DRV climbed to a record near $0.56 as applications built around Derive’s options infrastructure added new ways to trade derivatives on-chain, from simplified retail interfaces to request-for-quote systems designed for larger and more complex positions.
The activity centers on a changing user experience rather than a single new market. Dreaming, HEAT and PaperTrade each offer different approaches to derivatives trading: options screens built for fast directional bets, visual tools for multi-leg strategies, and perpetual swaps with an unusual profit-sharing settlement model. Together, they give traders more entry points into products that have traditionally required navigating fragmented options books or conventional perpetual-futures order books.
Dreaming shifts options orders to RFQ quotes
Dreaming allows users to select an asset, choose a bullish or bearish position, and set a strike price and expiry date for an options trade. Its listed markets include BTC, ETH and SOL options, alongside contracts tied to tokens including HYPE, PUMP and LIT, according to Dreaming’s product interface.
The platform has changed its execution model over successive versions. Dreaming V2 used Derive infrastructure, while V3 moved to an internally developed request-for-quote, or RFQ, system. Under that model, a trader sends a request for a specific contract and institutional market makers compete to provide a price.
That structure addresses a practical problem in crypto options markets. Liquidity is divided across many combinations of strike prices and expiry dates, leaving individual order books thinner than a spot market for the same asset. An RFQ can package a requested trade for market makers rather than requiring the trader to take liquidity across multiple visible price levels.
The approach may be particularly useful for a trader seeking a larger option position or a spread involving several contracts. Instead of executing separate legs one after another and risking price changes between fills, the trader can seek a quote on the desired structure as a single request.
Dreaming has paired its product rollout with a points program. Its points announcement allocated 500,000 Genesis Points to users who traded between Jan. 14 and July 15, followed by 100,000 points for activity from Sept. 25 through Oct. 6. The project said its next phase begins Oct. 16, with Dream Points scheduled for distribution each Friday.
The schedule creates a recurring incentive for trading activity, although points programs do not establish a token distribution or guarantee an airdrop unless a project explicitly commits to one.
HEAT puts options structures on a price chart
HEAT, another Derive-connected interface, is targeting a different obstacle: the difficulty of reading an options payoff through a standard options chain. The application displays strike prices, breakeven levels, expiries and payoff zones directly on a price chart, allowing users to adjust parameters by moving chart elements.
Its quick-trade mode lets users choose an “up,” “down,” or high-volatility view, then enter a target price and trade size. More experienced users can move into an options-chain interface or a strategy builder supporting calls, puts, call spreads, put spreads, straddles and wide strangles, according to HEAT’s product materials.
For multi-leg positions, HEAT sends the order through Derive for market makers to quote as a package. The intended outcome is all-or-nothing execution: either every leg fills at the agreed terms, or the structure does not execute. That reduces the risk of ending up with only part of a spread after market conditions move.
HEAT launched alongside Derive V3. Its published roadmap includes performance-monitoring features and potential follow or copy functions, but the project had not announced a points campaign or token distribution commitment at publication.
The contrast with Dreaming is revealing. Dreaming is leaning on quick contract selection and RFQ execution, while HEAT is trying to make options strategies more visual and less dependent on traders manually combining contracts. Both models seek to reduce the operational friction that can discourage users from trading on-chain options even when the underlying settlement infrastructure is available.
PaperTrade tests a different perpetual swap model
PaperTrade has attracted attention in perpetual swaps with a model that differs sharply from a conventional matching engine. The protocol opened pre-deposits before a planned launch following a HyperEVM network upgrade scheduled for Oct. 11. PaperTrade said earlier deposits would not receive an added advantage, describing the pre-deposit window as a way to reduce account-creation and funding congestion at launch.
The platform references prices from Hyperliquid, while positions are held in PaperTrade smart contracts. A trader’s profit or loss is calculated from the price difference between opening and closing a position, then settled against a public liquidity pool.
PaperTrade advertises leverage of up to 1,000x, zero funding fees and no traditional order-book slippage. Those features shift attention to the protocol’s settlement rules. Rather than charging a standard funding payment between long and short traders, PaperTrade applies a share of profits to winning positions. Under its published rules, smaller price moves between entry and exit lead to a larger percentage deduction from profits.
Losses from traders feed the public liquidity pool, while winning traders are paid from it. If the pool cannot cover a payout, the unpaid amount enters a first-in, first-out queue until sufficient funds arrive. That makes pool liquidity a direct consideration for traders closing profitable positions, especially during volatile periods or in the protocol’s early stage.
PAPER issuance links token supply to losses
PaperTrade’s PAPER token is tied to bootstrapping the liquidity system. The token begins with zero supply, and issuance is linked to qualifying realized losses. PaperTrade’s published rules state that when recorded protocol liquidity is below $2 million, each $1 in qualifying losses mints 100 PAPER. The issuance rate declines after the pool crosses that threshold.
PAPER holders can stake tokens to receive USDC distributions sourced from protocol fees and excess returns after recorded liquidity exceeds $5 million, according to the protocol’s documentation. The rules prioritize queued winning traders before distributions to stakers. Early PAPER is non-transferable, with staking and unstaking described as the available actions.
Delphi Digital illustrated the economics with a theoretical hedged trade: equal-sized 100x long and short positions, each backed by $100 of margin. In its example, a 0.5% Bitcoin move produced a $50 loss on one side and roughly $42.31 of profit on the other after deductions and fees. The resulting net cost was about $7.69, while the position generated approximately 4,900 PAPER.
That model implies a cost of roughly $16 per 10,000 PAPER, but Delphi Digital also identified several variables that can materially change the result: actual entry and exit prices, profit reductions, execution delays and the liquidity pool’s ability to pay winning traders. The mechanism gives traders a way to acquire PAPER through realized trading losses, but it also turns the token’s effective acquisition cost into a moving figure shaped by market conditions and protocol liquidity.
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