Margin Model
Each perp market is instantiated with a dedicated contract where all funds are stored. These funds are isolated, meaning there is no way for other markets to interact with them and each user's deposits in one market stay separate from their deposits in any other market. There is no cross-margining.
Market Funds
The dedicated contract holds maker collateral from LPs, taker collateral from traders, fees collected from trading activity, and insurance reserves to cover potential bad debt.
Uniswap V4 Integration
Each dedicated market contract is linked to a corresponding pool on Uniswap V4. While collateral never leaves the dedicated contract, accounting tokens are minted and burned 1:1 in the V4 pool to manage position states and calculate pricing. This is discussed in more detail in AMM Pricing Model.
Base Asset
Each market specifies a base asset used both to denominate the cost of perp contracts and as collateral for opening positions. Currently, this is USDC across the platform. The protocol architecture supports configurable base assets, allowing market creators to choose from a whitelist approved by the protocol.