dYdX

dYdX is a decentralized exchange (DEX) platform that offers perpetual trading options for over 35 popular cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Etherium, Dogecoin and Cardano.

It stands as one of the biggest decentralized exchanges in the world in terms of trading volume and market share.

dYdX was founded by Antonio Juliano, a California-based entrepreneur, in August 2017. The exchange was launched in July 2017 initially offering crypto margin trading, lending and borrowing services over Ethereum layer-1.

Fast-forward to August 2021, the dYdX exchange started offering cross-margin perpetual trading. In cross-margin trading, users can repurpose their available balance on the platform to provide liquidity to existing trades — a popular method to avoid liquidations during high volatility.

The dYdX protocol was built over the Ethereum smart contracts and STARK (zero-knowledge) Rollups powered by Starkware. The platform started its journey in the cryptosphere by offering spot trading and has since relaunched three iterations of its services to decentralize its components. As a way to decentralize the exchange, most of the dYdX exchange is built on trustless protocols, which are publicly extensible without any permission.

This article walks through the various products offered on the dYdX exchange and helps identify investment opportunities within the decentralized trading landscape.