Ostrich Review: A Comprehensive Guide

This Ostrich Review profiles Ostrich, an on-chain trading platform on Arbitrum that offers wallet-only access to synthetic exposure in global assets—equities, metals, FX, and crypto—via oracle-priced perpetual contracts and PFOF-based order routing. We assess its market structure, risk mechanics (oracles, funding, liquidations), user experience (no brokers/KYC), and security/compliance posture. Compared with centralized brokers and perp DEXs, Ostrich’s borderless model is promising but depends on transparent execution, resilient oracle design, and clear legal positioning.

What is Ostrich?

Ostrich is an on-chain trading platform built on Arbitrum that gives wallet-only, brokerless access to synthetic exposure in traditional and crypto markets. Instead of tokenizing stocks directly, it offers oracle-priced perpetual contracts referencing real-world assets like equities, metals, and FX—alongside crypto pairs—so users can trade from anywhere with a self-custodied wallet (no custodians or conventional KYC).

Orders are routed to external execution partners using a payment-for-order-flow (PFOF) model, aiming for deep liquidity and tight pricing while settling on a fast, low-fee L2. The upside is borderless access and simple onboarding; the trade-offs hinge on oracle robustness, liquidation/funding mechanics, execution transparency, and the project’s legal/compliance stance for RWA-linked synthetics.

How to get started on Ostrich?

Welcome to borderless, onchain trading. Follow these steps to place your first trade.

1) Set up your wallet

• Go to app.ostrich.exchange.
• Hit Connect Wallet (top-right) and approve the prompt.
• Works great with: MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Rabby, or any wallet via WalletConnect.

2) Switch to Arbitrum

• Ostrich runs on Arbitrum for fast, low-fee transactions. Make sure your wallet is on that network.

3) Fund with USDC on Arbitrum

• You’ll need USDC on Arbitrum to trade. Bridge or transfer funds so your balance is ready.

4) Pick a market & place a trade

• Open the Trade tab.
• Choose an asset class (e.g., Stocks, Crypto) and a market (e.g., BTC, TSLA, HOOD).
• Select Long (price up) or Short (price down).
• Enter size in USDC, set your leverage, and review fees, oracle price, and slippage.
• Click Place Order—orders are gasless and typically don’t require a wallet signature.

5) Manage positions

• In Positions, you can:
  • Add margin to lower liquidation risk.
  • Close partially or fully at any time.
  • Monitor real-time PnL, fees, and XP progress.

Ostrich Review: Revenue Model

Ostrich isn’t a liquidity pool or AMM. Instead, it earns revenue through Payment for Order Flow (PFOF)—a model long used in traditional brokerage and increasingly common in crypto.

What is PFOF?

Payment for Order Flow is compensation that Ostrich receives for routing user orders to selected execution partners—such as centralized exchanges or market-making firms. For each order they execute, these partners share a small rebate with Ostrich. In TradFi, PFOF helped enable commission-free trading; the same principle applies here.

How it works (at a glance)

1. Order Routing: You submit an order on Ostrich. Instead of matching it internally, Ostrich forwards it to an external market maker or exchange.
2. Execution: The partner fills the order—typically profiting from the bid-ask spread or their hedging strategies.
3. Payment: The partner pays Ostrich a per-trade rebate, creating a revenue stream without charging you a platform commission.

Ostrich focuses on smart routing, UI/UX, analytics, and automation; it does not make markets or custody liquidity.

Why traders might benefit

• Deeper liquidity: Routing to top venues can tap tighter spreads and higher fill rates.
• Potential price improvement: Partners may fill at prices that meet or beat public quotes.
• No internal slippage from shallow pools: Because execution happens where liquidity is deepest.

Common concerns—and Ostrich’s mitigations

PFOF can create conflicts of interest (routing for fees vs. best execution). Ostrich addresses this by:

• Prioritizing best fill price and reliability over rebate size.
• Targeting execution that meets or beats an NBBO-like standard for crypto markets.
• Monitoring venue quality (fill rate, slippage, time-to-fill) and routing accordingly.

