Drift Protocol Review: DEX Platform With Special Dynamic AMM Mechanism

Drift Protocol is a derivatives-focused trading platform that rivals other initiatives of a similar nature on Solana and other blockchain systems. So what’s special about the Drift Protocol? Let’s learn about this project with Coincu through the Drift Protocol Review article.

What is Drift Protocol?

Drift Protocol is a decentralized exchange (DEX) dedicated to perpetual futures contracts on the Solana blockchain. The protocol’s unique features aim to revolutionize the trading experience by addressing issues prevalent on current centralized exchanges.

Built on the Solana blockchain, Drift Protocol employs an open-source framework that leverages the Dynamic Automated Market Maker (AMM) mechanism. At the heart of Drift Protocol’s offerings are opportunities for traders to speculate on assets, with positions supporting up to x5 leverage. Additionally, users can reap profits through funding rate fees.

One of the key challenges Drift Protocol aims to tackle is the inherent inefficiencies in traditional centralized exchanges. Issues such as slow transaction speeds and limited computing capacity have long plagued these platforms. The blockchain’s inherent lack of optimization for processing large transaction volumes exacerbates problems like network congestion and high transaction fees.

By prioritizing speed, efficiency, and reduced fees, Drift Protocol positions itself as a viable solution to these challenges. The protocol’s commitment to innovation in decentralized futures trading aligns with broader industry efforts to create more accessible, transparent, and user-friendly financial ecosystems.

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Features of Drift Protocol

Autonomous Insurance Fund

Drift Protocol sets itself apart by boasting its very own insurance fund, a crucial safety net covering potential risks such as protocol insolvency or unfulfilled positions. This distinct feature contributes to a heightened sense of confidence among traders, assuring them that the protocol is well-prepared for unforeseen circumstances.

The insurance fund is replenished through a combination of collateral from successful liquidations and a portion of transaction fees. This proactive approach enables the fund to automatically execute tasks, including covering losses incurred at any level within the protocol, thereby fortifying its resilience.

Symmetrical Funding Rate

For those engaged in leveraged transactions, the funding rate becomes a pivotal concept, and Drift Protocol brings a unique twist to this aspect. Unlike conventional markets where funding rates are determined at fixed intervals, Drift Protocol recalculates its funding rate every hour.

The funding rate is essentially an “order holding fee,” reflecting the regular payments between borrowers and lenders. If the funding rate is positive, indicating that the futures market price surpasses the Oracle-determined price, short positions are obliged to reimburse the difference to long positions, and vice versa.

Drift Protocol strives for a symmetric funding rate, ensuring equilibrium. In cases where an imbalance occurs between long and short positions, the Rebate Pool intervenes, covering the difference at an effective level. This strategic intervention not only maintains balance but also reduces reliance on the autonomous insurance fund, thereby enhancing overall protocol safety.

Furthermore, the following capabilities are under investigation and development and will be made available shortly:

• Generate synthetic spot positions.
• Generate delta-hedged stablecoin positions;
• Hedging the risks associated with the temporary loss of liquidity provision positions.

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Drift Protocol’s Liquidity Sources

JIT Auctions: Enhancing Market Maker Competition

Drift Protocol’s JIT Auctions present a unique approach to supplying liquidity to market makers (MMs). When a user (Taker) initiates a market order, the system activates a Dutch Auction session with specified starting and ending prices and a predetermined time frame. MMs are then compelled to compete, striving to match user orders at prices equal to or better than the ongoing auction price.

If no MM participation occurs within the initial period, approximately 5 seconds, the user’s order seamlessly transitions to Drift’s AMM, ensuring swift and efficient execution.

Special Dynamic AMM: Unleashing Flexibility and Efficiency

Drift Protocol distinguishes itself as the first futures exchange to introduce the Special Dynamic Automated Market Maker (DAMM). Unlike traditional vAMM or AMM mechanisms, DAMM’s unique features include customizable parameters such as price anchoring and the ability to set the ‘k’ parameter in the formula (where ‘k’ is typically a constant in conventional AMMs).

