Architect Exchange Review: Perpetual Futures on Traditional Markets

AX (Architect Exchange) positions itself as a centralized, regulated derivatives venue built specifically for perpetual futures on traditional asset classes such as FX, stocks, interest rates, metals, and equity indexes. The docs frame AX as “the world’s first” exchange in this category, combining a familiar perp trading experience with a more traditional regulatory and operating model. Read this Architect Exchange Review to know more about the platform.

What is Architect Exchange?

Architect Exchange (branded as AX) is a centralized, regulated derivatives exchange focused on perpetual futures tied to traditional financial markets, not crypto spot tokens.

What that means in practice:

• Product: Non-expiring perpetual futures (perps) whose underlyings are traditional asset classes like FX, single stocks, interest rates, metals, and stock indexes.
• Venue type: A centralized exchange with an order-book style trading experience, positioned to bring “crypto-style perps” mechanics to traditional markets.
• Operator and regulation: Operated by Architect Bermuda Ltd and described as regulated under the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) framework (the public launch communications highlight this structure).
• Audience positioning: The docs and launch coverage present it primarily as an institutional-grade venue for trading these traditional-asset perps.

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Architect Exchange Review: How to get started

Here is how to get started on Architect Exchange (AX), based on their docs.

1) Confirm your account type

• Individuals: AX says it is not yet onboarding individual accounts (planned for the intermediate future).
• Institutions: AX says it is presently onboarding institutional accounts. You start by emailing [email protected].

2) Go through onboarding and KYC

AX points you to their onboarding process and notes that the KYC process complies with applicable AML/ATF regulations.

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3) Fund your account (collateral)

• Contracts are USD-denominated and balances are credited as USD, regardless of how you deposit.
• Deposits are accepted via USD wire transfer or major stablecoins (example: USDC on Ethereum).
• Automated deposit instructions and the full supported list are “coming soon”, and for now they direct users to Contact Us for instructions.

4) Understand custody and fees before you trade

• Custody: USD funds are held with partner banks; stablecoin custody and USD/stablecoin conversions are supported via Anchorage.
• Fees: AX uses a maker-taker fee model and mentions tiered, volume-based incentives, pointing to their published pricing policy for specifics.

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Architect Exchange Review: Perpetual Futures

A Perpetual Futures contract is basically a futures position that never expires. Instead of settling only at expiry like traditional futures, it uses periodic settlements (often daily) to exchange the cash difference between the mark price (what the exchange uses for risk and P&L) and the underlying benchmark price (the reference index for the real market).

Expiration

Perpetual futures do not expire, so you can hold a position indefinitely, as long as you maintain required margin.

Tracking mechanism (funding)

To prevent the perp price from drifting away from the underlying index, perpetuals use a funding rate. Funding creates a recurring payment between longs and shorts that nudges the contract price back toward the benchmark over time.

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Are these crypto products?

No. Even though perpetuals are most famous in crypto, Architect’s perpetuals track traditional assets and do not use crypto underlyings. Crypto is used only for rails (like stablecoin deposits), not as the underlying market.

Trading mechanics

Perpetual futures on Architect trade on an order book using price-time priority, meaning the best price fills first, and at the same price, earlier orders fill before later ones.

Why traders use perpetual futures (advantages)

• No expiry so no contract rolling or rollover friction
• Cash-settled so no physical delivery complexity
• Funding mechanism helps keep price aligned to the benchmark
• 24/7 trading instead of traditional market hours
• Capital efficiency via leverage and margin
• Shorting is native so you can express bearish views cleanly

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Architect Exchange Review: Fees

AX uses a maker-taker model. If you remove liquidity (market orders or aggressive limit orders that immediately execute), you pay the taker fee. If you add liquidity (resting limit orders that sit on the book), you pay the maker fee. Fees are tiered by your 30-day trading volume. fees

AX transaction fee tiers (30-day volume)

Fee Tier	30-day Volume (USD)	Taker Fee	Maker Fee
Tier 1	Up to $1M	0.25%	0.02%
Tier 2	$1M to $10M	0.15%	0.01%
Tier 3	Above $10M	0.05%	0.005%

Note: The pricing policy also states AX may provisionally assign traders to a tier or apply promotional discounts, and it may allow trading via brokers with potential fee-sharing arrangements.

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Architect Exchange Review: Funding

Funding rate payments are AX’s price-alignment mechanism for perpetual futures. They keep the perpetual contract trading close to the underlying benchmark by applying periodic credits and debits between longs and shorts.

How AX defines the inputs

Mark Price

• Derived from publicly available order book data, typically using a VWAP over a defined window (example: 3:45 to 4:00 PM London time).
• The detailed mark price methodology is documented in the AX Pricing Policy (Section 3.2).

Underlying Price

• Pulled from independent benchmark providers (examples: LSEG, S&P, ICE, NASDAQ) using transparent benchmark methodologies.

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When funding is applied

• Frequency: Daily (or as scheduled), excluding holidays and exchange closures.
• Processing: At each product’s published settlement time, funding is applied to all open positions.
• Timing detail: AX may apply funding a few minutes after the published funding time because it waits for the external benchmark feed (example given: up to ~5 minutes).

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Who pays whom (tracking rule)

Condition	Who pays	Who receives	Why it converges
Mark Price > Underlying Price	Longs	Shorts	Perp is rich, longs pay to pull price down
Mark Price < Underlying Price	Shorts	Longs	Perp is cheap, shorts pay to pull price up

Funding amount (the practical formula)

Funding payment is proportional to:

• Position size
• (Mark Price − Underlying Price) at the funding snapshot

Architect Exchange Review: Settlement

AX uses real-time mark-to-market settlement, meaning your open P&L is continuously recalculated using the platform’s mark price, and your account collateral updates automatically as that P&L changes.

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Why this matters

• Lower settlement risk: losses are recognized and reflected immediately instead of building up until a later settlement window.
• Margin stays accurate: because collateral updates in real time, your available margin and liquidation risk reflect current market conditions, not delayed pricing.
• Cleaner risk controls: large adverse moves reduce collateral quickly, which helps the exchange enforce maintenance margin earlier and protect system solvency.

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Architect Exchange Review: Deposits and Collateral

AX keeps the collateral model simple: everything is USD-denominated.

What you can deposit

• USD via wire transfer
• Major stablecoins (example given: USDC on Ethereum)

How your balance is treated

• All balances are credited as USD, even if you deposit via stablecoins.
• All contracts are USD-denominated, so your margin, P&L, and risk checks are managed in USD terms.

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Operational note

• AX says automated deposit instructions and the full list of supported deposit methods are “coming soon.”
• For now, deposits are handled via Contact Us for instructions.

Conclusion

Architect Exchange (AX) packages a familiar perpetual futures experience into a venue focused on traditional markets. Its model is straightforward: USD-denominated contracts, order-book execution, mark-to-market settlement in real time, and daily funding that keeps perp pricing aligned to an external benchmark. For traders, the value proposition is access to 24/7, cash-settled exposure with native shorting and margin efficiency, while the main diligence points are funding costs during basis dislocations, product-level settlement timing, and the practical onboarding and deposit workflow while automation and supported rails are still being expanded.

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