GMX

GMX is a decentralized spot and perpetual exchange launched in 2021 that enables traders to swap tokens and open leveraged long and short perpetual futures positions directly from a connected Web3 wallet on Arbitrum, Avalanche, and additional chains including Solana and MegaETH. The protocol functions without users depositing funds into a centralized custodian — trades execute and settle on-chain against GMX liquidity pools, with position state, collateral balances, and funding accruals recorded on the respective network; GMX is accessible at gmx.io and employs a pool-based liquidity model where GM and GLV token holders provide the counterparty liquidity against which traders open leveraged positions.

GMX has evolved through protocol versions with V1 (using the shared GLP pool) now legacy and sunset following a 2025 incident, while V2 serves as the primary architecture with isolated GM pools for individual markets alongside GLV vaults and the gmx-synthetics smart contract infrastructure. The GMX token supports protocol governance participation and staking to earn a share of protocol fees generated by trading activity across supported markets, though reward distributions are currently paused until the token price reaches $90 with buybacks accumulating in the treasury. Open-source smart contract repositories remain publicly available on GitHub under the gmx-io organization, including core gmx-contracts and gmx-synthetics, with documentation at docs.gmx.io.

The primary interaction with GMX begins at gmx.io, where users connect an EVM-compatible wallet on supported networks such as Arbitrum or Avalanche to access the trading interface. Traders can execute spot swaps between supported tokens at oracle-determined prices, or open leveraged long and short perpetual futures positions by selecting a market, a position direction, a collateral token, and a leverage level up to 100x on select markets. Positions are opened on-chain against the corresponding GMX liquidity pool, with the position's collateral, leverage ratio, entry price, and liquidation threshold recorded on-chain and accessible through the GMX interface or directly via the deployed contract state.

GMX liquidity is provided by pool token holders who deposit supported assets into GM pools or diversified GLV vaults. In the current V2 architecture, GM pools are isolated per market — for example, a BTC/USD GM pool holds BTC and USDC as the collateral backing the BTC perpetual market — allowing liquidity risk to be contained per market rather than spread across a single shared pool; GLV vaults offer optimized exposure across multiple markets. Liquidity providers who hold GM or GLV tokens earn a portion of the fees generated by trading activity routed through the respective pool.

The GMX V2 architecture introduces isolated market structures through the gmx-synthetics smart contract system, published as open-source at github.com/gmx-io/gmx-synthetics, with recent updates including v2.2c deployments. Each V2 market is backed by its own dedicated GM pool holding the long and short collateral assets for that market, which isolates liquidity risk and allows individual markets to be configured with independent parameters including leverage limits, fee rates, and oracle price sources; this model contrasts with the shared GLP pool of legacy V1, allowing V2 markets to be added or adjusted without changing the parameters of existing markets and enabling liquidity providers to choose specific market exposure or diversified GLV options.

GMX V2 uses Chainlink Data Streams as the primary oracle pricing layer for perpetual market execution, providing low-latency price updates sourced from Chainlink's decentralized oracle network for each supported market, supplemented by additional providers. Chainlink Data Streams deliver signed price data that keepers use to execute pending orders and update position prices, enabling GMX to price perpetual entries, exits, and liquidations against an externally validated reference price rather than relying solely on on-chain AMM spot prices; this oracle architecture is documented in the GMX technical documentation at docs.gmx.io and forms part of the V2 design to reduce oracle manipulation risk.

Leveraged trading on GMX allows users to open positions with collateral that is a fraction of the total position size, with V2 supporting configurable leverage levels for each market up to the protocol's defined maximum of 100x on select assets. Long positions can be opened with the market's long token as collateral — for example, ETH as collateral for an ETH/USD long — while short positions can be opened with a supported stablecoin as collateral, allowing traders to express both directional views on asset prices. Open positions accrue borrowing fees charged against the position's collateral at a rate based on the pool's utilization, along with a price impact applied at entry and exit based on the size of the position relative to the pool's available liquidity depth; the platform has also expanded to include TradFi markets such as gold, silver, oil, and equity indices.

