Frontier Traders Season 1 Opens With $1M+ in Perps Rewards on Phoenix and Solflare

Frontier Traders Season 1, a perpetual futures trading competition run by the Solana Foundation, is live with more than $1 million in rewards. It runs for eight weeks on Phoenix and ends with eight finalists competing in a London Grand Final in November. Frontier Traders announced the launch on September 23, though the Season 1 page lists trading from September 21 to November 7. The campaign terms name the Foundation as sponsor and define the campaign period as September 22, 12:00 UTC, to November 11, 12:00 UTC.

Only perpetual futures volume counts. Perpetual futures, or perps, are leveraged contracts that track an asset's price and never expire. The terms limit eligible volume to perps trading on Phoenix and Solflare, across all assets those venues list, and exclude spot trading. Solflare calls itself "the exclusive mobile Perps venue for the season." The top prize is a Porsche 911 GT3 RS or $250,000 in stablecoins, whichever the winner picks.

This is the latest step for a program we have followed since June. Frontier Traders launched as an invite-only program for institutional market makers, added Flint Trade as a venue at the start of September, and opened a network-wide VIP rebate program on September 14. Season 1 turns it into a season-long competition with a single venue, public leaderboards and a live final.

How Frontier Traders Season 1 Rewards Work: Crates, Leaderboards and Weekly Campaigns

Every eligible trade counts toward three reward tracks at once, according to the Season 1 page and Solflare's announcement.

Trading Crates are milestone rewards. Hitting $10,000 in volume unlocks a Starter crate worth up to $20, $50,000 unlocks a Silver crate worth up to $100, and $250,000 unlocks a Gold crate worth up to $2,000. The Season 1 page says more than 50,000 crates are available. Torque issues the crates, and identity verification is required before a crate reward can be claimed.

Leaderboards run weekly and across the season. Each week, $20,000 is split between the top 10 traders by volume and the top 10 by profit and loss (PnL). Separate $50,000 pools cover the top 50 on each of the season-long volume and PnL boards. Weekly themed campaigns carry their own reward pools, announced week by week. Frontier Traders said in a reply that spot campaigns are "coming soon."

The terms bar wash trading, self-trading, spoofing, layering and "uneconomic trading lacking a legitimate economic purpose" from volume counts. Entrants must be at least 18 (or the local age of majority, if higher) and are limited to one account per person. Rewards may require KYC (identity checks), and anyone who fails to finish verification within 30 days of being notified loses the reward.

Phoenix Perps as the Only Venue, With Solflare as the Mobile Route

Phoenix, the on-chain perps exchange built by Ellipsis Labs, confirmed that the season runs "all on @PhoenixTrade," with mobile trading routed through Solflare. The two have worked together before: Solflare's in-wallet perps product runs on Phoenix and passed $15 million in volume in its first six days in August.

Phoenix has also run its own incentives. In July it launched Flight Club, a $420,000 rewards program, paid in USDC after passing $1 billion in perps volume without incentives. Two days later it listed equity perps alongside a $25,000 Frontier Traders leaderboard. Season 1 is a larger prize pool, paid for by the Foundation rather than the exchange.

Eight Seats at the London Grand Final Before Breakpoint

The Grand Final is set for London on November 14, according to the campaign terms. Solflare's announcement places it "ahead of Breakpoint." Eight finalists will compete for the title of Frontier World Champion.

The Season 1 page lists how the eight seats are filled:

• winners of three live city events: Belgrade (held August 27), Seoul (September 30) and Singapore (October 6)
• the top season-long PnL trader
• the season volume champion
• one discretionary Frontier Wildcard
• two seats through season tracks not yet announced

Under the terms, the champion has 14 days to choose between $250,000 in stablecoins and the car, and delivery of the car could take up to six months. Other rewards are paid within 30 days of the end of the relevant campaign.

From Invite-Only Market Makers to a Public Perps League on Solana

Perps are a market Solana does not lead. As we reported in August, Solana perp platforms crossed $1.08 trillion in cumulative volume, second globally behind Hyperliquid. Frontier Traders began with hedge funds, prop firms and market makers. Season 1 is open to any eligible trader aged 18 or over, and it uses weekly rankings, city qualifiers and a car to draw them to one venue.

Our data gives a starting point to measure the season against. Phoenix's perpetuals program had 1,249 signing wallets on September 21 and 1,012 on September 22. That is within the range of roughly 680 to 1,270 a day it logged from September 1 to 16. These are counts of wallets, not individual traders, and two days is too short to show any effect from the competition. The weeks through November will show whether $1 million in prizes moves that number.