Arcus Review 2026
About Arcus
Arcus is a non-custodial decentralized exchange that offers perpetual futures and spot trading of tokenized stocks on Robinhood Chain. Arcus was built by dYdX Labs, the team behind dYdX, in partnership with Robinhood Crypto, which is also an investor. Spot trading of Stock Tokens went live first, and the perpetuals beta opened on July 1, 2026 to waitlisted users. The Arcus API lists 60 online perpetual markets as of October 4, 2026: 30 equities, 24 crypto assets, 4 commodity ETFs, and 2 index ETFs. All Arcus perpetuals trade 24 hours a day, including stock markets such as NVDA, TSLA, and AAPL. Arcus charges 0% maker and 0.0225% taker on perpetuals at the base tier, according to the live fee table at api.arcus.xyz/v1/feetiers. The taker fee falls in six steps to 0.0095% at 3 billion dollars of 30-day volume, where makers also receive a 0.003% rebate. Spot trades of Stock Tokens carry no fee. Maximum leverage is 50x on the SPY market, 40x on BTC, and 25x on ETH, QQQ, GLD, and SLV, while most other markets allow 5x or 10x. Collateral is USDG, a stablecoin issued by Paxos, and the minimum order size is 5 dollars. Arcus matches orders on an off-chain central limit order book and settles through a permissioned validator set and smart contracts on an EVM chain that hold user funds. The docs describe this design as a hybrid DEX comparable to StarkEx and Lighter, with an escape hatch for withdrawals. Trail of Bits (June 2026) and OpenZeppelin reviewed the rootchain contracts. Arcus recorded about 238 million dollars in 24-hour perpetuals volume on CoinGecko and about 38 million dollars in TVL on DeFiLlama on October 4, 2026. A points program started on October 1, 2026 and distributes 250,000 points per week.
KEY FACTS
- CUSTODY
- non-custodial
- TAKER FEE
- 0.0225%
- MAX LEVERAGE
- 50x
- NETWORKS
- Robinhood Chain, Ethereum, Arbitrum
- KYC REQUIRED
- No
- FOUNDED
- 2026
Fee Structure
| MARKET | TAKER | MAKER |
|---|---|---|
| Perpetuals | 0.0225% | 0% |
| Spot | 0% | 0% |
| Best Tier | 0.0095% | -0.003% |
Leverage & Margin
Security
Pros & Cons
PROS
- + 0% maker and 0.0225% taker fee on perpetuals at the base tier, falling to 0.0095% taker with a 0.003% maker rebate at 3 billion dollars of 30-day volume
- + 30 single-stock perpetuals plus SPY, QQQ, gold, silver, copper, and oil markets trade 24/7 next to 24 crypto perpetuals, all from one USDG balance
- + Spot trading of tokenized stocks costs 0% in fees, and Stock Tokens stay in the user's own wallet
- + Rootchain contracts were reviewed by Trail of Bits in June 2026 and by OpenZeppelin, and include an escape hatch for withdrawals
- + Minimum order size is 5 dollars on every market, and USDG deposits and withdrawals carry no Arcus fee
CONS
- − Perpetuals are in beta: new users need a waitlist cohort or a single-use invite code, and the iOS and Android apps were still in pre-order on October 4, 2026
- − Not available in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom under the Terms of Use dated May 28, 2026
- − USDG is the only collateral asset, and 54 of the 60 online markets are capped at 20x leverage or less, with most single stocks at 5x or 10x
- − Initial margin on stock, commodity, and index perpetuals rises by 50% while the underlying market is closed, so a 10x market allows about 6.7x overnight and on weekends
- − The docs do not describe an insurance fund, and the appchain that verifies trades is run by a permissioned validator set
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Arcus?
Arcus is a non-custodial decentralized exchange on Robinhood Chain, built by dYdX Labs in partnership with Robinhood Crypto. It offers spot trading of tokenized stocks with no fees and perpetual futures on stocks, crypto, commodities, and indices with up to 50x leverage. The perpetuals beta opened on July 1, 2026.
What are Arcus trading fees?
Arcus charges 0% maker and 0.0225% taker on perpetuals at the base tier. Taker fees drop to 0.019% at 5 million dollars of 30-day volume and reach 0.0095% at 3 billion dollars, where makers earn a 0.003% rebate. Spot trades of Stock Tokens are free. USDG deposits and withdrawals carry no Arcus fee.
Does Arcus require KYC?
No, Arcus does not ask for identity documents. Users sign in with an email, a social account, or an existing self-custody wallet, and the Terms of Use contain no KYC requirement. Access is blocked for residents of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk.
What leverage does Arcus offer?
Arcus offers up to 50x leverage, which applies to the SPY market. BTC allows 40x, ETH, QQQ, GLD, and SLV allow 25x, and SOL, XRP, NVDA, and AAPL allow 20x. Most other markets are limited to 5x or 10x. Cross margin is the default, and isolated margin can be enabled per market.
Is Arcus safe?
Arcus is non-custodial: user funds sit in a bridge vault contract on an EVM chain, and an escape hatch lets users withdraw if the exchange stops. Trail of Bits and OpenZeppelin reviewed the rootchain contracts in 2026. Orders are matched off-chain and checked by a permissioned validator set, and the perpetuals product is still in beta.
Is Arcus available in the US?
No, Arcus is not available in the United States. The Terms of Use dated May 28, 2026 also exclude residents and entities of Canada and the United Kingdom, along with sanctioned regions such as Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk. The interface is operated by Pocket Protector Labs Inc., a Delaware company.
How does the Arcus referral program work?
Arcus pays referrers 10% of the trading fees of users they refer, or 15% at the VIP tier, plus 3% and 2% from the second and third referral levels. Referrers can share part of that commission with referees as a kickback. Each 1 million dollars of perpetuals volume also earns one single-use invite code.
Arcus documentation (docs.arcus.xyz): fees, margin and leverage, margin modes, order types, onboarding and deposits, architecture, disclaimer · Arcus public API (api.arcus.xyz/v1/feetiers, /v1/markets, /v1/commissionrates) · Arcus Terms of Use (arcus.xyz/legal/terms), last updated May 28, 2026 · Arcus blog: Arcus x Robinhood launch post and Announcing Arcus Points (October 1, 2026) · Arcus app changelog (docs.arcus.xyz/changelog/frontend) · CoinGecko derivatives API (arcus-futures) · DeFiLlama API (TVL, arcus-perps)