side of each trade so profits when traders lose, and vice versa). LPs add liquidity to mint the LP token by adding any one of the basket assets to a multi-asset pool.

How Level makes money

Level makes money through various fees charged on its trading and swapping platform. For perpetual trading, a position fee of 0.1% of the position size is charged for opening and closing positions, and a liquidation fee of $5 is charged. Traders using leveraged or perpetual trading pay a dynamic borrowing fee, calculated based on the asset utilization rate, with a maximum fee of 0.01% per hour. The platform also charges a swap fee ranging from 0% to 0.6%, with a base fee of 0.2% for non-stablecoin swaps and 0.01% for stablecoin swaps. These fees can be adjusted through proposals passed by the DAO after the initial period. Currently, 50% of fees are distributed to the DAO treasury (controlled by LGO holders) and 50% to LPs.

How you make money on Level

You can make money by placing directionally levered bets on the crypto market. If you have a more long-term view, you can earn a portion of all protocol generated revenues from either providing liquidity in one of the LP tranches or staking the native LVL utility token to farm the LGO governance token.