# Nova Markets Docs > How Nova works: trading Hyperliquid and Nova markets, providing liquidity to the Conviction Pool, and the Conviction Drops that decide what lists next. This is the complete text of the Nova documentation at https://docs.nova.markets, generated from the site on 2026-10-05. If this file and the site disagree, the site is right. Each page below starts with its title, its address on the site, and the address of the same page as Markdown. The glossary comes first because the other pages use its terms; the rest follow the order of the site's menu. --- # Glossary Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/glossary Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/glossary.md Section: Reference Every keyword in these docs, one line each. When a page uses a term, this is what it means. ## Conviction Markets - **Conviction Markets:** The new primitive for market formation: decides what Nova lists next - **Conviction Drop:** One listing event: the backing, the launch of the winning market, and the distribution of its Conviction Token. "The Drop" for short - **Conviction Points:** Your balance. Earned by trading and by providing liquidity to the Conviction Pool; spent on Conviction Drops - **Backers:** Everyone who spent points in a Drop. The winner's backers are those who spent on the market that listed; they get a boosted share - **Conviction Token:** The token that gives holders a lifetime share of its fees. One per listed market; pays 75% of its market's trading fees (opening and closing) pro rata to its holders - **Candidate:** One of the 3 proposed markets you can back in a Drop, shortlisted by the Nova team from community proposals. Losers stay, and can run again - **Sealed:** While a Drop is open, nothing that shows who backed what is published. At the Drop, the full Drop becomes public, permanently ## Trading - **Nova market:** A market listed from a Conviction Drop, trading against the Conviction Pool at the oracle price - **Conviction Pool:** The one pool behind every Nova market: the counterparty to every trade, funded by depositors - **Opening fee:** The per-market fee to open a position, charged on notional. Together with the closing fee, this is the trading fee Conviction Tokens pay from - **Closing fee:** The same rate as the opening fee, charged on notional when the position closes. Open plus close is twice the one-side fee - **Spread & price impact:** Adjustments to the oracle price at execution: a fixed per-market spread, plus dynamic impact from your size and the market's skew - **Holding fees:** The two costs of keeping a position open: the borrowing fee (paid to the pool) and the funding fee (paid between longs and shorts; it can pay you) - **Lists / graduates:** A market *lists* on Nova when it wins its Drop; it *graduates* from Nova directly to Hyperliquid when it shows sustained activity - **Liquidation price:** Shown before you open: where losses, fees included, close the position automatically - **Epoch:** The Conviction Pool's clock: open PnL is marked on epoch boundaries, and withdrawals settle on them --- # What is Nova? Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/what-nova Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/what-nova.md Section: Introduction **Nova is the perpetuals exchange reshaping market formation for Hyperliquid.** Nova introduces Conviction Markets, the market formation primitive on the House of All Finance. **Decide what lists next on Hyperliquid and earn from every market, forever.** There are 10x more capital markets that should exist onchain than actually do. The infrastructure to create them hasn’t been built. The first solver for capital origination is Nova. **Hyperliquid is where flows converge. Nova is where new flows enter.** The process of deciding which markets should exist, sizing them, sourcing their first liquidity, and assembling their first traders has historically sat inside exchange listing committees and bank structuring desks and has not been rebuilt for onchain finance. The rebuild to unbundle that work and run it as an efficient market process needs to happen with a new primitive for market formation. Conviction Markets is that primitive. Market demand is distributed. The people closest to latent demand are not exchange teams. They are domain experts, obsessive traders, niche communities, researchers, hedgers, people living inside the information flow before it becomes consensus. A commodities desk knows a venue should exist for a specific asset before any listing committee has discussed it. A macro analyst has been tracking an index for years and knows exactly who would trade a perpetual on it. Conviction Markets gives these participants a direct economic path from identifying demand to originating a market and retaining a claim on what they helped create. A market is proposed and becomes immediately tradable. Real capital at risk reveals whether demand is real or theoretical. If the market proves sustained activity, it moves into a full orderbook inheriting the liquidity and trader base it already accumulated during formation. Most exchanges acquire traders after a market is listed. By then, those traders may already have positions, habits, PnL history, and venue preference somewhere else. The exchange is competing for flow after the market already has a home. **Securitization did this to bank balance sheets. AMMs did this to market making. Conviction Markets do this to market formation.** The earliest moment to win a trader is the moment they first believe a market should exist. Conviction Markets captures traders at exactly that moment before there is an orderbook, before the market is widely known, before other venues are competing for the same flow. These traders have positions and history with the market from inception. They are not arriving later as mercenary flow. They are part of the market’s formation. Every Conviction Market is a trader acquisition funnel. The next billion-dollar markets start here. --- # What is Conviction Markets? Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/what-conviction-markets Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/what-conviction-markets.md Section: Introduction Nova introduces Conviction Markets, the new primitive for market formation, where aligned incentives accelerate liquid listings by rewarding traders and LPs with lifetime fee sharing from all listed markets. **Conviction Markets is more than a better listing process. It is a market formation mechanism.** Discovery, validation, liquidity formation, trader capture, and economic alignment are all the product of one system. Markets can be proposed, traded, and capitalized before they move to an orderbook on Hyperliquid. Participants earn direct fee sharing from all listed markets on Nova, and when a market shows sustained activity it graduates from Nova directly to Hyperliquid, bringing its liquidity, traders, and Conviction Token with it. The creator, early traders, and liquidity providers earn revenue share from every trade for as long as the market exists. They become equity-like participants in the market rather than early users who get replaced once volume arrives. This is not an incentive program with an expiry date. It is a structural alignment between the people who originated the market and its ongoing economics. Revenue share makes them permanent. ## How Conviction Markets work 1. Participants receive **[Conviction Tokens](https://docs.nova.markets/#/revshare)** for each new listed market: the ERC-20 token that rewards holders with a lifetime share of the market’s fees. 2. Participate by backing a market in the **[Conviction Drop](https://docs.nova.markets/#/conviction)**: every 3 days spend **[Conviction Points](https://docs.nova.markets/#/points)** backing the market you want to see listed next and receive **Conviction Tokens** of the listed market. Back the winning market to receive a boosted share of its **Conviction Tokens**. 3. Earn **Conviction Points** by trading and by providing liquidity to the **[Conviction Pool](https://docs.nova.markets/#/conviction-pool)**. 4. Propose a market to be backed in the **Conviction Drop** and receive 10% of its **Conviction Tokens** if it gets listed. When a market shows sustained activity it graduates from Nova directly to Hyperliquid, and it brings its Conviction Tokens and traders with it. Conviction Markets is whitelisted at launch. More information on [Telegram](https://t.me/novadotmarkets). --- # Quick Start Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/quick-start Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/quick-start.md Section: Introduction Earn Conviction Points and use them to earn direct fee sharing from all of Nova’s markets and decide what lists next. ## What you need - An EVM wallet. - Your X account. - USDC, from any chain you hold it on. ## 1. Connect Connect your wallet, and connect your X account to appear on the leaderboard. Conviction Markets is whitelisted at launch. Follow how to get your whitelist on [X](https://x.com/novadotmarkets). ## 2. Deposit Click Deposit and send USDC from any chain you hold it on. Minimum 5 USDC, flat 0.20 USDC fee, and it lands in your trading balance in seconds. See [Deposits and transfers](https://docs.nova.markets/#/get-started). ## 3. Earn Conviction Points by trading or providing liquidity Pick a market, Hyperliquid perps or Nova markets and start trading. You earn Conviction Points from your first trade. Providing liquidity to the [Conviction Pool](https://docs.nova.markets/#/conviction-pool) earns them too, continuously. ## 4. Your first Conviction Drop Every 3 days, three candidate markets stand for listing. Spend points on the one you believe in. Skipping is free, and an unspent balance only grows. At the Drop, everyone who backed receives the new market's [Conviction Token](https://docs.nova.markets/#/revshare): a lifetime share of its fees. Next: - [Conviction Tokens](https://docs.nova.markets/#/revshare): what you receive, and why it pays for life. - [Conviction Drops](https://docs.nova.markets/#/conviction): the rules of backing. - [Fees and funding](https://docs.nova.markets/#/fees): what a trade costs, and the one fee that can pay you. --- # Conviction Tokens Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/revshare Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/revshare.md Section: Conviction Markets The token that gives holders a lifetime share of each market’s fees. Every listed market has one. ## Getting Conviction Tokens - Back a market in the Conviction Drop. Everyone who backs receives, pro rata and the winner's backers get a boosted share. - Propose a market that is listed on a Conviction Drop. - Buy in the open market. A Conviction Token pays **75% of its market's trading fees** pro rata to its holders. Trading fees are the opening fee and the closing fee. What that is worth depends on how much the market trades, the larger the volume the more it is worth. ## Claiming your accrued fees Fees accrue in USDC and stay there until you claim. Claim your share at any time. ## Trading Conviction Tokens Conviction Tokens are ERC-20 tokens and can be transferred or traded. The app points you to the marketplace where each token's liquidity lives. Selling passes future fees to the buyer; what has already accrued stays yours. --- # Conviction Drops Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/conviction Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/conviction.md Section: Conviction Markets Conviction Markets is the new primitive for market formation. You earn Conviction Points, spend them on the proposed markets you believe in, and receive [Conviction Tokens](https://docs.nova.markets/#/revshare), a lifetime share of each listed market's fees, at the Drop. ## Backing a market at the Drop A **Conviction Drop** is one listing event: the backing, the launch of the winning market, and the distribution of its Conviction Token. One every 3 days. Each Drop has 3 proposed markets that you can back, shortlisted by the Nova team from the community proposals. **The candidate with the most points spent on it wins.