DAMM comes into play in two scenarios:

• Unfilled JIT Auctions: If no market maker participates in the auction to match the user’s market order, DAMM steps in to provide liquidity, ensuring that trading can proceed smoothly.
• Triggered Pending Orders: When a pending order hits the trigger price on the exchange, DAMM automatically matches the order. This ensures flexibility and prevents users from missing valuable trading opportunities

Adaptable Liquidity Management

Drift Protocol’s innovative approach allows for the dynamic adjustment of liquidity pools to meet the evolving needs of participants. DAMM emerges as a critical component of Drift, guaranteeing liquidity, efficiency, and convenience for users engaged in trading activities on the platform.

Notably, the protocol’s design incorporates conservative measures, including exposure limits, revenue pools, and insurance funds, minimizing market risks. Drift achieves this without relying on external market makers for bootstrapping liquidity, though not without added risks.

To reference external market prices, Drift Protocol relies on trusted oracles, with Pyth currently serving as the price reference oracle for their perpetual contracts, exemplified by the SOL-PERP market.

Furthermore, the DAMM mechanism empowers traders on the Drift Protocol to engage in cross-margin trading, allowing for both long and short positions with up to five times leverage while maintaining low slippage.

Limit Order Liquidity

Drift integrated the Decentralized Orderbook (DLOB) as its third source of liquidity, complementing JIT and DAMM. This innovative approach involves arranging limit orders on the chain through the Keeper Bots system, subsequently creating an off-chain order book.

The off-chain order book is meticulously organized based on time, from the oldest to the earliest, and price, from the largest to the smallest.

Keepers Network

Keepers, integral to this process, maintain visibility into the order book, overseeing new orders, DAMM availability, and prices sourced from oracles.

The execution of limit orders is contingent on the activation condition being met, prompting Keepers to swiftly fulfill the order and replenish the DAMM. What sets Drift apart is its proactive approach, as Keepers not only monitor and execute limit orders but also facilitate connections between Taker orders and resting limit orders under similar conditions. Read More

Highlights of Drift Protocol

One of Drift’s standout features is its provision of up to 10x leverage for traders through perpetual swaps. Developers find Drift to be a versatile platform, thanks to the Software Development Kit (SDK) that facilitates the creation of bots and access to historical data.

Furthermore, the platform is equipped with built-in trading bots, providing additional support to traders navigating the complexities of the market.

Drift’s notable features extend beyond its user-centric approach:

• Firstly, the protocol leverages the high-speed Solana blockchain, ensuring fast and efficient transactions.
• Another key feature is Drift’s full cross-margin support, allowing users to maintain multiple open positions within a single collateral pool.
• One of Drift’s defining characteristics is its commitment to accessibility. The platform operates on a permissionless basis.
• Crucially, Drift stands out for its commitment to transparency. The trading platform operates with a clear and open structure, devoid of activities that could be detrimental to users.

Drift V2

Drift Protocol has announced the launch of Drift V2, the next iteration of its groundbreaking protocol. With a slew of significant upgrades, Drift V2 aims to address common challenges faced by decentralized exchanges, providing users with an improved and efficient trading experience.

One of the standout features of Drift V2 is the introduction of Liquidity Trifecta, a comprehensive liquidity mechanism. This innovative approach combines JIT Auctions Liquidity, DAMM Liquidity, and DLOB Liquidity, addressing issues such as slow processing speed and high price slippage that have plagued other decentralized exchanges. The Liquidity Trifecta positions Drift Protocol as a frontrunner in overcoming these limitations, ensuring a seamless and reliable trading environment.

Moreover, Drift V2 brings forth a suite of four main products, diversifying the offerings for users:

Drift Protocol roadmap

Drift Protocol celebrated the successful launch of its Devnet version on September 29, 2021. The event witnessed the participation of over 4,500 traders, engaging in more than 350,000 transactions, collectively valued at an impressive $1.6 billion. This accomplishment is particularly noteworthy given the project’s testing phase status.

The journey of the Drift Protocol has been meticulously outlined through its developmental phases:

Q2/2021 (Completed)

• Completion of Litepaper publishing.
• Acquisition of sponsorship from Solana and Serum.
• Successful seed round fundraising.

Q3/2021 (Completed)

• Devnet version launch in a closed environment.
• Official version of Devnet introduced.

Q4/2021 (Completed)

• Alpha version launched on Mainnet in a closed environment.
• Full Alpha version released on Mainnet.

