Ondo launches tokenized-stock perpetuals, touts collateral edge as volume tops $100 million

Ondo has entered the on-chain perpetuals race with the launch of Ondo Perps, a trading venue that lets users take leveraged positions on tokenized assets without first converting holdings into stablecoins, according to an announcement shared via Stocktwits. Perpetuals, or “perps,” are derivatives designed to track the price of an underlying asset with no fixed expiry date, and leverage can amplify both gains and losses.

In its launch details, Ondo said traders can open perpetual positions with up to 20x leverage on tokenized stocks, including companies and exchange-traded names such as SpaceX-linked tokens, Nvidia, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Strategy, among others. Ondo also described a broader lineup that extends beyond equities to commodities and indices, including products tied to gold, silver, oil, and index benchmarks tracking the US 100 and US 500.

A key differentiator in Ondo’s pitch is collateral handling. Rather than requiring traders to convert tokenized-stock holdings into stablecoins before posting margin, Ondo said its model allows tokenized stocks to be posted as collateral to back leveraged positions. That, in turn, is positioned as a workflow improvement aimed at reducing friction for traders who want exposure to equities while using leverage.

The platform’s early activity was a headline in Ondo’s post. It reported that 24-hour trading volume on the platform crossed $100 million after going public and said that during a prior private beta, nearly $2 billion in volume had traded through the platform. Ondo’s chief executive, Ian De Bode, was quoted describing the private beta volume as evidence of market appetite for equity perps “built on real market liquidity.”

Ondo’s announcement also frames the launch as direct competition with both decentralized and centralized venues. The post said Ondo Perps will compete with decentralized perpetual exchanges including Hyperliquid, ApeX Protocol, Aster, and Lighter, as well as centralized exchanges that have “ventured into the space,” explicitly naming Coinbase. Coinbase has not been described in the post as operating a specific tokenized-stock-perps product in the same way, but it is cited as part of the broader set of institutions that have moved toward similar offerings.

Access and geography were addressed in the launch messaging. Ondo said Ondo Perps would be available first for pre-alpha users, and that traders globally could use the service outside the United States, Panama, and other jurisdictions Ondo labeled as prohibited. That implies a compliance boundary for the product, though the scope of the restrictions was not detailed in the social post or accompanying excerpt.

Still, some specifics remain unclear from the published excerpt. The post does not spell out risk controls such as liquidation mechanics, margin methodology for tokenized-stock collateral, or how the platform handles corporate actions, custody, and settlement finality for the underlying tokenized equities. It also does not provide details on pricing sources, oracle design, or whether users can redeem exposures for off-chain share equivalents.

For traders and market watchers, the next question is whether Ondo can sustain the initial volume momentum and whether its collateral-first design translates into better liquidity or tighter spreads versus rivals. Investors and users will also be looking for clarification on how the platform manages regulatory constraints across jurisdictions and how it structures leverage risk for tokenized-stock underlyings as competition with other perps venues continues.