Example

You place a $1,000 market buy for ETH via Ostrich:

• Ostrich routes to a partner (e.g., Binance/GSR).
• The partner fills the order and pays Ostrich 0.05% ($0.50).
• You pay no explicit platform fee; Ostrich earns from the rebate without changing your execution price.

Why this model fits crypto

Crypto liquidity is fragmented across venues, and retail flow is significant. PFOF lets Ostrich monetize routing—not inventory—so it can scale volume without managing capital. Over time, the goal is institutional-grade order routing that keeps the interface free for both retail and professional traders while continually improving execution quality.

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Ostrich Review: Markets

Ostrich is building a global, wallet-native trading layer with launch markets spanning U.S. tech equities (TSLA, NVDA, META, AAPL) and major crypto pairs (BTC, ETH, SOL), with Chinese and Japanese equities, metals (gold, silver, copper), and key FX pairs (USD/JPY, EUR/USD, INR/USD) coming soon.

Markets open 15 minutes after traditional equities sessions begin, while listings follow a strict framework emphasizing native liquidity, cross–time zone demand, oracle-quality pricing, and real derivative viability.

New country-specific equities, commodities, and FX pairs roll out via weekly “market drops,” curated by Ostrich Labs using criteria like oracle stability, regional demand, time-zone coverage, and both short- and long-term derivative potential—announced on Twitter and Discord.

The platform’s philosophy is “only real markets,” prioritizing instruments that meaningfully support global liquidity, hedging, speculation, and diversification.

A forthcoming community-driven listing system will let users propose, vote on, and prioritize assets onchain, with early-access incentives and XP boosts to align contributors.

By shifting listing power from centralized gatekeepers to the community, Ostrich aims to accelerate innovation, strengthen alignment with active traders, and push toward true open, borderless market access.

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Ostrich Fee Structure

Ostrich is built for transparency and sustainability. Trading stays gasless and signup-free; here’s exactly what you pay and why.

Protocol Fees

• Trading fee: 6 bps (0.06%) on both maker and taker orders — a minimal fee to fund ongoing operations and platform growth.
• Withdrawal fee: $1 USDC per withdrawal — covers bridging, execution, and operational costs.
• Deposits: Free — no deposit fees.

That’s it: no hidden charges, no surprise add-ons.

Ostrich Review: Tokenomics

$RICH is an ERC-20 token with a fixed max supply of 100,000,000, designed to capture value from Ostrich—the on-chain global exchange for stocks, FX, metals, and crypto (up to 25× leverage)—and to participate in DAO governance.

The initial public sale (completed) offered 0.25% (250,000 $RICH) at $2.00 for $500,000 raised (implying a $200M valuation), with no lock. A Day-1 airdrop distributes 30% (30M) to early supporters (points, #savetheostrich, partners) with no lock.

Community Rewards allocate 40% (40M) for airdrops, trading/staking incentives, locked 1 year. Team & Advisors receive 14% (14M) on a price-based vesting schedule (performance, not time): 0% at $2.00; +10% at $20 (1,000%); +30% at $30 (1,500%); +30% at $40 (2,000%); +30% at $80 (4,000%) → 100% at $80; lock is dynamic.

The Foundation Treasury holds 15.75% (15.75M) for infra, partnerships, compliance, and institutional onboarding, governed by the DAO, with 5% at TGE and the remainder after 12 months.

Per policy, 100% of protocol revenue is used to buy back $RICH, aligning token value with exchange activity.