Q1/2022 (Completed)

• Scheduled product testing, including research on security and hacker psychology to mitigate code line attack risks.
• Integration of Stop Losses and Take Profits feature.

Looking ahead, Drift Protocol has outlined key milestones in its project timeline:

• June 16, 2022: Introduction of Drift v2.
• June 17, 2022: Drift Research Competition v2.
• September 19, 2022: Launch of the Hybrid Drift v2 liquidity mechanism.
• September 29, 2022: Implementation of the Real-time Auction Mechanism.
• October 31, 2022: Drift v2 testnet.
• November 23, 2022: Establishment of the DeFi Derivatives Alliance in partnership with Nansen.
• November 29, 2022: Transition from Drift v1 to Drift v2.
• December 11, 2022: Listing of ETH-PERP and BTC-PERP pairs.

Drift’s team

Drift Protocol does not disclose its development team. Some sources say the co-founder of the project is Cindy Leow, she studied at Minerva University and is currently living in Singapore.

Investors and Partners of Drift Protocol

Drift Labs, the blockchain technology company announced the successful completion of its seed round fundraising, securing an impressive total capital of $3.8 million. Multicoin Capital spearheaded the funding round, with notable participation from renowned funds such as Alameda Research and Not3Lau Capital, founded by Daren Lau and Daryl Lau.

Adding to the financial backing, Drift Labs garnered support from a group of esteemed angel investors, further underscoring confidence in the company’s potential. The list of angel investors includes:

• Jason Choi (Spartan Capital)
• Julian Koh (Ribbon Finance)
• Loi Luu (Kyber)
• Celia Wan (Dragonfly Capital)
• Dom Tsang (Solana)
• Hassan Bassiri (Arca)
• Windra Thio (Element)
• Zhuoxun Yin (Coinbase/dYdX)

Drift Protocol’s ability to attract such a robust and influential group of investors suggests a promising future for the company within the ever-evolving landscape of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Is Drift Protocol a good DEX project on Solana?

Drift Protocol is emerging as a trailblazer, drawing inspiration from industry leaders like dYdX. Drift leverages the robust foundation of the Solana blockchain to propel its development, aiming to set new standards in efficiency and accessibility.

Built upon the Solana blockchain, the Drift protocol boasts the advantages of swift transactions and low fees, enabling traders to execute a multitude of transactions seamlessly. This characteristic sets the stage for a dynamic trading experience, allowing users to make continuous trades without the constraints faced on traditional platforms.

Alpha Mainnet Leverage

Noteworthy is the fact that, in its current Alpha Mainnet stage, Drift Protocol supports a maximum leverage of 5x. While this may seem conservative in comparison to competitors like Mango Markets and dYdX, which offer 10x leverage, Drift Protocol’s emphasis on responsible trading is apparent.

Technological Prowess

On the technological front, Drift Protocol has meticulously curated the components necessary to deliver both the basic and advanced features expected of a derivatives platform. Utilizing blockchain technology, the platform enables traders to seamlessly connect non-custodial wallets, enhancing the overall user experience.

Venture Capital Backing

Supported by substantial investments from prominent venture capital funds, Drift Protocol stands well capitalized. The platform’s robust network effect within the Solana ecosystem further fortifies its position, promising multiple token pair support to amplify trading opportunities.

Developer-Friendly Innovation

Beyond catering to traders, Drift Protocol extends its reach to developers through the Drift SDK, fostering the creation of liquidation tools and trading bots. This developer-friendly approach not only enhances the platform’s functionality but also contributes to increased trading volume, ensuring a robust and liquid market.

From the above factors, Drift Protocol is navigating the crypto derivatives landscape with a focus on innovation and responsibility. This could be a new push in the Solana ecosystem and promises a lot of potential in the near future.

Conclusion of Drift Protocol Review

Drift Protocol is one of the futures exchanges with the highest TVL in the Solana ecosystem, and recent data on DefiLlama also shows the project’s impressive growth, which confirms that Drift Protocol is taking the right steps to develop itself.

At the moment, projects working on decentralized derivatives exchanges are attracting many users from centralized exchanges due to the development of the DeFi market in general and Devirative in particular.

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