Phoenix, the perpetual futures exchange built on Solana, has enabled SOL as collateral, allowing traders to margin positions with the network's native token. Announced on September 16, 2026, the update lets market participants post SOL as margin alongside USDC across the exchange's more than 80 markets, which span crypto, equities, and commodities. The announcement is available here.

Until now, a SOL holder who wanted to trade perpetuals on Phoenix was required to sell their tokens for stablecoins first, a step that closed out the holder's exposure to the token at the moment of the trade. With SOL collateral, the tokens can remain in the account and back positions directly, letting a single balance serve as both a spot holding and trading margin.

"Traders on Solana today should not have to make the tradeoff between holding spot and trading perpetuals," said Eugene Chen, CEO of Ellipsis Labs, the development team behind Phoenix. "SOL collateral solves this tradeoff. A trader can stay long SOL, post it as margin, and run a basis trade or take a position in any Phoenix market without touching USDC."

The basis trade Chen describes — pairing a spot holding with a futures position to capture the difference between their prices — becomes possible without an initial conversion step, since SOL posted as margin keeps its market exposure even while it backs the position.

Margin and Collateral Mechanics

Positions on Phoenix are margined against available collateral. USDC counts at 100% of its value, while SOL is currently set at 80%, meaning each SOL posted contributes margin value at a discount relative to the stablecoin. Available margin moves with the price of SOL, so an account's SOL collateral revalues with the token's market price. Cross-margining and settlement remain unchanged, with profit and loss continuing to settle in USDC.

If an account falls below its maintenance threshold, the risk engine automatically reduces positions first and sells only the SOL required to cover any USDC shortfall — meaning the token is converted only to the extent needed, after positions have already been scaled back.

Multicollateral Roadmap

SOL is the first asset added under Phoenix's multicollateral system, which is designed to support additional collateral types over time. Each collateral asset carries its own oracle, weight, and liquidation parameters. Ellipsis Labs expects to enable further assets as the platform grows, informed by user demand, making the roster of accepted collateral and the parameters attached to each asset the items to track as the system expands.

Collateral weights, margin parameters, and liquidation thresholds are subject to change and are published at docs.phoenix.trade.

About Phoenix

Phoenix is a non-custodial perpetual futures exchange developed on Solana by Ellipsis Labs. It offers perpetuals on crypto, equities, and commodities, tradable with leverage, 24 hours a day, on a fully on-chain orderbook. Every order, fill, and liquidation is executed on the Solana blockchain, making execution publicly verifiable, while trader funds are held in on-chain program accounts governed by open-source smart contract logic rather than by any centralized entity.

Ellipsis Labs has built on-chain markets on Solana since 2023, beginning with the original Phoenix orderbook, which processed more than $75 billion in spot volume. Phoenix is available at phoenix.trade.

The service is not available in the U.S. or other prohibited jurisdictions.

Media contact: Gunn Olsen, Ellipsis Labs — gunnar@ellipsislabs.xyz

Source: Chainwire — Phoenix Enables SOL as Collateral for Perpetual Futures Trading