Deployer-Owned Markets (BIP-1)
How to launch your own perpetual market on BULK — the two-phase deployer system defined in BIP-1. For the formal specification, see docs.bulk.trade/bips/bip-1.
Why markets launch in two phases
BULK's portfolio margin system relies on correlation data between markets — but a brand-new market has no trading history to calculate correlations from yet. BIP-1 solves this by giving new markets a "trial period" in isolation before they're allowed to plug into the shared portfolio-margin system, so an untested market's risk can't spill over onto everyone else's collateral requirements.
Phase 1: rapid experimentation
Anyone can deploy a market as a Phase 1 listing, with no deployment fee and no Dutch auction required. As the deployer, you:
- Choose the market's symbol (with a custom prefix).
- Can't deploy a symbol for an asset that's already listed.
- Supply your own oracle or index price feed for the market.
- Are responsible for your own liquidity — BULK doesn't arrange private market-maker deals on your behalf.
Phase 1 markets trade in isolated-margin mode only (see Isolated Margin) — this is deliberate, and it's the mechanism that protects the rest of BULK's traders while your market proves itself. You can run up to 30 active Phase 1 markets at once.
Phase 2: maturation
Once a Phase 1 market has built up enough genuine volume, open interest, and price history, it becomes eligible to graduate. At that point BULK:
- Classifies it into the same nine-regime risk model used everywhere else on the exchange (see Understanding Portfolio Margin).
- Calculates its correlations against existing markets.
- Switches it to native oracle pricing — you no longer need to run your own feed.
Graduating requires posting a 2 million USDC bond staked at the network level. Once bonded, the market converts to full portfolio margining, which can mean up to a 70% reduction in margin requirements for traders holding correlated positions across it — the same efficiency described here for established markets.
What you earn as a deployer
Deployers can collect a fee of up to 100% of the base protocol fee on their market (meaning a trader's total fee can be up to double the standard base rate), paid out every 14 days.
The bond isn't free money sitting there
The 2 million USDC bond can be forfeited if you violate BULK's market policies. If you don't, it's returned after five years — so this is a genuine long-term commitment, not a one-time listing fee.
See also
Thinking about deploying a market, or just trading the ones that exist? Sign up on BULK Exchange with referral code YETI.