The GMX token's utility within the protocol includes fee sharing for staked GMX holders via buybacks (27% of eligible fees) and governance participation. GMX holders who stake their tokens receive esGMX historically and multiplier points as additional staking rewards, alongside a portion of fees generated by trading activity on the respective chain; however, direct reward distributions are currently suspended with buybacks accumulating in the treasury until the GMX price reaches $90, after which distribution resumes based on staking power. Protocol governance decisions including market listings, fee parameter changes, and protocol upgrades are subject to community discussion, with protocol development coordinated through the GMX community channels referenced at docs.gmx.io.

GMX supports a range of spot and derivatives use cases across Arbitrum, Avalanche, Solana, and other chains: traders use the gmx.io interface to execute leveraged long and short perpetual futures on supported crypto asset pairs and TradFi markets without depositing into a centralized exchange; spot traders swap between supported tokens at oracle-based prices without requiring a full AMM liquidity pool for each pair; liquidity providers deposit assets into GM pools or GLV vaults to earn trading fees and borrowing fees as the counterparty to trader positions; GMX token holders stake their GMX to accumulate protocol fee buybacks and esGMX rewards once distributions resume; and developers build trading integrations, analytics tools, and automated trading strategies using the open-source gmx-contracts and gmx-synthetics repositories along with the integration documentation at docs.gmx.io.

Developer integration with GMX is supported through the documentation at docs.gmx.io and the open-source smart contract repositories at github.com/gmx-io, including the core gmx-contracts repository at github.com/gmx-io/gmx-contracts and the V2 gmx-synthetics repository at github.com/gmx-io/gmx-synthetics, with recent contract versions like v2.2c available. Both repositories include ABI definitions and contract source code for supported chain deployments, allowing developers building on-chain integrations to interact directly with GMX market contracts for position management, fee queries, and liquidity pool interactions without depending on a centralized API endpoint. Developers integrating GMX pricing or building trading bots can reference the oracle and keeper documentation to understand how Chainlink Data Streams deliver prices to V2 market contracts and how keeper execution triggers order fills and liquidations through the synthetics contract system.

GMX maintains security documentation at docs.gmx.io/docs/security, which covers the protocol's security model, audit history, and responsible disclosure information for reporting vulnerabilities. All core GMX smart contract source code — including the gmx-contracts and gmx-synthetics repositories — is publicly available on GitHub under the gmx-io organization for independent review and verification. As a non-custodial protocol, GMX does not hold trader funds in a centralized account — collateral is deposited into on-chain smart contracts and positions are settled atomically through contract execution, with all state changes verifiable on-chain by any external observer. Users evaluating GMX should review the security documentation, inspect the relevant contract code for their target chain, and assess the oracle trust assumptions of the Chainlink Data Streams pricing layer before opening leveraged positions; note that legacy V1 experienced a 2025 exploit while V2 remained unaffected.

GMX provides decentralized spot and perpetual trading infrastructure on Arbitrum, Avalanche, Solana, and additional chains through the V2 protocol with isolated GM market pools and GLV vaults powered by Chainlink Data Streams oracles and the open-source gmx-synthetics contract infrastructure, following the sunsetting of V1. Published security documentation at docs.gmx.io/docs/security, open-source repositories at github.com/gmx-io, and protocol fee buybacks for GMX stakers (with distributions paused until $90) give developers and traders structured access to GMX's trading mechanics and governance resources. Teams and users evaluating GMX should review the documentation at docs.gmx.io, the gmx-synthetics repository at github.com/gmx-io/gmx-synthetics, and the security documentation to understand V2 market structure, oracle pricing mechanics, pool liquidity risk, and multi-chain expansions before trading or providing liquidity through the protocol.