** - Back a market at any moment while the Drop is open. - Once you back a market the points are spent and backing a market is permanent. - If you back a market, you spend at least 25% of your balance. Split it across one, two or all three candidates, as you like. - Adding more is always allowed. Withdrawing is not: spent points stay spent. - You keep accumulating points while the Drop is open. A 100% toggle sends everything you hold at the moment plus everything you keep earning until the close of the Drop. - Skipping is free and unlimited. You keep earning while you sit out. While a Drop is open, nothing that shows who backed what is published: no names, no amounts, no running totals, only who is taking part. At the Drop the winner lists, the tokens go out to everyone who backed any of the 3 markets, and the full Drop becomes public, permanently. Backing the winner market gives you a boost in received Conviction Tokens. Losing candidates are not gone. They stay, and they can run again. ## Proposing a market Anyone can propose, and it costs nothing: a ticker, why it should exist, a link to its price, and a payout address. If it lists, the proposer receives a 10% share of its Conviction Tokens. [More on Proposing a Market](https://docs.nova.markets/#/propose). --- # Conviction Points Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/points Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/points.md Section: Conviction Markets Earned by trading and by providing liquidity to the Conviction Pool, and yours until you use them. Spend on Conviction Drops and receive Conviction Tokens. ## What they are Conviction Points are the balance you back markets with. Every Conviction Drop is decided by them, and every Drop's token distribution is computed from them. While a Drop is open, Conviction Points continue being accrued. ## How you earn Conviction Points - **Trade Nova’s markets or on Hyperliquid through Nova’s Trading Terminal.** Every trade earns, start trading at https://app.nova.markets. - **Deposit in the Conviction Pool.** Capital accrues points continuously while it backs the markets. Deposit at https://app.nova.markets/earn/liquidity-pools. - **Referrals.** A share of what the people you bring in earn. It costs them nothing, and everyone earns extra. ## Referrals Attribution is explicit and permanent: once an account registers your code, a share of its base activity accrues to you: 10% to you, 5% extra to them. One level deep. No recursion, and no retroactivity: activity before registration counts for no one. ## Spend, or stack Backing spends points. Skipping is free and unlimited, and you keep earning while you sit out, so a balance started on day one, left alone, walks into a later Drop big enough to decide it. Being early is never wasted: your balance compounds until you choose to use it. ## Spending and receiving Conviction Tokens You spend points at Conviction Drops to receive Conviction Tokens. If you back a market, you spend at least 25% of your balance. The full rules of backing live in [Conviction Drops](https://docs.nova.markets/#/conviction). ## Rates Set by Nova, adjusted between Drops, and frozen for each Drop when it opens. What applies today is in the app. Changes are never retroactive. --- # Propose a Market Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/propose Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/propose.md Section: Conviction Markets List your market on Hyperliquid and earn a 10% revenue share, forever. [Image: Name a ticker while a listing is open for suggestions. If yours lists, you receive 10% of its Conviction Tokens.] --- # Referrals Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/referrals Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/referrals.md Section: Conviction Markets Refer users and earn direct fee sharing from their trades and boosted Conviction Points. Sign-up using a referral and receive a 5% boost on all your earned Conviction Points. Refer a user and receive 10% of all their earned Conviction Points. [Image: Check your referrals on the Conviction Markets page.] --- # Placing a trade Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/trade Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/trade.md Section: Trading Trade any market on Nova’s Trading Terminal and earn Conviction Points. [Image: Nova’s Trading Terminal] ## The trade panel Pick a side, set the size, confirm. Leverage and margin mode sit at the top of the panel. **Market** fills immediately at the best price available, and never worse than the slippage cap you set. **Limit** rests at the price you name and fills only there, or not at all. **Take profit** and **stop loss** are exits. Tick the box and set both prices while you place the entry, and they are attached to it. Or place them later from the same trade panel, against a position you already hold: each one becomes its own order, listed under Open Orders, where you can see it and cancel it. **Reduce only** keeps an order from ever opening more than you have. It can shrink a position or close it, never flip it. | Field | What it does | | --- | --- | | **Market / Limit** | Market