> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://elysia.gitbook.io/elysia-perps/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://elysia.gitbook.io/elysia-perps/reference/glossary.md).

# Glossary

Definitions for the terms used throughout this documentation. Where a full page exists, it is linked.

## Trading basics

**Perpetual future (perp)**: A contract to take a long or short position on an asset's price with leverage, with **no expiry date**. A funding mechanism keeps its price aligned with the underlying market.

**Long**: A position that profits when the price rises.

**Short**: A position that profits when the price falls.

**Leverage**: The multiple by which your position size exceeds the margin backing it. Set per market; on Elysia Perps it runs from 1× to 5× (default 2×). Higher leverage means less margin per position and a closer liquidation price. See [Margin & Leverage](/elysia-perps/trading/margin-and-leverage.md).

**Notional (position value)**: The full size of a position in dollar terms: `price × size`.

**Size**: The quantity of the base asset in a position (e.g. 0.5 BTC).

**PnL (Profit and Loss)**: The gain or loss on a position. *Unrealized PnL* is the paper gain/loss on an open position; *realized PnL* is locked in when you reduce or close.

## Margin & balances

**Margin**: Collateral set aside to back a position or an order.

**Initial margin**: The margin required to open a position: `notional / leverage`.

**Maintenance margin**: The minimum margin a position must keep, a per-market setting currently **2.5% of position value** on BTC-PERP-EL and **3.0%** on US500-PERP-EL. Fall below it and the position is liquidated.

**Position margin**: The collateral currently backing an open position.

**Available**: Free balance, usable for new orders and withdrawals.

**Locked**: Balance reserved by your open (unfilled) orders.

**Equity**: The total value backing a position: position margin + unrealized PnL + unrealized funding.

**Isolated margin**: The margin model on Elysia Perps today: each position is backed by its own margin, isolated from your other positions and from your free balance, so a position's loss is contained to the margin assigned to it. The balance identity `available + locked + position margin` equals your total equity. **Cross-margin, where** your whole balance backs every position, is planned.

## Pricing

**Mark price**: The reference price used to value positions, compute unrealized PnL, and trigger liquidations. Derived from the index and order-book prices rather than the last trade. See [Mark & Oracle Price](/elysia-perps/mechanics/mark-and-oracle.md).

**Index price**: The fair price of the underlying asset, taken as the **median** of several reference venues. For BTC-PERP-EL, these are major spot venues (Binance, Bybit, OKX). For US500-PERP-EL, the index price is the median of the SPY perpetual index prices published by Binance (USDT-M), Bitget (USDT-M), and Lighter.

**Oracle**: The service that sources and publishes the index price on-chain-facing components rely on.

**Last / traded price**: The price of the most recent fill on the market.

## Funding

**Funding**: A recurring payment exchanged **directly between long and short traders** to keep the perp price tethered to the index. It accrues to open positions every hour and counts toward your equity right away; it is settled into your position margin when you change the position's size, close it, or change leverage. The protocol takes no cut. See [Funding](/elysia-perps/mechanics/funding.md).

**Funding rate**: The rate that determines funding. Commonly quoted on an 8-hour basis by convention, then converted to the hourly amount actually exchanged.

**Premium**: The component of the funding rate measuring how far the perp trades from the index.

## Liquidation

**Liquidation**: The automatic closing of a position whose equity has fallen to or below its maintenance margin. See [Liquidation](/elysia-perps/mechanics/liquidation.md).

**Bankruptcy price**: The price at which a position's remaining margin is exactly used up by its loss plus the liquidation fee. Liquidations settle here.

**Liquidation fee**: A fee on position value charged at liquidation, funding the insurance fund (a platform-wide 0.5% on Elysia Perps). A normal close never incurs it.

**Insurance fund**: A dedicated account that absorbs liquidations the order book cannot fill, funded mainly by liquidation fees. See [Liquidation Risk](/elysia-perps/risk-and-security/liquidation-risk.md).

**Auto-deleveraging (ADL)**: The last-resort liquidation stage: a failing position is matched against profitable traders on the opposite side, settled at the bankruptcy price. Highest-profit, highest-leverage positions are deleveraged first. See [Liquidation Risk](/elysia-perps/risk-and-security/liquidation-risk.md).

**Shortfall**: The rare remainder of a position that cannot be closed by any of the three liquidation stages; resolved through manual intervention.

## Orders

**Order book / CLOB**: The Central Limit Order Book: the list of resting buy and sell orders that the matching engine fills against.

**Limit order**: An order to trade at a set price or better. See [Order Types](/elysia-perps/trading/order-types.md).

**Market order**: An order to trade immediately at the best available price, within a slippage limit.

**FOK (Fill-or-Kill)**: An order that must fill completely and immediately or be cancelled entirely.

**Reduce-only**: A flag that lets an order only shrink or close a position, never open or grow one.

**Maker**: An order that rests on the book and adds liquidity. Pays the lower fee.

**Taker**: An order that fills against a resting order and removes liquidity. Pays the higher fee.

**Slippage**: The difference between the expected and the actual fill price.

## Collateral & custody

**Collateral**: The token you deposit to back your trading.

**$1 unit (e.g. EL$)**: The $1-denominated settlement unit each collateral token is credited as inside the protocol. On the live markets, EL is credited as EL$, which behaves like a dollar stablecoin for margin, PnL, and fees. It is **not** a flat 1:1 conversion: each token converts at its own fixed rate. See [Collateral](/elysia-perps/getting-started/collateral.md).

**Hybrid DEX**: A design that combines **on-chain custody** (deposits and withdrawals through a smart contract) with off-chain matching (a fast CLOB engine): the transparency of on-chain custody with the speed of a CEX.

**Quanto**: A market where you trade one asset's price while your margin and results are held in another. On Elysia Perps, you trade the price of BTC or the US 500 with EL as collateral, credited at a fixed rate (100 EL = 1 EL$), so you never have to sell your EL to trade, and a change in the EL price alone does not move your position toward liquidation.

**Perpetuals module**: The reusable engine (matching, margin, liquidation, oracle pricing, custody) that anyone can launch a market on. Elysia Perps is that module; the live market is its reference implementation. See [What is Elysia Perps](/elysia-perps/introduction/what-is-elysia-perps.md).

**Per-market parameter**: A setting configured for each market rather than fixed platform-wide, for example fees, leverage, tick size, or maintenance margin. The figures in this documentation are the current values on the live Elysia Perps market; the module's direction is for every parameter to be set per market and evolved through multi-party governance.

**EIP-712**: The wallet-signature standard used to log in, with no sign-up and no password. See [Connect & Login](/elysia-perps/getting-started/connect-and-login.md).

**OHLCV**: Open/High/Low/Close/Volume: the candlestick data behind price charts. See [Charts (OHLCV)](/elysia-perps/mechanics/charts.md).

**Tick**: The smallest allowed price increment in a market.

## Where to go next

* Common questions answered end to end: [FAQ](/elysia-perps/reference/faq.md).


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