FAQ

Common questions about Continuum, paired tokens, the keeper, and integration.

What is Continuum?

A Solana protocol for 24/7 synthetic exposure to real-world assets. Deposit USDC, get matched long and short tokens that track the asset’s NAV. Sell either side on a DEX, hold to maturity, or redeem the pair back to USDC at any time. → Introduction.

Is it like a perp DEX?

No. Perp DEXs use funding rates, margin, and liquidations. Continuum has none of these - positions are pre-paid SPL tokens, the long/short pair has a constant-product NAV invariant that bounds combined value, and there’s no leverage. The position is an SPL token; you can transfer it, deposit it elsewhere, or redeem it.

What’s the difference between long and short tokens?

Both track the same underlying. The long token (L) appreciates as the asset price rises; the short token (S) depreciates reciprocally via the constant-product invariant L_NAV × S_NAV = initial_l × initial_s.

A paired position has near-zero local delta - its value is bounded. To express direction, you sell one of the legs.

Can I lose more than my deposit?

No. Continuum has no leverage and no liquidations. Mint cost equals NAV × paired count, paid in full upfront. Even if the protocol shut down tomorrow, holders of L+S can redeem at NAV against the existing collateral vault.

The only way to lose: you sell one leg and that leg appreciates while you no longer hold it. That’s normal directional risk, not unique to Continuum.

Can I just buy long-only?

Yes - two paths:

1. Mint paired, sell short leg: mint_paired(100 cUSDC) → 0.104 QQQL + 49.95 QQQS → swap QQQS to cUSDC on Meteora → end with 0.104 QQQL + ~49.5 cUSDC. Long-only QQQ exposure with cash buffer.
2. Buy directly on Meteora: skip the mint. Faster but pays pool fee + slippage instead of mint fee.

Path 1 is better for size; path 2 is better for small/urgent. → Trade flow.

Why “paired” if I can sell one leg?

The protocol enforces paired mint and redeem for solvency. Once paired tokens exist, they’re standard SPL tokens - you can do anything with them, including selling one leg. The pairing constraint is at the cUSDC ↔ token boundary, not at the token-trading layer.

Why no funding rate?

The constant-product NAV invariant L_NAV × S_NAV = initial_l × initial_s does what funding does in a perp DEX - it redistributes value between holders of the popular vs unpopular side. As L_NAV rises, S_NAV falls reciprocally. Combined pair value stays bounded. There’s nothing extra to redistribute.

How does the price stay anchored to NAV on the pool?

A keeper bot runs an arbitrage loop. When pool price diverges from NAV by more than the pool fee, the keeper either mints fee-free at NAV and sells on the pool (if pool > NAV) or buys from the pool and redeems fee-free at NAV (if pool < NAV). The cUSDC delta is the keeper’s profit; the pool price moves toward NAV as a side effect.

You can run the same arb loop. The fee-free single-sided path is gated to the keeper authority; paired arb is open to everyone. → Keeper.

What if the keeper goes down?

User mint and redeem still work - they go directly to the on-chain mint-redeem program, not through the keeper. NAV is read from the on-chain TWAP.

What stales:

• The TWAP itself stales after ~30s without keeper updates → risk state transitions to ProxyMode, mint pricing widens.
• After ~120s of staleness → Stress, mint blocks. Redeem still works at last-fresh NAV.
• Pool prices may drift from NAV until the keeper comes back.

Can I run my own keeper?

Yes. The reference implementation is open source. Limitations:

• The market’s keeper_authority is a single pubkey today. Two keepers signing as the same pubkey will collide.
• For full keeper privileges, you need to be the canonical operator (rotate via update_keeper_authority).
• For paired-arb-only operation (no keeper_*_single privilege), no authority needed - anyone can run a paired-arb bot.

→ Run a keeper · External arb.

What chain / network is this on?

Solana. Devnet for MVP. Mainnet launches after audits + bug bounty maturity.

What wallets work?

Any Solana wallet that supports SPL tokens - Phantom, Backpack, Solflare, others. The frontend uses Solana Wallet Adapter; integration follows standard patterns.

How are L and S tokens priced?

L_NAV = Market.user_twap_price (or initial_l_price if TWAP == 0)
S_NAV = (initial_l_price × initial_s_price) / L_NAV

This is on-chain protocol price. Pool price (Meteora active bin) may differ transiently but stays close due to keeper arb. → NAV math.

What’s the minimum mint?

10 cUSDC (10_000_000 lamports). Below that, BelowMinimum rejects.

What fees are there?

Fee	When	Default
mint_fee_bps	On mint_paired	10 (0.10%)
redeem_fee_bps	On redeem_paired	10 (0.10%)
Pool fee	On Meteora swaps	0.10–0.25% (per market)
Worst-case quoting markup	On mint in ProxyMode	2× confidence (variable)
Solana network fee	On every tx	~0.000005 SOL

Round-trip mint+redeem at NAV is ~20 bps total.

What’s the OI cap?

Each market has a hard ceiling on total_l_supply. Mints reject when reached. Redeems remain open. Operators raise the cap as pool depth grows. Default is 250,000,000 cUSDC base units = 250M cUSDC nominal (the cap is wide; effective cap is governed by depth).

Why is the protocol the sole LP?

MVP simplification. The mechanics for user LP shares exist in git history but are off - re-enabling is planned (no committed timeline yet). For now, capital is operator-funded.

Is there a token?

Continuum’s planned governance token is CNTM. Not yet live. The governance program is scaffolded but not wired to execution paths.

Where do I report bugs?

• Discord: #dev-help
• GitHub: continuum-markets/continuum issues
• Bug bounty (mainnet): TBD before mainnet launch

How can I get cUSDC for testing?

Devnet has a faucet. → Faucet program · Quickstart.

Why “Continuum”?

Synthetic exposure across the continuum of real-world assets - equities, indices, commodities, FX - accessible 24/7 from any Solana wallet.

Can I integrate Continuum into my own product?

Yes - please. Long and short tokens are SPL tokens. Paired mint and redeem are open to anyone. NAV is on-chain. CPI integration works. There are no licensing restrictions on integrating; the protocol is permissionless.

For featured integrations on the docs and Twitter, drop a note in #partners on Discord. → Composability.

Where do I find the source code?

Protocol: github.com/continuum-markets/continuum. MIT licensed. The keeper, frontend, and programs all live there.

This docs site’s source: github.com/continuum-markets/docs. PRs welcome.

See also

Quickstart

First-time mint flow.

Concepts

The full mental model.

Glossary

Every term explained.

Errors

What to do when things fail.