fills now. Limit rests on the book at your price | | **Long / Short** | Long profits when the price rises, short when it falls | | **Amount** | Size. Type it, or use the slider | | **Reduce only** | The order can only shrink a position | | **Take profit / Stop loss** | Sets your exits, with the entry or later on their own | | **Slippage** | Market orders only. The worst price you accept | **Order Value** is the notional, **Margin Required** is what it locks, **Fees** is what it costs. A position is editable after it opens: add or remove collateral, adjust leverage, close part of it. Each edit re-checks the liquidation price before it applies. [Video: Trade Panel] ## Choosing a market to trade On Nova’s Trading Terminal, you can trade both Hyperliquid’s and Nova’s markets. | | Hyperliquid perps | Nova markets | | --- | --- | --- | | **What it is** | Markets that are listed on Hyperliquid | Markets that are listed on Nova | | **Counterparty** | The Hyperliquid order book | The Conviction Pool | | **Settles on** | Your Hyperliquid balance | Your Nova balance | Both sit behind one interface and one trade panel. Switch with the market selector. ## Examples | You want to | Do this | | --- | --- | | Go long 250 USDC of BTC now | Market, Long, 250, Place Order | | Buy only at 78,000 | Limit, Long, price 78,000, size, Place Order | | Set a target and a stop | Tick Take profit / Stop loss, set both prices | | Close now | Close on the position row | | Close part of it | Opposite order, smaller size, Reduce only ticked | ## Your position The row shows size, entry price, mark price, PnL, margin, and the liquidation price. Adding margin pushes the liquidation price away, removing it brings it closer. > Liquidation triggers on the mark price, an oracle price rather than the last trade. ## On Nova markets Same trade panel. Your counterparty is the Conviction Pool, so a large order moves your own execution price, shown before you confirm. The opening fee is set when you open, the closing fee when you close, and holding fees accrue while you hold. Start trading now at https://app.nova.markets. --- # Deposits and transfers Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/get-started Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/get-started.md Section: Trading Four operations, all from the same panel. ## Deposit USDC Any chain you hold USDC on. [Video: Deposit USDC flow] - **Asset:** USDC - **Minimum:** 5 USDC - **Fee:** Flat 0.20 USDC ## Move between Nova and Hyperliquid Your collateral sits on one side. Move it across from the transfer panel, in the top bar. Both ways, **5 USDC minimum**. [Video: Moving USDC between Hyperliquid and Nova] > Below 5 USDC, or sent by hand to a contract address, funds are not credited and cannot be recovered. ## Hyperliquid Spot and Perps Hyperliquid keeps two balances. Deposits land in **spot**, positions draw on **perps**, one action moves funds between them. An order refused for margin on a balance that is not empty is almost always this. ## Withdraw Withdrawals leave from **spot**. Move funds back there first. --- # Fees and funding Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/fees Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/fees.md Section: Trading What a trade costs, on both kinds of market, and the one fee that can pay you. ## Hyperliquid perps [Hyperliquid's own maker and taker fees](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/trading/fees), plus a **builder code of 3.5 bps** from Nova. ## Nova markets Fees are calculated on the position's notional: collateral times leverage. Each trade pays an **opening fee** when it opens and a **closing fee** when it closes. Both use the same rate, set per market by asset class, and both are charged on notional, not on collateral and not on PnL. | Asset class | Opening | Closing | | --- | --- | --- | | **Crypto** | 3.5 to 6 bps | 3.5 to 6 bps | | **Stocks, indices and commodities** | 3 to 5 bps | 3 to 5 bps | | **Forex** | 1.2 bps | 1.2 bps | Open plus close is twice the one-side fee. Trading fees (opening and closing) are what the market's Conviction Token holders are paid from. - **Spread and price impact**, applied to the oracle price at execution (below). - **Holding fees** while the position is open: a borrowing fee to the pool, and funding between traders (below). Everything that applies is in the trade panel before you confirm. ## Spread and price impact Your execution price is the oracle price adjusted by two things. A small **fixed spread**, set per market: smaller, less liquid underlyings carry a wider one. And a **dynamic price impact** that scales with your size against the underlying's real depth, and with the market's open-interest skew: a trade that makes the imbalance worse pays more, and a trade that reduces it pays less, and it can even execute better than the oracle price. This is what an order book's depth does elsewhere, done explicitly: size and direction pay their real cost, and the book stays balanced without shrinking the caps. ## Holding fees Two components accrue while a position is open, both visible on the position row. - **Borrowing fee**, paid to the Conviction Pool. It scales with how much of the pool's capacity your side of the market is using: a crowded side pays more per hour than a quiet one. This is the pool's compensation for backing your leverage. - **Funding fee**, paid between traders: the crowded side pays the light side, and Nova takes none of it. It is the one fee that can work in your favour: hold the light side of a skewed market and funding pays you. Rates and countdowns are in the market header; on your position both are folded into PnL. ## Liquidations Every position shows its **liquidation price** before you open it. It sits where your