Skip to content
AnnouncementSomnia Oracle settles event contracts onchain, in minutes, with receipts.

Venue playbook

Plan, launch and run a venue on Somnia

The decisions that make a venue work, in the order you'll make them: the model, your fee, liquidity, listings, access, onboarding and launch.

Create a venueTalk to an expert
01

Choose your venue model

Every venue runs on the same books and settlement. What differs is who it serves and what it lists. Most venues start as one of four models.

Trading venueSpot and perpetual markets on crypto and RWAs, for active traders.Learn more Prediction venueBinary event contracts on any question with a public data source, resolved by the Somnia Oracle.Learn more Embedded marketsMarkets inside a wallet, broker or fintech app, sold under your brand to users you already have.Learn more Institutional venueAn allow-listed venue for desks and clients, with every order and fill on a public ledger.Learn more
02

Set your fee

Your venue fee is your revenue: Somnia's protocols charge nothing and take no share. You set one fee, it applies across every protocol your venue uses, and you can change it at any time.

Price for your usersFees compete. Active traders compare all-in cost, while users of an embedded product care more about convenience than basis points.
Consider zero-fee tradingA venue can charge no trading fee at all. dreamDEX runs this way today, with zero maker and taker fees.Learn more Account for gasUsers pay network gas, a fraction of a cent per trade. Native gas sponsorship, coming soon, lets a venue cover it for a smoother first trade.Learn more
03

Liquidity from day one

A new venue opens onto the shared books on Somnia Markets, so popular markets are liquid from the first order. New markets need a plan.

Shared booksEvery venue is a view on the same order books. Your users add depth for everyone, and everyone else's depth serves your users.Learn more Liquidity VaultsLiquidity Vaults are coming soon. Further details will follow.Learn more Market making by SomniaThe Somnia team offers market making services on request, alongside independent market makers.Learn more
04

Decide what to list

List existing markets or create new ones. Write down your listing policy before launch, so users know why a market is on your venue.

Prices you can trustSomnia Price Feeds supply index and mark prices for perpetuals and lending, aggregated onchain.Learn more Questions that resolve cleanlyEvent contracts resolve through the Somnia Oracle. Clear sources and resolution criteria make for fast, undisputed settlement.Learn more Settlement assetMarkets settle in USDso, so balances, collateral and payouts use one unit across venues.Learn more
05

Access and compliance

Decide who can trade before you launch. The rules you choose are set onchain and visible to anyone, which makes them easy to evidence.

Open or allow-listedRun a permissionless venue, or restrict trading to approved addresses for a regulated or invitation-only venue.
A public audit trailEvery order, fill and fee is a public transaction, so reconciliation and reporting start from one ledger.Learn more Somnia PrivacySomnia Privacy is coming soon. Further details will follow.Learn more
06

Onboard your users

The first trade decides whether a user comes back. Remove every step that isn't the trade itself.

No gas token neededSponsor gas so new users can trade without first buying SOMI.Learn more One-click tradingSession accounts let users approve once and trade without a wallet prompt on every order.Learn more Agents welcomeTrading agents use the same books and rules. Machine-readable docs (llms.txt) and the Explorer's open APIs make your venue easy for them to use.Learn more
07

Launch checklist

Run through this on the Global testnet before you deploy to mainnet.

  • Venue created and owned by a secure address, ideally a multisig
  • Markets listed, with a written listing policy
  • Venue fee and fee address set and tested
  • Liquidity attached for every market you list
  • Access rules set: open or allow-listed
  • Front end deployed under your domain and tested with real wallets
  • Support, status and incident contacts published for your users
08

Operate and grow

After launch, run the venue from Somnia Explorer and keep everything verifiable.

Watch it liveVolume, fees, users and gas use, in Somnia Explorer or from the CLI.Learn more Prove it publiclyPoint users and partners at the Markets explorer, where every order and fill on your venue is visible.Learn more Grow with the ecosystemGet listed in the Somnia ecosystem directory.Learn more
Ready? Create a venue

Talk through your launch

The team can help with market design, liquidity and launch planning for your venue.

Talk to an expertCreate a venue