Arcus, the Robinhood Chain exchange developed by the team behind dYdX, announced on Thursday that it is opening multi‑asset collateral to every trader with access to its perpetual futures market. The change eliminates the previous requirement that users hold more than $25 million in trading volume, allowing anyone on the platform to post stock‑linked tokens as margin for perps positions.

Collateral limits and assets

Under the new rules, deposits of assets other than the native USDG stablecoin are capped at $20,000 per user and $2 million across the entire platform, according to Arcus’s public lending data. Each account may borrow up to $10,000, and orders that would push a loan beyond that limit are automatically rejected. The collateral options now include wrapped ether (WETH) and nine stock tokens: SPY, QQQ, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla – the latter seven grouped as the “MAG7.” All assets carry an initial loan‑to‑value (LTV) ratio of 50 %.

Mechanics of borrowing and liquidation

When tokens sit in a perps account, any margin shortfall not covered by USDG becomes a variable‑rate loan that shrinks as the margin requirement falls. The rate was reported at 4.94 % annual on Thursday. If token prices fall or the loan grows enough to breach a maintenance level, or if the per‑account loan cap is exceeded, Arcus can liquidate the position by closing perps contracts, selling the collateral, or both.

Strategic context and availability

Founder and CEO Eddie Zhang said the feature bridges spot and perpetual markets, allowing traders to leverage stock token value for new trades, hedging, or maintaining existing positions. Arcus, in which Robinhood Crypto holds a strategic stake, is not available to users in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom. The exchange initially rolled out the multi‑asset collateral on October 19 to high‑volume accounts and launched leveraged stock and crypto tokens in August, with Robinhood Wallet routing stock token trades through Arcus from October 1.

What to watch next

Investors will monitor whether the $20,000 per‑user cap proves sufficient to attract broader usage and how the feature impacts trading volume on Arcus. Regulatory scrutiny of stock‑linked tokens in non‑US jurisdictions could also affect the platform’s expansion plans, while the variable‑rate loan model may prompt competitors to adjust their own margin‑lending terms.