Season 2 points ended in June and the token is live, so trader growth now runs on partner deals. This page maps the rival programs with live data, prices the deal shapes GRVT already uses, and turns the JD into a plan.
Points drove the first $400B of volume. With Season 2 closed, each new trader now costs cash: Ambassador commission, prize pools, and yield.
Price is a real edge: priced at their own Hyperliquid rates, 50 of 59 sampled pro traders would pay less on GRVT, mostly through maker rebates. Unique listings are a thin hook (8 of 184). Yield and private positions round out the pitch.
Sign trader communities in the markets GRVT can serve, on the prize-pool plus Ambassador format GRVT already runs. Price every deal in bps of referred volume and report it weekly.
The one line: buy volume at a known cost per bp, from communities that stay after the prize pool pays out.
A hybrid venue: off-chain matching, with settlement on a ZKsync Validium chain that proves to Ethereum. Founded 2022 by ex-Goldman, Meta and DBS operators. $34M raised; ZKsync, 500 Global, Matrix and Delphi are among the backers.
| Lever | What it is today | Why a partner cares |
|---|---|---|
| Fees | Level 1: 4.5 bps taker, maker rebate at every level (−0.01 to −0.30 bps). Tiers set on 30d volume. | Makers get paid from the first trade. |
| Ambassador program | Silver 25%, Gold 30%, Platinum 35% of perp fees; 2 to 5% indirect. Entry by 10K+ followers or referee volume. | The rev-share base for every KOL deal. |
| Community campaigns | Prize pools that unlock at volume milestones: A8, YourQuantGuy (15K USDT at 800M), Tealstreet, Binance Wallet, Web2 Community. | A proven, repeatable deal shape. |
| Earn on Equity | 3.5% APY on USDT/USDC by default, deployed through Aave. +1% for referrals. | Idle community balances earn while they wait. |
| Markets | 184 perps: crypto, US and Korean stocks, ETFs, metals, energy, and SpaceX / OpenAI / Anthropic. | Content hooks, where the book has depth. |
| Token | $GRVT live since 30 Jul 2026; Season 2 closed 30 Jun; Membership locks lower fee tiers. | No live points season to sell today. |
Sources: GRVT help center (fee model, Ambassador, Earn on Equity, TGE, campaign pages), GRVT blog, The Block, CoinDesk.
How matching, settlement and custody work; deposit and withdrawal routes; the escape-hatch question L2BEAT raises; margin, liquidation and funding; a worked $10,000 BTC trade; the token and its unlocks; funding rounds; the Spearbit audit; and GRVT against Hyperliquid, Lighter, Aster and dYdX. Verified 27 Sep 2026.
Whose partner program a trader KOL weighs against GRVT's, and what GRVT has to beat.
| Venue | 30d vol / OI | Entry fees (taker / maker) | Partner terms | What GRVT must beat | GRVT's answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyperliquid | $217B / $8.5B | 4.5 / 1.5 bps | 10% referral, 4% referee discount; builder codes up to 0.1% | Deepest books; builder codes let a KOL charge its own fee | 3.5x the share, maker rebate, yield on idle USDT |
| Aster | $68B / $1.4B | 4 / 0 bps; RWA taker 1.25 bps | 10% default; approved affiliates 20% | Cheaper RWA taking | Higher ceiling; RWA maker rebate ("Paid Mode") |
| Lighter | $54B | 0 / 0 (Standard) | Points-led | Free trading | Pitch yield, privacy and depth; fee share has nothing to split there |
| edgeX | $40B | n/a | Up to 30% (secondary) | Same Asian KOL pool | 35% ceiling plus 5% indirect |
| Extended | $7.7B | 2.5 / 0 bps | Affiliate after $10K volume (secondary) | Live pre-TGE points | Rewards paid in USDT today |
| Paradex | small | Retail 0 / 0 | Up to 25% of taker fees (secondary) | Zero retail fees | More volume and OI |
| CEXs (Bitget, Bybit, MEXC, OKX) | $3B to $11B / day | about 6 / 2 bps | 30 to 50% (MEXC up to 70%) | Higher headline share | Self-custody, yield, prize pools; see §06 |
Volumes: DefiLlama perps, 27 Sep 2026. Terms: each venue's docs; secondary where marked. GRVT ranks 5th among perp venues by OI (7th on DefiLlama's full list, which also counts Kalshi and the tradeXYZ HIP-3 front end) and about 8th by 30d volume. Its OI runs near one day of volume, a sign of stickier positions.
I pulled every GRVT perp, checked it against five rival venues' public APIs and GRVT's own order books, and priced real Hyperliquid traders' flow on GRVT. Five findings shape the partner pitch.
