Phoenix Trade Enables SOL as Native Collateral for Perpetual Positions

Phoenix has added SOL as a native collateral type for perpetual futures, letting traders post SOL directly as margin without first converting to USDC. Announced September 16 by Ellipsis Labs, the change opens positions across more than 80 markets covering crypto, equities, and commodities.

"Hold SOL. Trade anything," Phoenix posted in the announcement.

The addition is the first step toward full multicollateral support on the platform. Jarry Xiao, co-founder of Ellipsis Labs, described the feature in a technical post on X as representing "the future of on-chain trading" beyond what it enables in its current form.

How SOL Collateral Works on Phoenix: 80% Weight, Dynamic Margin, USDC Settlement

SOL deposits are assigned a collateral weight of 80%, meaning $100 of SOL at market value provides $80 of usable margin. USDC continues to count at full value. Available margin adjusts in real time alongside SOL's price, introducing a dynamic element that did not exist under a pure USDC collateral model.

Profits and losses settle in USDC regardless of which collateral is posted. If an account falls below its maintenance margin threshold, the on-chain risk engine trims positions first and liquidates only the amount of SOL needed to cover any USDC shortfall, according to Investing.com's reporting on the launch.

Eugene Chen, CEO of Ellipsis Labs, framed the change as removing a conversion step for Solana-native holders: "Traders on Solana today should not have to make the tradeoff between holding spot and trading perpetuals. SOL collateral solves this tradeoff," he said in reporting by Investing.com.

Ellipsis Labs' On-Chain Risk Engine and Spot DEX Integration

Xiao's technical post described three engineering requirements to add SOL collateral without breaking Phoenix's existing interfaces or third-party integrations:

• Extending the Phoenix account model to recognize the new collateral type without disrupting existing state or connected protocols.
• Upgrading the on-chain risk engine to price SOL for margin calculations in real time.
• Integrating every current Solana spot DEX directly into Phoenix, enabling atomic spot liquidations and swaps when required. When liquidation is triggered, the transaction executes on-chain across connected spot markets in a single atomic operation.

The spot DEX integration is what makes the broader multicollateral roadmap structurally possible: any new collateral asset that requires liquidation can be handled atomically through existing Solana spot markets without off-chain settlement.

Multicollateral Support: Any Liquid Solana Spot Asset as a Candidate

Xiao said multicollateral support is "just around the corner," with the threshold for a new asset being a liquid spot market on Solana. Solana spot markets, which Xiao noted already facilitate billions of dollars in daily volume across a diverse asset set, give the candidate pool substantial breadth from day one.

The scope extends beyond native crypto assets. Phoenix already lists equity and commodity perpetuals, and the same atomic liquidation infrastructure applies to tokenized assets with sufficient on-chain liquidity.

Phoenix Perpetuals Context: $1B Volume, Expanding Market Catalog

Phoenix crossed $1 billion in perpetuals volume without a trading incentive program in place before launching its Flight Club rewards program in July 2026, which distributed $420,000 USDC over 28 days. Its market catalog has grown since, adding equity perpetuals for companies including Alphabet, Tesla, and Micron, and a growing roster of semiconductor and pharmaceutical names.

SOL collateral adds a structural change to the platform's collateral layer, giving Phoenix the infrastructure to expand the types of assets traders can post as margin alongside the assets they can trade.