losses, fees included, reach the market’s liquidation threshold, deliberately short of 100%, so the position is always closed while there is still margin to close it with. Cross it and the position is liquidated: the remaining collateral, minus the liquidation fee, is gone to the pool. The liquidation threshold is set per market and can change with leverage. Check the table for each market in [Markets and parameters](https://docs.nova.markets/#/markets). The shape of it, with a 90% threshold: at 10×, a roughly 9% move against you liquidates. More leverage moves the liquidation price closer. Liquidations are executed automatically the moment the oracle price crosses the trigger, run by Nova at launch. Your take profit and stop loss, if set, always fire first when their prices come first. ## The rest | | | | --- | --- | | **Deposit** | Flat 0.20 USDC | | **Withdrawal** | Nothing from Nova | --- # Conviction Pool Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/conviction-pool Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/conviction-pool.md Section: Earn Deposit on the Conviction Pool and earn direct fee share from all Nova’s Markets and earn Conviction Points. ## What is the Conviction Pool? The Conviction Pool is the pool that exists to provide liquidity for every Nova market launched in Conviction Markets. You deposit USDC; each newly listed market plugs straight into it, and markets can quickly grow in Open Interest. ## What it collects - **15% of all trading fees** from Nova markets (opening and closing). - **Borrowing fees** from every open position, for as long as it stays open. - **Liquidation proceeds** when a position is liquidated. - **Trader losses.** - **Conviction Points**, on the capital you leave in. The other side of it: when traders close in profit, the pool pays them. ## How pool capital accrues Capital in the Conviction Pool earns points continuously through a reward index, from the moment it is deposited until the withdrawal is claimed; capital waiting out the withdrawal delay still counts. Only capital in the pool earns; nothing accrues to funds that have left. ## Epochs Deposits are instant. Withdrawals are requests that settle after a delay counted in epochs, then you claim. | Action | Settles | | --- | --- | | **Deposit** | Instantly, at the current share price | | **Withdrawal** | After the withdrawal delay, counted in epochs, then claim your USDC | | **Cancel** | Immediately, while still pending | The epoch, the time left in it and the delay are shown before you confirm. --- # NLP Vault Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/nlp-vault Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/nlp-vault.md Section: Earn Market making on the markets mature enough to be listed on Hyperliquid. Your USDC is used to quote both sides of those books. ## What it collects - **A share of the trading fees** those markets generate. - **The market making result**, which can be positive or negative. Depositors hold it in full. Nothing to claim: your shares grow through the share price. ## Depositing From any chain you hold USDC on. It bridges, you claim, the deposit is requested. The vault is on **HyperEVM**. Deposits settle at the next valuation. [Video: Depositing in the NLP] ## Withdrawing > Free, any time, but **asynchronous: up to 7 days**. The capital is in live positions and has to be unwound. ## Infrastructure - **Vault:** [Lagoon Finance](https://lagoon.finance/), whose vault infrastructure is audited - **Keys:** [Fordefi](https://fordefi.com/) MPC, policy controls on every signature - **Vault contract:** [0xeeed7bb939d65938fe8f40dd898cd5942e32f09e](https://hypurrscan.io/evm/address/0xeeed7bb939d65938fe8f40dd898cd5942e32f09e) - **MM account:** [0x01e187f06c9e7871986f0ed4e9d2bf528af9b2cf](https://hypurrscan.io/address/0x01e187f06c9e7871986f0ed4e9d2bf528af9b2cf) --- # Pricing and oracles Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/pricing Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/pricing.md Section: How it actually works How the Pricing and Oracle feeds for Nova’s markets work. ## Oracle Pricing Nova’s markets are pool based perpetuals. Every trade executes against the Conviction Pool at the oracle price of the underlying, adjusted for price impact, plus the market’s opening and closing fee. ## The price network Nova uses a custom real-time Chainlink node network to fetch the median price for each order. The nodes do not rely on Chainlink alone for prices: they pull from multiple centralized and decentralized exchanges and from multiple independent oracle providers. Five nodes answer each request. The trading contract waits for at least three of them and fills the order at the median of their answers. The network filters out outlier price action from any single exchange, whether it is caused by a manipulation attempt or by a temporary lack of liquidity. The oracle contracts are listed in [Nova Smart Contracts](https://docs.nova.markets/#/contracts). ## The feed Each node aggregates prices across the underlying's real markets, so no single venue's print is ever the price. The reason is leverage: at 10×, a wick of a tenth of a percent on one exchange is a 1% error in your PnL. An aggregated median cannot be wicked by one thin book, which protects both your liquidation price and the pool that takes the other side. ## Fresh at execution A market order is priced after you send it. Your transaction requests a price, the nodes answer onchain, and the order fills at the median of their answers. There is no stale price to trade against: if the price does not arrive in time, the order does not fill and you can reclaim its collateral. Limit orders, stops, take profits and liquidations are priced by the same nodes. They report the high and