Hyperliquid traders sit inside GRVT's fee-tier band ($5M to $2B a month). Together they trade $170.7B a month, about 12x GRVT's volume. Winning 1% of it adds about $1.7B a month.
sampled traders would pay less on GRVT for the same 14-day flow, at their own current Hyperliquid rates (staking and referral discounts included). Median saving $4.1K a month; middle half $0.9K to $10.2K.
drive the gap: GRVT pays a maker rebate from Level 1. On Hyperliquid's base schedule makers pay until $500M of volume, and rebates start only at 0.5% of exchange maker volume. For the 9 where Hyperliquid wins, lead with yield, or skip.
markets are listed by no rival (Hyperliquid incl. HIP-3, Lighter, Aster, Extended, Paradex). Only 2 hold $25K+ within 1% of mid. Uniqueness is a narrow hook.
is the exception: about $789K resting within 1% at a 1.3 bps spread, and Hyperliquid's HIP-3 version is delisted. The strongest single content hook on the venue today.
of GRVT volume comes from its 106 TradFi markets. The listing breadth is there; the flow is still crypto. TradFi-curious communities (equity and macro traders) are the gap to fill.
Several Korean stock perps show under $10K within 1%. Pushing a KOL audience into them moves the price. Check the book, and line up market makers before a campaign.
Method: the GRVT KOL Desk demo, reading market-data.grvt.io (instruments, ticker, book) and each rival's public market API, 27 Sep 2026. Trader pricing: Hyperliquid's public leaderboard, userFees and clearinghouseState, against GRVT's published fee levels; a systematic sample of 59 from the top 500 in band. Numbers move daily; the demo recomputes them on load.
In Asia, where a partner may promote matters as much as who they are. The table reads the posting's five locations against GRVT's published restricted list and local rules.
| Market | Status | Why | Partner approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore | restricted | On GRVT's restricted list (updated 3 Aug 2026). | Team base only; no local promotion. |
| Hong Kong | restricted | On GRVT's restricted list. SFC regime for VA platforms; JPEX influencer prosecutions set the tone. | No local promotion. |
| Mainland China | high risk | The 2021 PBOC notice bars offshore venues from serving residents and extends liability to their marketing. | Keep mainland residents out of partner targeting. |
| Taiwan | gated | Unregistered foreign VASPs may not advertise (since Nov 2024); VASP Act passed Jun 2026. | Needs a legal read before any campaign. |
| Malaysia | gated | SC requires DAX registration; its action against Bybit covered ads and a local Telegram group. | Needs a legal read before any campaign. |
| Korea, Japan, SEA ex-SG/MY, global CN-speaking | prospect | GRVT already runs KR, JP and CN channels and ran a KR-JP-CN volume competition in Feb 2026. | Where most partner sourcing goes, subject to each country's read. |
Sources: GRVT restricted jurisdictions page; PBOC 2021 notice (Davis Polk summary); Taiwan FSC via Cointelegraph and Taipei Times; SC Malaysia release on Bybit; HKFP on JPEX. An outside read for planning only; legal sets the final scope.
| JD duty | How I would run it | Detailed in |
|---|---|---|
| Onboard KOLs & communities | A scored pipeline of trader KOLs, signal groups, bot/terminal communities and the pro traders already paying more on Hyperliquid. Onboard into Ambassador with a tier fast-track tied to signed volume. | §05, §07 |
| Partnership development | A partner channel per community with a named owner, a monthly market brief, and co-posts in the partner's language (EN / 简体 / 繁體). | §05 |
| Outreach & negotiation | Open with the partner's own numbers: their fees today against GRVT, audience, and their current offer converted into dollars. Close with a one-page proposal in their language. | §06 |
| Referral, rebate, promo programs | Standardise the prize-pool template (milestones in bps of volume), add a retention leg paid on month-2 volume, and route makers to the MM program. | §05, §06 |
| Market research | A weekly scan of rival listings, fees, programs and depth. The demo automates the market side. | §02, ★ |
| Cross-team collaboration | Marketing: creative and campaign pages. Product: listing and depth requests. Support: a partner-specific onboarding FAQ in each language. Compliance: a claims checklist for partner scripts. | §05 |
| Performance monitoring | Per-partner dashboard: referred volume, active traders, cost per bp, month-2 retention, abuse flags. | §08 |
Five moves, each grounded in a mechanic GRVT already has.
Signal groups and trading clubs park USDT between trades. At 3.5% APY by default, parked balances are a reason to hold the account open. No perp DEX referral program offers this.
