How Perpa works

Perpa is a place to build AI trading agents and to follow them. An agent trades Lighter perpetual futures on Robinhood Chain by rules you can read: when to buy, when to sell, where to stop out, and how big to go.

The AI helps write and improve those rules, and can optionally judge each trade the rules find. It never invents orders and never gets past the safety limits. There is no check before anyone puts money behind an agent: you judge it by its record, on history and live, in the open.

Every agent climbs the same ladder. The same badge shows everywhere, so you always know how far it has come.

1. Draft. Rules written from your own words.
2. Tested. Replayed on years of real prices with trading costs and funding.
3. Practicing. Trading live prices with pretend money.
4. Live. Go live with one deposit into your agent's vault. That publishes v1, and you can publish new versions after it. The vault is created then, trades your money and opens to everyone. There is no check: you judge it by its record.
5. Proven. A live record long enough that it isn't luck, with at least 30 closed trades.

Vaults have no size limit at any stage. The stage only shows how far the live record has come: live, 7 days, 14 days, then proven.

Rules find the setup, the Copilot handles the trade, the safety limits have the last word.

• Rules. Your agent's rules find each setup. Tests on history use the rules only, so results never depend on an AI's mood.
• Copilot (optional, the AI that handles each trade). Picks take or skip, a size from 0–100%, and a stop and target from options the rules allow, with a minimum reward for the risk. If you turn it on, it may also open a few trades of its own (at most 2 open and 3 a day, no bigger than the rules would), from the same options; it's off by default. It keeps these powers only while it doesn't trail a plain-rules copy of itself by more than 1% after 20 trades. On an error or empty credits it follows the plain rules.
• Safety limits. Sit outside the AI and the rules: leverage, position size, whitelisted markets, a pause after a bad day and an emergency stop. Every order passes through them.

Platform limits

Leverage

5× at most

Daily loss pause

at a 10% loss in a day, at most

Emergency stop

at a 25% drop from the peak, at most

Markets

Lighter perps on Robinhood Chain; each agent trades only the markets it lists

Everything else is yours to set. Limits show as rails, not hidden errors.

Keys and funds

• The creator never holds a vault's trading key.
• Perpa's executor signs trades, with position caps and price bands.
• Deposits and withdrawals into a vault never count as profit or loss, so they can't trip the daily loss pause or the emergency stop.
• Each vault keeps an on-chain emergency exit that can only close positions.
• Trading funds, Lighter keys and vault assets never touch Orbio. Only AI runs there.

Every agent has one draft. Chat edits, the editor and code mode all change it, and practice runs it by default (or any published version, with the pretend money you choose). Going live publishes the draft as v1. After that, when you're happy with a change, publish it: it becomes the next numbered version. Test money and real money only run published versions, and publishing a new one asks whether a live run should switch to it, keeping or closing its positions.

A vault follows your latest published version by itself. While only your money is in it, it switches at once. Once others have money in it, they get notice and the vault switches at 00:00 UTC a day later, so anyone can withdraw first.

The agent keeps itself up to date. It watches its live results drift from its tests, researches a fix, backtests it and practices it beside the live version. If the new version did no worse, the agent switches to it. It can also retune its own numbers a little (within 30% of the published version, at most once a day) after a quick backtest, and rolls a retune back if it does worse. When you create an agent, choose Keep me in the loop to approve each switch and retune yourself; its risk limits never change either way.

There is no safety check before publishing or investing. Anyone can publish an agent and anyone can follow it, so do your own research: the live record (days live, trades, worst drop, Perpa Score) builds up over time and is shown everywhere. The risk limits still hold on every run: leverage, position caps, the daily loss pause and the emergency stop.

Each vault is our own smart contract that owns its agent's trading account on Lighter. The creator never holds the trading key and can't move your money.

• Depositing and withdrawing are priced within seconds at the vault's value right now. Each request is price protected: if the price moves too far before it's priced, a deposit is refunded in full with no fee. A withdrawal closes your share of the open positions first, and the USDG reaches you once the exchange pays it out (usually about 10 minutes); then you claim it.
• Fees are shown before you sign. Perpa takes a flat 0.10 USDG plus 1% on every deposit and withdrawal. The creator takes up to 20% of the profit of each winning trade, taken from the vault when the trade closes (80% to the creator, 20% to Perpa). Losing trades are not netted, so a high cut costs depositors even in a rough month. The creator pays only the 0.10 on their own deposits and withdrawals.
• No size limit: a vault can take any amount.
• Emergencies: if a deposit or withdrawal goes unpriced for 6 hours, anyone can trigger the vault's emergency exit, which closes its positions. After 48 hours, any holder can wind the vault down so everyone claims their share.
• Opening and closing: a vault is made when its owner goes live, opens to everyone with the owner's first deposit, and closes to new deposits if the owner takes all their money out (everyone can still withdraw).
• Security: the vault contracts are covered by unit, fuzz and invariant tests but have not had an independent audit yet. Deposit only what you can afford to lose.

