Losses Fund the House
Papertrade’s contracts use the midpoint between Hyperliquid’s best bid and offer as the entry and exit price. Positions are synthetic trades against Papertrade’s pool; no corresponding perpetual contract trades on Hyperliquid itself, according to the documentation.
The design removes funding payments and quotes trades at that midpoint, subject to market exposure limits. Instead of charging a fee on the full position size, Papertrade reduces gains on profitable closes through an asymmetric impact haircut. Losing trades pay their loss without an additional charge.
When the pool cannot cover a winning trade, unpaid profit becomes a queued debt claim, funded by subsequent traders’ losses. Papertrade builder @izebel_eth has said that a winning trader’s original collateral becomes available again at close; only profits enter the queue. The distinction matters because the headline deposit total includes customers’ trading money, not just funds available to settle those claims.
The PAPER token gives losing traders a claim on pool-related income. According to the documentation, supply starts at zero and tokens mint from realized losses, with no team or venture allocation. The initial rate is 100 PAPER per dollar of eligible loss basis while tracked pool capital is below $2 million, then declines along the emissions curve.
PAPER will initially be available only for staking and unstaking, not transfers between wallets. Stakers receive a 1% share of realized profit and loss on eligible settled trades when the payout queue is empty and the pool can cover the distribution. Further pool gains above the documented $5 million reward cap can also be distributed to stakers.
The launch retains administrative controls. Papertrade said its administrators can pause new positions, freeze markets and change fee parameters. Contract upgrades are subject to a seven-day timelock.
