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Fairground uses a single oracle price for each market. Instead of maintaining a separate for the perpetual and an index price that tracks the underlying asset, the protocol uses only the oracle price.

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Why it matters

On most perps protocols, you juggle a mark price (used for liquidations, PnL) and an index price (spot reference, and ). Fairground simplifies this: the oracle price is the price. It is used for everything: order execution, PnL calculation, margin calculations, liquidation, and fee assessment. Because every position is valued at this one price, its accuracy matters more than anything else on the exchange. A single bad price could liquidate positions at a level the real market never reached. The rest of this page explains how your orders use the price and how Fairground guards against bad prices.
We’ll share more about how Fairground sources and verifies its prices as we approach mainnet.

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How your order uses the price

Every order fills at the oracle price at the moment its matching cycle runs:
  • One price per cycle. The protocol reads a fresh oracle price at the start of each protocol action: matching, liquidation, and . All orders filled in the same matching cycle execute at that same price.
  • The price you see can differ from your fill price. The app shows the latest oracle price, but your order fills at the price read when matching runs. If the price moves in between, your fill reflects the new price.
  • Your limit price sets the worst price you’ll accept. An order fills only while the oracle price is within its execution price threshold. Longs need the oracle price at or below the threshold; shorts need it at or above.
  • Matching runs on activity. Matching runs when a standard order is placed or a matching transaction is sent, so a resting order fills at the next cycle where its threshold is met.
  • Orders don’t fill while a market is closed. FX and commodities follow their underlying trading hours, and the price can gap between the close and the reopen.
Because every order fills at the oracle price, execution cost is shown separately: market and limit orders pay an impact fee based on what the same trade would cost on major external venues.

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Price safeguards

Every market data feed occasionally produces bad prices: sudden spikes that reverse within milliseconds, feeds that fall behind the market, and feeds that stop updating. When a price can’t be trusted, Fairground stops trading that market rather than letting anyone trade, or be liquidated, at that price.
Halting a market is a deliberate trade-off: a short pause is better for traders than fills, margin calls, or liquidations at a price that never existed in the real market.

Order Matching

How orders fill at the oracle price.

Fees and Rebates

What you pay when a position changes.
Last modified on October 23, 2026