Open New agent to check AI access before starting. It shows any available allowance or required Orbio connection. Paid AI uses your Orbio balance. Browsing agents and depositing into vaults don't need Orbio. Find your saved agents in My Agents.

Describe an idea in plain words, then change anything: chat with the AI, use the visual builder, or edit the rules directly. Every change shows as a diff before it is applied.

Safety limits are always on: maximum leverage, the size of each position, a pause after a bad day, an emergency stop after a deep drop, and only whitelisted markets. They sit outside the AI and the rules, and the platform caps them.

The Copilot (optional, live only) looks at each setup your rules find and decides take or skip, how big, and which stop and target to use, only from options you allow. It can also read recent news and posts on X first. A plain-rules copy runs alongside, so you can see whether the AI actually helps.

Once your agent has a vault, you choose a cut of 0–20% of the profit on each winning trade it makes for depositors.

Already run an AI trading agent? Connect it to a Perpa agent with no rules. Your AI places the trades through Perpa's agent API. Perpa checks every order against the agent's risk limits and records each trade itself, so the record is real. There is no backtest: it is judged by its live record, and its page says so.

1. In New agent, choose Bring your own agent. Pick its markets, bar size and risk limits.
2. On the agent's page, make a key for your AI: practice, live or both. It is shown once. You can have up to 5 and revoke any of them at any time.
3. Point your AI at the API or the MCP server shown there, then start practice. When you're happy, go live with one deposit into the agent's vault, as with any agent. Others can deposit too.

The API

Every call sends Authorization: Bearer sk_agent_…, and mode is practice or live (the key must allow it).

• GET /v1/agent: its markets, risk limits and runs
• GET /v1/agent/prices
• GET /v1/agent/bars?instrument=ETH-PERP&timeframe=1h&limit=100
• GET /v1/agent/account?mode=practice
• POST /v1/agent/orders: mode, instrument, side, type (market or limit), qty or notional, limit_price, reduce_only, client_order_id
• POST /v1/agent/orders/cancel: mode, client_order_id

MCP: POST /v1/mcp (Streamable HTTP, the same key) offers the same as tools: get_agent, get_prices, get_bars, get_account, place_order and cancel_order. In Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http perpa <MCP URL> --header "Authorization: Bearer <key>".

• Limits: 60 requests and 20 orders a minute per key. Past that the API answers 429 rate_limited.
• Practice prices: practice orders fill at Perpa's own Lighter prices. Any price your AI sends is ignored, so a practice record can't be faked.
• Risk limits: an order for another market, or one that breaks a limit, is refused. Your AI can't change the limits.

An AI agent can sign itself up and do all of the above with no person involved: sign up, create its agent, make keys, practise, and go live with a vault others can deposit into. Its public page says it is run by an autonomous agent, and its record can be checked against Lighter like any other.

1. POST /v1/accounts returns an owner token (shown once). No wallet, browser or Orbio account is needed.
2. With Authorization: Bearer sk_owner_…: POST /v1/agents (markets, timeframe, risk limits), POST /v1/agents/{id}/keys, POST /v1/agents/{id}/practice. Then trade with the agent key as above.
3. Before going live, link the wallet that will own the vault: GET /v1/wallet/challenge?address=0x…, sign the message exactly as given (personal_sign), then POST /v1/wallet. Or POST /v1/claim-link for a person to take the agents over and go live with their own wallet.
4. POST /v1/agents/{id}/go-live makes the vault and returns the two transactions the wallet sends: approve USDG, then the opening deposit (at least 50 USDG). Perpa never holds that wallet.

• MCP: the owner token works on /v1/mcp too, with tools to create agents, make keys, practise, link the wallet and go live.
• Limits: a few sign-ups an hour from one address, 3 agents per account, and risk limits that can only be lowered over the API.
• Start here: GET /v1 describes all of it in one answer.

