N1 Prime
N1 Prime is designed to connect liquidity across multiple exchanges, allowing N1 to draw on the depth of connected markets while making capital more productive across venues. It does this by recognizing eligible external collateral and offsetting positions, so liquidity providers can support their activity on N1 without funding each venue as if its positions were unrelated.
The first use is market making. A market maker can quote on N1 while hedging or making markets on a connected exchange, and use its capital more efficiently across both. The aim is to give liquidity providers more capacity to offer size at tighter spreads for traders on N1.
Prime is in development. This page is an early overview of how cross-exchange collateral, margining and account security will work together. We'll share more detail as the first integrations take shape.
How it works
A Prime account links an N1 trading account with an account on a supported external exchange. Prime tracks collateral, positions and open orders across the linked accounts, uses that information to decide how much the account can trade, and handles liquidations if the account falls below its requirements.
For example, a liquidity provider with a long position on N1 can hold an offsetting short on the connected venue. Prime recognizes that the two positions reduce the account's overall exposure, instead of treating them as unrelated trades that each need full funding.
Collateral stays on the venue where it is held. Counting it toward margin on N1 does not duplicate the funds or make them available on both exchanges at once. Trading and settlement still happen on each venue; Prime coordinates the account's permissions and risk limits.
N1 keeps operating its own orderbook and RFQ markets. Prime supports liquidity on those markets. It does not route N1 trades to another exchange.
Margining across venues
Prime looks at two things at once: the account's combined exposure, and what each venue requires on its own.
Offsetting positions reduce directional risk. They do not remove leverage, execution costs, or the risk that one leg moves without the other.
Each connected exchange keeps its own margin rules. Lighter, for example, requires collateral on Lighter to support its positions; it does not count collateral on N1. N1's Prime margining is designed to recognize eligible external backing. Prime therefore checks both the external account's local requirements and the linked account's overall backing, with additional leverage limits even when positions offset.
Before new risk is allowed
Prime checks what could happen, not what is intended. It considers adverse combinations of fills across open and pending orders, rather than assuming a planned hedge will complete. Trading capacity depends on confirmed collateral and positions, never on a pending deposit or an unfilled offsetting order.
Liquidations
Prime is designed to manage liquidations across the linked account as a whole. If an account no longer meets its requirements, Prime restricts trading, cancels open orders and reduces positions across the linked venues. Partial liquidations will be supported, allowing exposure to be reduced without necessarily closing the entire portfolio. The order and size of reductions account for liquidity and the risk of leaving one leg exposed. The closes are not atomic across exchanges.
A connected exchange can also liquidate or reduce a position under its own rules. Prime monitors for those events and treats them as part of the account's state, because losing one leg of a hedge can leave the other exposed.
Account security and collateral control
Prime accounts are designed to combine user authorization with additional signing controls that enforce account restrictions. Ordinary trading actions follow the account's authorization rules; liquidation requires separately defined authority to reduce exposure without waiting for a new user signature. Permitted actions are submitted with signatures the relevant venue accepts. The specific signing scheme and permissions will be documented separately.
These controls cover more than order placement. Withdrawals, transfers and changes to account permissions must not remove backing that the linked account still needs. Excess collateral may be released when the remaining backing meets all requirements. Collateral movement goes through risk checks and balance reconciliation before the account can take on new exposure.
External account information also has to stay current. If Prime cannot reliably establish an account's state, it restricts new risk rather than keep trading against an assumed balance or hedge.
Cross-exchange margining still depends on connected venues, their custody arrangements and the availability of their services. Prime's controls are designed to manage those dependencies. We'll describe the initial signing and operating roles alongside the longer-term path toward decentralized enforcement as the rollout progresses.
Initial scope and direction
Our integration roadmap starts with Lighter, followed by Hyperliquid. Initial access is planned for selected liquidity providers, so that external collateral can support market making on N1 under controlled account permissions and margin limits.
Over time, we intend to support more participants, more connected exchanges and more uses of cross-exchange collateral. Broader access depends on validating the account controls and risk management, not simply on adding another venue connection.