$RICH utility

• 1 RICH = 1 vote: Token-weighted governance over listings (new RWA perps), treasury allocation, incentives, and compliance direction.
• Trader perks: Tiered fee discounts for stakers, plus priority access to new markets (e.g., pre-IPO baskets, IPO-unlock events, volatility indices).
• Pro utility: Unlock advanced tools, analytics, data feeds; RICH can be used as collateral for trading.
• Ecosystem reach: Planned cross-protocol integrations with DeFi/RWA partners to extend utility beyond Ostrich.
• Staking & alignment: Stake RICH for rewards, with higher yields for longer locks; programs for market maker depth and institutional participation.
• Value capture policy: 100% of protocol profits earmarked for strategic RICH buybacks (not financial advice; buybacks depend on actual profits).
• Revenue drivers: Fees and products across global equities/volatility, pre-IPO baskets, and institutional offerings, aligning token incentives with platform growth.

Ostrich Points: Early Trader Rewards

Trade on Ostrich, earn Points for 8 weeks.
1,000,000 Points are distributed each week and convert to $RICH at TGE.

Program Overview

• Duration: 8 weeks
• Weekly Pool: 1,000,000 Points
• Conversion: Points → $RICH at TGE (methodology & date to be announced)

How to Earn

• Trade on Ostrich. Completed trades in supported markets during each weekly window earn Points.
• Distribution aims to reward authentic participation (no farming/abuse).

Distribution & Tracking

• Weekly distribution across participants; summaries on X and Discord.
• Track totals and history at app.ostrich.exchange/points.

Conversion Notes

• Until TGE, Points are an off-chain accounting unit for rewards only.
• Final conversion methodology and TGE timeline will be shared prior to the event.

Eligibility & Fair Play

• Points aren’t transferable, aren’t a token, and have no monetary value until converted.
• Ostrich may review and exclude abusive wallets to keep distribution fair.

How Ostrich Protects Users and Assets

• Security-first by design: Fully onchain, permissionless architecture with transparency and resilience as core principles.
• Independent audits: All core contracts audited by top security firms before mainnet; findings remediated prior to release.
• Active bug bounty: Ongoing incentives for whitehat disclosures to catch edge cases and emergent issues.
• Safe upgrades: Modular contracts; upgrades gated by multisig + time-locks to avoid single points of failure.
• Runtime monitoring: “Watchdog” systems flag anomalous activity (execution patterns, volume spikes, contract calls) in real time.
• Oracle resilience: Prices aggregated from multiple sources with outlier rejection and anchor references to reduce manipulation risk.
• Automatic circuit breakers: If oracle deviation exceeds thresholds, trading and liquidations pause until feeds normalize.
• Redundant infra: Partners chosen for SLA, decentralization, and response time; in-house fallbacks for routing, price caching, and session recovery.
• Robust bridging: Multi-layer bridge design aims to maintain withdrawals/fund transfers through downtime without exposing user assets.
• Ongoing commitment: Security is foundational; as Ostrich scales, it continuously evolves defenses while delivering a high-quality trading experience.

Ostrich Review: Bug Bounty Program

Ostrich operates a coordinated bug bounty program that targets both on-chain and infrastructure risks. On the trading side, in-scope findings include order-routing/matching exploits that could distort execution, failures in liquidation logic leading to unfair liquidations, oracle price manipulation affecting marks/funding, and smart-contract reentrancy or logic flaws across markets.

On the off-chain side, researchers are encouraged to probe API endpoints for data-exposure risks and authentication/session bypasses in account management. Valid disclosures are triaged under a responsible-reporting policy and rewarded according to impact and exploitability—positioning the program as a core component of Ostrich’s security-first posture.

Conclusion

Ostrich advances a bold thesis: borderless, wallet-native access to real-world market exposure via oracle-priced perpetuals on Arbitrum, paired with a PFOF-driven routing model. The value proposition—gasless trading, no sign-ups, deep venue connectivity, and community-aligned token economics—could widen access and compress frictions that have long gated global markets.

Yet the same design choices concentrate execution quality and user safety in a handful of pillars: oracle resilience, liquidation/funding design, venue-selection transparency, security hardening, and a defensible compliance stance for RWA-linked synthetics.

Frequently Asked Questions