the low since the order became active, so an order fills if its price was reached. ## Spread and price impact Execution adjusts the oracle price twice. A small **fixed spread** per market covers the underlying's baseline liquidity, wider for smaller markets. A **dynamic impact** then scales with your size against the underlying's real depth and with the market's open-interest skew: worsen the imbalance and you pay more, reduce it and you pay less, sometimes better than oracle. This is the work an order book's depth does elsewhere, done explicitly: size pays its real cost, and nobody leans on the pool with unlimited size at a flat price. ## Manipulation resistance The defences stack. The price is an aggregated median, so moving it means moving the underlying's actual markets against their full depth. The impact curve makes one-sided size expensive, so a manipulator pays their way in and out. And each market carries exposure bounds, so whatever edge remains cannot be scaled into a number that matters. --- # Pool mechanics Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/pool-mechanics Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/pool-mechanics.md Section: How it actually works One Conviction Pool behind every market: what that means precisely, and why deposits move on epochs. ## The counterparty Every position on every Nova market has the same other side: the Conviction Pool. When a trader closes in profit, the pool pays the difference; when a trader closes at a loss or is liquidated, the pool keeps it. There is no peer on the other end of your trade, and no borrowed asset: the leverage is synthetic, backed by the pool. ## What it collects, what it pays Into the pool: borrowing fees from every open position, for as long as it stays open; liquidation proceeds; and trader losses. Out of the pool: trader profits. Two flows deliberately pass it by: **opening fees** belong to the holders of the market's [Conviction Token](https://docs.nova.markets/#/revshare), a lifetime share of its fees, and **funding** is paid between longs and shorts to keep each market's book balanced; it can even work in a trader's favour, and the pool never touches it. Depositors also earn Conviction Points continuously while their capital is at work. ## The share price tells the truth A share's price is simple arithmetic: what was deposited, plus every fee the pool has earned, minus the traders' net profit against it, including the unrealised profit and loss of positions still open, snapshotted at each epoch. You enter and exit at a price that already reflects the pool's exposure: there is no way to deposit just ahead of good news, or leave just ahead of bad, at a stale number. ## Why epochs Pool capital is live: it is the counterparty to positions whose value moves every second. Open PnL is snapshotted at epoch boundaries, and that settled mark is the only price shares move at: a deposit enters instantly at that mark, and withdrawals are **requests** that settle on a boundary, then you claim. This is what makes the pool fair to sit in: nobody trades its shares against a swing the mark has not settled yet. A deposit starts backing trades, and earning, from the epoch it enters. ## Leaving A withdrawal is requested, waits its delay counted in epochs, then is claimed in its window. The delay exists because your capital is backing open positions and has to be released, and it scales with the pool's health: the better collateralised the pool, the shorter the wait (1 to 3 epochs; an epoch is 3 days). Your shares keep earning fees for the whole lock. Cancel a pending request and the capital goes straight back to work. ## Can the pool fail to pay a winner? The exposure is bounded on purpose. Each market carries open-interest caps sized against the pool, so the sum of what traders could win is limited relative to what the pool holds: a hot streak draws the share price down, it does not leave a winner unpaid. Above full backing, the pool builds a buffer: fees accumulating past 100% collateralisation sit as a cushion between traders and depositors before any drawdown touches deposits. The open-interest cap of each market is listed in [Markets and parameters](https://docs.nova.markets/#/markets). ## One pool, every market A newly listed market plugs into the pool and trades with full depth from its first minute: no market raises its own liquidity, and no market trades against a thin, drainable pot of its own. Each market is capped in how much of the pool's capacity it may use, so no single market can monopolise the depth or the risk. The other side of the coin, said plainly: the pool's exposure spans the whole board. Depth is shared, and so is risk: one market's bad day is diluted across every market's fees. --- # Nova Smart Contracts Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/contracts Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/contracts.md Section: How it actually works The technology Nova is built on, the contracts behind it, and who controls them. ## Hyperliquid markets Nova uses Hyperliquid and adds a builder fee for trades on Hyperliquid markets. The fee is listed in [Fees and funding](https://docs.nova.markets/#/fees). - **Builder address:** [0x3f950B0A5221048097057AF9FD162c3cdf81E9DD](https://hypurrscan.io/address/0x3f950B0A5221048097057AF9FD162c3cdf81E9DD) ## Nova’s markets Nova uses a 1:1 fork of [Gains Network](https://gains.trade) for Nova’s markets, using battle tested technology that has had billions of dollars in volume and secured millions in TVL. Nova has made no changes to the Gains Network code. Nova’s markets run on Arbitrum. Nova controls every admin key of the contracts below. ## Contract addresses Each address links to the contract on Arbiscan. - **Trading