# Welcome to Ostium

### Your Gateway to Global Markets

Ostium is an onchain perpetuals trading protocol built for Real World Assets. Trade stocks, commodities, indices, forex, ETFs, and crypto — all from a single interface, directly from your wallet, with full self-custody.

No brokers. No frozen accounts. No settlement delays. Just transparent, on-chain trading with best-in-class execution.

***

### Why Ostium?

**Best Execution** Ostium's architecture leverages pricing and liquidity direct from underlying markets — delivering the tightest spreads and deepest top-of-book liquidity available on-chain. Trade size with minimal slippage.

**Full Transparency** Every trade, deposit, and withdrawal is fully auditable on-chain. Rollover fees reflect real-world financing rates, not arbitrary funding mechanics. You know your costs before you trade.

**Self-Custody From Start to Finish** You control your assets at every step. No custodial deposits, no approval delays, no counterparty freezing your account. Connect your wallet and trade.

**One App, Any Asset** Equities, commodities, indices, FX, ETFs, and crypto — all in one seamless interface. Express macro views across every major asset class without switching platforms or brokers.

***

### What Can You Do on Ostium?

**Trade Global Markets** Go long or short on assets like Gold, US100, USD/JPY, NVDA, and BTC with leverage — all settled instantly to your wallet. Open fractional positions starting from just $5.

**Provide Liquidity** Deposit USDC to the Ostium Liquidity Pool (OLP) and earn yield by powering the protocol's settlement infrastructure.

**Build on Ostium** Integrate with Ostium's trading infrastructure through Builder Codes to build your own interfaces, bots, or products on top of the protocol.

***

### By the Numbers

| Metric                  | Value                                                                           |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Cumulative Trade Volume | $45B+                                                                           |
| Peak Open Interest      | $300M+                                                                          |
| Active Traders          | 25,000+                                                                         |
| Available Assets        | 50+ (Across 6 asset classes: Stocks, Commodities, Indices, Forex, ETFs, Crypto) |

***

### Backed By

Ostium has raised over $27M to date, including a $20M Series A co-led by General Catalyst and Jump Crypto, with participation from Coinbase, Wintermute Ventures, GSR, Susquehanna (SIG), LocalGlobe, Alliance DAO, and angels from Brevan Howard, Bridgewater, and Two Sigma.

The team includes alumni from Harvard, Bridgewater, BlackRock, Coinbase, and Microsoft.

***

### Get Started

* **Start Trading** → [app.ostium.com](https://app.ostium.com/)
* **Join the Community** → [Discord](https://discord.gg/ostiumlabs) · [Twitter/X](https://x.com/OstiumLabs)
* **Read the Docs** → Use the sidebar to explore trading guides, vault mechanics, protocol architecture, and more.