Every fee level pays a maker rebate, and the MM program adds up to 1.1 bps. Grid-bot and quant communities (Hummingbot, Gridy AI style) fit here; the Tealstreet migration campaign is the template.
The pool wins the launch; commission keeps the partner after it pays out. Add a retention milestone on month-2 volume, so the pool buys traders who stay.
Korean and US stock perps plus the "Paid Mode" RWA maker rebate suit equity and macro communities. Only push markets whose books pass the depth check.
A weekly partner kit in EN, 简体 and 繁體 with live market angles, risk and eligibility lines, and a referral link. The demo generates the drafts.
Deposits arrive in about 5 minutes from Tron, Solana, Kaia, BNB Chain, Arbitrum and Base via Rhino.fi, so a community can fund in the USDT it already holds. Manual app traders also get Retail Price Improvement fills inside the spread, a concrete line for retail groups.
Partners get a claims checklist (licence wording, restricted regions) and the payout rules up front: commission covers perp fees only, never spot or builder-code trades, and tiers re-rate every two weeks.
| Objection | Answer a partner can repeat |
|---|---|
| "Can I get out if GRVT goes down?" | Withdrawals need your key and balances are proven to Ethereum. L2BEAT finds no forced-withdrawal path today, so size balances to trading capital and test a withdrawal first. |
| "Is the 3.5% yield risk-free?" | It comes from lending pooled reserves on Aave and short-term credit, GRVT calls it promotional, and the rate can change. It is a benefit on idle margin. |
| "Is GRVT regulated?" | Use approved wording only: a Bermuda Class M licence announced Dec 2024 with pre-operational conditions; retail accounts contract with a Panama entity. |
| "Hyperliquid is deeper." | True on majors. GRVT's case is price for makers, private positions, yield on margin and markets such as SpaceX that Hyperliquid no longer lists. |
Detail and sources for each answer: my GRVT guide.
Price every shape in bps of referred volume, so deals compare on one scale. Example: a 20K-member Telegram group, 90 active traders at $150K a month each, Level 1 fees, 70% taker, over 6 months.
| Deal shape | Terms | Partner earns | Cost | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambassador Silver | 25% of taker fees | $3.1K | 0.79 bps | Default for steady communities |
| Fixed + lower share | $1.5K + 15% | $3.4K | 0.85 bps | A partner wants cash up front |
| CPA | $60 per active trader | $5.4K | 1.36 bps | Rarely; volume per head is unknown |
| Prize pool | 0.2 bps of volume | $0.8K | 0.20 bps | Launches and competitions |
Share needed = rival share × rival fee ÷ GRVT fee. Against Hyperliquid's 10%, Silver already pays about 2.5x more. Against a 50% CEX affiliate at 6 bps, matching takes about 67%, above the Platinum ceiling. Close that gap with a pool and the yield story.
YourQuantGuy: 15K USDT at 800M volume, about 0.19 bps. The Web2 challenge paid about 0.6 to 1 bp. An Ambassador at 25 to 35% of a 4.5 bp taker fee costs about 1.1 to 1.6 bps of taker volume.
Every figure above is live in the demo's deal calculator, with the fee level, Ambassador tier and rival offer adjustable.
Total partner cost (commission, pool, fixed) ÷ referred volume. One scale for every deal.
Share of launch-month volume still trading 30 days later. The test of a prize pool.
Traders with volume in the period, per partner and market.
Maker flow deepens the book for everyone. Tracked apart from taker volume.
Balances held on GRVT, which earn yield and anchor retention.
Volume voided for self-referral, device clustering or wash patterns, per partner.
Outside-in, from public data only (public job posting, 2026). Market data is live from venue APIs; program terms come from each venue's docs. Confirm every figure internally before it drives spend.
GRVT: fee model · Ambassador · Earn on Equity · MM program · restricted jurisdictions
GRVT campaigns: YourQuantGuy · Web2 Community · Paid Mode · Tealstreet · KR-JP-CN
Company: 2026 roadmap · The Block · CoinDesk · TGE
Background: GRVT: The Complete Guide for 2026 (my guide on web3wagmi) · L2BEAT
Data: DefiLlama perps · GRVT API docs · Hyperliquid docs
Rivals: Hyperliquid referrals · Aster · Lighter · Paradex · Extended · Bitget
Regulation: PBOC 2021 · Taiwan · SC Malaysia · JPEX
Named prospect partners and specific commercial terms are held in my application materials. This page analyses the public market only.
Independent homework by Edward Tay for the GRVT BD (Global) application. Public data only, no confidential GRVT information. The demo is my own prototype.