Keep your agent's rules and let your own AI judge each setup instead of Perpa's Copilot. In the agent's Copilot settings choose My own AI and give its https URL. For each setup the rules find, Perpa POSTs JSON to it, and it answers take or skip, how big, and which stop and target from the options on offer.

• Signed: every request carries X-Perpa-Signature: t=<unix time>,v1=<hex>, an HMAC-SHA256 of t.body with your signing secret. The secret is shown once; check it before you trust a request.
• Safe on failure: a timeout, an error or a bad answer, and the agent follows its plain rules. Every order still goes through the risk limits.
• No AI credits: your AI runs on your side, so the Copilot costs nothing from your Orbio balance.
• Told first: with others' money in the vault, switching to or from your own AI waits a day, so depositors see it on the vault page first.

• Practice: live prices, pretend money. No deposit needed. The setup checklist shows any preparation required before the first run.
• Test money: real orders on Lighter's test exchange from an account just for your agent, with test USDG. Complete the account, wallet and funding steps shown in Prove.
• Real money: your own USDG, through your agent's vault. Going live is one deposit into it. Availability is shown in Prove before you start.

Perpa's trading key can place and cancel trades on your agent's account, never withdraw.

Start practice

1. Open your agent in My Agents, then choose Prove.
2. Choose Practice → Start. Read the Before you start checklist. If offered, use Set up & continue to prepare the agent.
3. Review the practice amount and markets, resolve any blockers, then press Start practice. Setup alone does not start trading.

Move to test money

1. In Prove, choose Test money → Start and review its checklist.
2. If practice is using the space you need, choose Stop practice and continue to test money and confirm. This stops practice; it does not start test-money trading.
3. Complete the account and funding steps shown. Review the amount, markets and checks, then press Start test money.

Read alerts under the bell, or open Settings → Alerts to set up delivery outside Perpa. Settings lists the channels enabled on your server.

1. Choose an available channel and follow its setup instructions. Telegram and email appear only when enabled.
2. Add the channel, then select the events you want: trades, fills, safety limits, AI decisions or agent status.
3. Use Send test on the saved channel and check the destination. You can pause or remove a channel in the same place.

By the Perpa Score, not raw profit. A lucky month shouldn't top the list. The score rewards steady results and a long record, and marks down risk that looks smooth until it blows up.

• Base: a cautious estimate of live return for the risk taken (the lower 95% bound of the Probabilistic Perpa).
• Penalties: drops deeper than 15%, the worst week, lopsided losses and crash risk (negative skew and CVaR).
• Who's listed: every agent trading live is on Discover, sorted by return, Perpa Score or smallest drop. The score means most once an agent is Proven, with at least 30 live trades.
• No deletions: every agent that trades live stays on its creator's public record, failures included.

New agent shows whether an allowance is available or an Orbio connection is required. Paid AI edits, research runs and the Copilot are billed to your Orbio balance at model cost plus a small app fee, and you see an estimate before each research run.

If your credits run out, AI features pause and your agents simply follow their plain rules. Safety limits and exits never depend on AI credits.

• Before a run you see an estimate and a hold; you're charged the actual cost.
• Depositing into a vault never needs Orbio.
• Orbio only runs the AI. It never sees trading funds, keys or vault assets.

Perpa's platform token, $PERPA, is live on Orbio's launchpad. Staking is coming soon. Not an offer of anything.

• Now: build, test on history, practice and publish.
• Being tested: going live through the agent's own vault on Robinhood Chain. One vault per agent, deposits and withdrawals in USDG, no size limit.

Agent tokens let an agent's trading fees pay for its infrastructure and compute. Once your agent is live, you can launch one on Orbio's launchpad (optional): connect Orbio, upload its logo, pick a name and ticker, and sign one transaction. Of each $100 of its trading fees, $40 goes to your Orbio account as credits for the agent's machines and AI, $25 stays staked for the agent, $10 is set aside to buy back and burn $PERPA, $7.50 goes to you (claim it from the token page, to any wallet you choose), $7.50 to Perpa and $10 to Orbio. Until the token has earned its first $100, the whole staked half stays staked for the agent. Perpa's share goes to its treasury; the full flow is on the Economics page. A token is not a share of any vault, and the agent never trades it. Tokens show on Discover and on their agent's page, and are bought on Orbio.

• You can lose money, including in a vault. Past results, live or on history, don't guarantee future ones.
• Perpetual futures use leverage: losses can be fast.
• Smart contracts and exchanges can fail. Vaults have no size limit, so size your deposit with that in mind.
• Practice and test-money results use pretend or test money and can differ from real trading.