contract:** [0x1410FA3F87F6A6ea221E5D2aB608C23005eC34f3](https://arbiscan.io/address/0x1410FA3F87F6A6ea221E5D2aB608C23005eC34f3) - **Conviction Pool:** [0x9cA80193712F372e2ff33A00127292884F6F8598](https://arbiscan.io/address/0x9cA80193712F372e2ff33A00127292884F6F8598) - **Open PnL feed:** [0xdf27970cA86FC94668cC31c8Ba372eE37397B58d](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xdf27970cA86FC94668cC31c8Ba372eE37397B58d) - **Collateral (USDC):** [0xaf88d065e77c8cC2239327C5EDb3A432268e5831](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xaf88d065e77c8cC2239327C5EDb3A432268e5831) - **Governance Safe:** [0xBA86498b08a2fac8e987eeaB5Eeb5930689b293F](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xBA86498b08a2fac8e987eeaB5Eeb5930689b293F) - **14-day timelock:** [0x35016C7cF14bA1080D486143A98fcB3fA9bF1ea4](https://arbiscan.io/address/0x35016C7cF14bA1080D486143A98fcB3fA9bF1ea4) - **3-day timelock:** [0xc2A8e52b78DEA6675f924690e6E53556652bab01](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xc2A8e52b78DEA6675f924690e6E53556652bab01) - **10-hour timelock:** [0xCE44101fC58c0ecbAB80Be524dD302c2Db9CbD82](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xCE44101fC58c0ecbAB80Be524dD302c2Db9CbD82) - **Proxy admin:** [0x5a780c806b8394C575eaE1781fdBCCa5506090Bb](https://arbiscan.io/address/0x5a780c806b8394C575eaE1781fdBCCa5506090Bb) - **Price oracle 1:** [0x72132Ef9553b9F7E23e1223330b3d4183Dd7e4D8](https://arbiscan.io/address/0x72132Ef9553b9F7E23e1223330b3d4183Dd7e4D8) - **Price oracle 2:** [0x33DD0e108Cd992d0D19E080c88611dF0143655FB](https://arbiscan.io/address/0x33DD0e108Cd992d0D19E080c88611dF0143655FB) - **Price oracle 3:** [0xB184bd3CF9C45b60b98E4d647b574A97e56a8135](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xB184bd3CF9C45b60b98E4d647b574A97e56a8135) - **Price oracle 4:** [0xbe3A28B484c0CEF6774c630d2E1F07c7245FE17C](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xbe3A28B484c0CEF6774c630d2E1F07c7245FE17C) - **Price oracle 5:** [0xF1b2cc388873d1c3D1acfa947B252d4eD7bbfFDB](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xF1b2cc388873d1c3D1acfa947B252d4eD7bbfFDB) - **Referral registry:** [0x8650e771cde34e86B4b65B636aaeC9Ff9fD9782f](https://arbiscan.io/address/0x8650e771cde34e86B4b65B636aaeC9Ff9fD9782f) - **Referral distributor:** [0xbeDe0Ad86877F6c6FeCe639f04B6F81896f82973](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xbeDe0Ad86877F6c6FeCe639f04B6F81896f82973) - **Manager key:** [0x2Daf8D24Ef74808A11324fD89143F2B26763068c](https://arbiscan.io/address/0x2Daf8D24Ef74808A11324fD89143F2B26763068c) The NLP Vault has its own contracts, listed on the [NLP Vault](https://docs.nova.markets/#/nlp-vault) page. ## Who controls what A multisig Safe governs the contracts. Changes to code and to roles go through a timelock, so each one is visible onchain before it takes effect. | Holder | Delay | What it controls | | --- | --- | --- | | **Governance Safe**, 2 of 3 signers | None | Lists markets and sets their fees, leverage and liquidation settings. Sets the fee split and collects the treasury share. Replaces a price oracle. Pauses trading. | | **3-day timelock** | 3 days | Changes roles and the code of the trading contract. Changes the treasury address. Adds a collateral or a price oracle. Sets the daily limits of the Conviction Pool. | | **10-hour timelock** | 10 hours | Changes roles and the code of the trading contract in an emergency. | | **14-day timelock** | 14 days | Upgrades the Conviction Pool and the proxy of the trading contract. Changes the pool’s withdrawal rules and the contracts it is linked to. | | **Manager key** | None | Sets open-interest caps, market depth, and borrowing and funding rates. It cannot change code, change roles or withdraw funds. | The Safe is the proposer and the executor on all three timelocks. The key that deployed the contracts holds no role. An upgrade to the Conviction Pool waits 14 days. That is longer than the longest withdrawal wait, which is 3 epochs of 3 days, 9 days in total. ## Gains Network audits These are the audits of the Gains Network contracts that Nova forks. - **Halborn.** [Gains Trade Smart Contract Security Assessment](https://www.halborn.com/audits/gains-trade/gains-trade-smart-contract-security-assessment). - **CertiK.** [All eight CertiK audit reports for Gains Network](https://skynet.certik.com/projects/gains-network). ## Gains Network docs The full technical reference for the contracts is in the [Gains Network docs](https://docs.gains.trade). --- # Markets and parameters Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/markets Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/markets.md Section: How it actually works The markets listed on Nova, the settings each one trades with, and where each trading fee goes. Everything in the tables is read from the chain. ## Listed markets The trading contract holds 453 pair entries. A pair can be traded only when its open-interest cap is above zero. Markets listed today: 1. ### HYPE/USD - **Leverage:** 1.1× to 200× - **Trading fee, each side:** 0.04% (4 bps) - **Minimum position:** $200 - **Open-interest cap:** 1,500,000 USDC - **Fixed spread:** None - **Liquidation threshold:** 90% up to 25×, falling to 75% at 60× and above The trading fee is charged when a position opens and again when it closes. Price impact and holding fees are explained in [Fees and funding](https://docs.nova.markets/#/fees). ## Where each trading fee goes The trading contract splits every trading fee the same way on every market. | Recipient | Share of each trading fee | | --- | --- | | **Nova treasury** | 82.5% | | **Conviction Pool depositors** | 15% | | **Referrer** | 2.5% | When a trade has no referrer, that 2.5% is shared between the other recipients in the same proportions: 84.6% to the treasury and 15.4% to the pool. This is the split the contracts enforce. Conviction Token payouts are computed offchain on top of it, from Nova’s treasury share. --- # FAQ Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/faq Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/faq.md Section: Reference ## Getting started **Q: Why does Nova exist?