Base Points Formula
The base points calculation converts the USD notional value of a filled trade into a point award using a sublinear power function. This design ensures that larger trades earn more points in absolute terms, but with diminishing marginal returns per dollar as trade size increases.
Formula
basePoints = (notionalUsd / 1000) ^ 0.9Where:
notionalUsdis the total USD value of the trade at the time of execution, computed from the input token amount and its current USD price.- The division by 1,000 normalizes the input so that a $1,000 trade produces approximately 1.0 base points.
- The exponent
0.9creates the sublinear relationship.
Worked Examples
| Trade Size (USD) | Calculation | Base Points |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | (1000 / 1000) ^ 0.9 = 1.0 ^ 0.9 | 1.00 |
| $5,000 | (5000 / 1000) ^ 0.9 = 5.0 ^ 0.9 | 4.22 |
| $10,000 | (10000 / 1000) ^ 0.9 = 10.0 ^ 0.9 | 7.94 |
| $25,000 | (25000 / 1000) ^ 0.9 = 25.0 ^ 0.9 | 18.0 |
| $50,000 | (50000 / 1000) ^ 0.9 = 50.0 ^ 0.9 | 33.9 |
| $100,000 | (100000 / 1000) ^ 0.9 = 100.0 ^ 0.9 | 63.1 |
| $500,000 | (500000 / 1000) ^ 0.9 = 500.0 ^ 0.9 | 275 |
| $1,000,000 | (1000000 / 1000) ^ 0.9 = 1000.0 ^ 0.9 | 501 |
A $10,000 trade earns 7.94 base points, not 10. A $100,000 trade earns 63.1 base points, not 100. The sublinear curve ensures that ten $10,000 trades (79.4 total base points) earn more than one $100,000 trade (63.1 base points), rewarding consistent activity.
Why Sublinear?
A linear formula (basePoints = notionalUsd / 1000) would make it trivially efficient to farm points with a single massive trade. A whale executing one $10M trade would earn 10,000 points, equivalent to 10,000 separate $1,000 trades.
The sublinear exponent creates two important properties:
- Diminishing marginal returns — Each additional dollar of trade size contributes slightly less to the point total. This prevents a single large trade from dominating the leaderboard.
- Activity incentive — Multiple smaller trades earn more total points than one trade of the same aggregate value. This rewards consistent participation over sporadic large trades.
Marginal Points per Dollar
The marginal points earned per additional $1,000 of trade size decreases as the trade grows:
| From | To | Marginal Points | Points per Additional $1k |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | $1,000 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| $1,000 | $2,000 | 0.87 | 0.87 |
| $10,000 | $11,000 | 0.72 | 0.72 |
| $100,000 | $101,000 | 0.57 | 0.57 |
| $1,000,000 | $1,001,000 | 0.45 | 0.45 |
At $1M in notional, the next $1,000 earns less than half the points that the first $1,000 did.
Splitting Behavior
Because the formula is sublinear (exponent < 1), splitting a trade always yields more points than executing it as a single fill:
Two $50,000 trades: 2 * (50)^0.9 = 2 * 33.9 = 67.8 base points
One $100,000 trade: 1 * (100)^0.9 = 63.1 base pointsThis is an intentional design choice. It encourages more frequent trading activity on the protocol, which generates more price discovery events and more liquidity competition among makers.
While splitting trades earns more base points, the pair-repeat decay multiplier reduces points for repeated trades on the same pair within a short window. This prevents gaming through rapid self-trades. See Anti-Gaming Guards.
USD Price Determination
The notionalUsd value is computed using the token’s USD price at the time the settlement transaction is mined. For tokens without a direct USD price feed, the system uses the best available reference price from on-chain oracles or the venue comparison data available at fill time.
Related Pages
- Points Overview — Introduction to the points program
- Multipliers — How multipliers adjust the base points
- Anti-Gaming Guards — Protections against point manipulation