** There are 10x more capital markets that should exist onchain than actually do. Deciding which markets exist has always been committee work; Nova turns it into a market process that measures demand with real capital and lists what wins. Conviction Markets is the new primitive for market formation. **Q: What do I need?** An EVM wallet and USDC. Minimum deposit 5 USDC, flat 0.20 USDC fee. Your X account gets you the leaderboard and the whitelist. **Q: Is Nova a different exchange from Hyperliquid?** Yes, they are two different exchanges. You trade both on Nova's Trading Terminal, and both count towards Conviction Points. Markets on Nova that see great volumes graduate to Hyperliquid and take their Conviction Tokens and traders with them. **Q: Why trade here rather than on Hyperliquid?** Your volume works twice. Execution is the same, but every trade on Nova earns Conviction Points, points decide what lists next, and backing a listing pays a lifetime share of its fees. On Hyperliquid alone your volume is just volume; on Nova it compounds. **Q: No margin, but my balance is not empty.** Your funds are in spot rather than perps, or on the other venue. See [Deposits and transfers](https://docs.nova.markets/#/get-started). ## Costs **Q: What does Nova add on Hyperliquid fees?** A builder code of 3.5 bps. The rest is Hyperliquid's own fee. **Q: What does a Nova market cost, all in?** An opening fee and a closing fee, the same rate, set per market by asset class: 3.5 to 6 bps for crypto, 3 to 5 bps for stocks, indices and commodities, 1.2 bps for forex. Spread and price impact on the execution price, and holding fees while the position is open: a borrowing fee to the pool, and funding between traders, which can also pay you. Every number is in the trade panel before you confirm. **Q: Can I edit a position after opening it?** Yes: add or remove collateral, adjust leverage, or close part of it. Take profit and stop loss can be attached at entry or added later. **Q: What happens during a liquidation?** Every position shows its liquidation price up front. If the oracle price crosses it, the position is closed automatically and the remaining collateral, minus the liquidation fee, goes to the pool. Your take profit and stop loss fire first if their prices come first. See [Fees and funding](https://docs.nova.markets/#/fees). **Q: Do I pay funding to Nova?** No, funding is paid between traders. ## Conviction Points **Q: How do I earn them?** By trading Nova’s markets or Hyperliquid through Nova’s Trading Terminal, by depositing in the Conviction Pool, and through referrals: 10% of what your referrals earn comes to you, and they earn 5% extra. **Q: What are the rates?** Set by Nova and adjusted regularly. What applies today is in the app. ## Conviction Markets **Q: Can I see how the Drop is going?** No, and neither can anyone else, until the Drop. **Q: What if my market does not win?** You still receive the new market's Conviction Token, pro rata. The winner's backers get a boosted share; skipping the Drop receives nothing. And your candidate is not gone: losers stay, and can run again. **Q: Can I change my backing?** You can always add more, to the same candidate or another, and you can split across the slate. You cannot withdraw points already spent. **Q: What does proposing cost?** Nothing. If it lists, the proposer receives a 10% share of its Conviction Tokens. ## Earn **Q: Which one do I use?** The [Conviction Pool](https://docs.nova.markets/#/conviction-pool) is the counterparty to Nova's markets, and it is the one that earns Conviction Points. The [NLP Vault](https://docs.nova.markets/#/nlp-vault) does market making on markets listed on Hyperliquid. **Q: How fast can I get out?** Getting in is instant; getting out is not. Pool withdrawals wait 1 to 3 epochs, 3 to 9 days depending on the pool's health; the vault takes up to 7 days. --- # Risks and disclaimers Address: https://docs.nova.markets/#/risks Markdown: https://docs.nova.markets/risks.md Section: Reference ## Trading - **Leverage.** A position at maximum leverage is liquidated by a small move. - **Oracle prices.** Liquidation runs on a mark price from an oracle. - **Size.** On Nova markets a large order moves your own execution price. - **Gaps.** A stop does not protect against a gap. ## Earn products - **You are the counterparty.** Trader profits come out of your deposit. - **Exit is not instant.** Epochs on the pool, up to 7 days on the vault. - **Fees are compensation, not a guarantee.** ## Protocol - **Smart contract risk.** Onchain code carries software risk. - **Hyperliquid.** Matching, settlement and balances depend on it. - **Operated components.** Keepers relay orders and oracles are run. Nova is centralised today. ## Disclaimers **Not financial advice.** Nothing here is financial, investment or trading advice. **Risk of loss.** Leverage can cost you your entire capital. Deposits are at risk. Any yield figure shown anywhere is an illustration, never a guarantee. **Conviction Points.** An accounting entry. No ownership, no claim, rates adjusted, and no promise of a token or an airdrop. A Conviction Token pays only what its market generates, which can be zero. **Regulatory.** You are responsible for determining whether your use of the protocol complies with the laws that apply to you. **No guarantees.** Nova may modify any aspect of the protocol, including fees, points rates and listings.