Managers & Risk Universes

Every subaccount is bound to a manager and, through it, to a risk universe. Together they decide the margin model you get, which instruments you can trade, and which assets you can post as collateral. You never set the universe directly — you pick a manager_id, and everything else follows.

Manager

The margin model applied to your subaccount — Standard (cross collateral margin) or Portfolio (scenario-based netting). You choose one via manager_id at subaccount creation.

Risk universe

A risk-containment boundary. A universe’s collateral, open-interest, and lending rules are its own, and losses are socialized only within it — so trades never cross universes.

How they relate

A subaccount can only have one manager.
A manager belongs to exactly one universe.
A universe exposes at most one Standard and one Portfolio manager.
You choose a manager_id; that fixes both your margin model and your universe.

See the public/get_all_currencies section below to get the latest breakdown of managers and risk universes.

Managers

A manager is the margin engine that risk-prices your subaccount. There are two:

Manager	Wire label	Margin model	Best for
Standard	`SM`	Cross-collateral: collaterals contribute margin but options margined separately.	Simple/directional positions and collateral-style holding.
Portfolio	`PM2`	Scenario-based: a whole book netted across a grid of shocks.	Complex option/perp books that benefit from cross-position offsets.

Each manager has a numeric manager_id. A subaccount stores its manager_id and derives its universe, tradeable instruments, and accepted collateral from it. Picking Standard vs Portfolio for the same book changes your margin requirement, not what you can hold.

Risk universes

A risk universe is a set of assets and managers that share a single risk boundary. It exists so that an insolvency in one universe can only ever be absorbed by that universe’s own Security Module and, if needed, socialized to solvent accounts inside the same universe — never across the whole exchange. As a direct consequence, a trade, RFQ, or liquidation is rejected if the two sides sit in different universes. Everything risk-related is keyed by (asset, risk_universe_id): collateral discounts, OI caps, and lending pools can all differ per universe for the very same asset.

The fallback universe

Universe 0 is a special fallback (“lost-and-found”) universe: a no-margin holding area whose only job is to safely custody collateral that has nowhere else to go. It registers every spot asset but supports no trading, borrowing, options, or perps. Every wallet is given a single fallback subaccount when its account is created. A deposit lands there — instead of the subaccount you intended — whenever it can’t be honoured as requested:

it targets the fallback manager (manager_id 0),
the asset isn’t registered in the target manager’s universe, or
the amount is below the subaccount-creation fee.

Funds in the fallback subaccount are safe but idle — you can’t trade against them. To put them to work, move the spot out to a real subaccount with private/transfer_spot.

Reading `public/get_all_currencies`

public/get_all_currencies (no params; public/get_currency for a single one) is the source of truth for what is supported where. Each currency lists its managers per universe and its assets’ risk per universe, so a single response tells you which manager_id to use and what you can trade or post against it.

Response (abridged, one currency)

{
  "currency": "ETH",
  "market_type": "ALL",
  "spot_price": "1950.0",
  "managers": [
    { "risk_universe_id": 1, "sm": 3, "pm": 12 }
  ],
  "option": {
    "name": "ETH-OPTION",
    "address": "0x…",
    "universes": [ { "risk_universe_id": 1, "oi": { "current_open_interest": "…", "interest_cap": "…" } } ]
  },
  "perp": {
    "name": "ETH-PERP",
    "address": "0x…",
    "universes": [ { "risk_universe_id": 1, "oi": { "current_open_interest": "…", "interest_cap": "…" } } ]
  },
  "spot": [
    {
      "name": "ETH",
      "address": "0x…",
      "erc20": { "decimals": 18, "underlying_erc20": "0x…" },
      "min_deposit_usd": "…",
      "universes": [
        {
          "risk_universe_id": 1,
          "srm_im_discount": "0.8",
          "srm_mm_discount": "0.9",
          "pm2_im_discount": "0.85",
          "pm2_mm_discount": "0.92",
          "lending": { "borrow_apy": "…", "supply_apy": "…", "total_borrow": "…", "total_borrow_cap": "…" },
          "oi": { "current_open_interest": "…", "interest_cap": "…" }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Everything hangs off risk_universe_id — match it across managers[], option/perp.universes[], and spot[].universes[] to read one universe consistently.

To determine…	Read…
Which universes cover the currency, and which `manager_id` to use	`managers[]` → `{ risk_universe_id, sm, pm }` (`sm` = Standard id, `pm` = Portfolio id; either may be absent)
Whether options / perps exist for it	presence of top-level `option` / `perp`; their `universes[].oi` gives per-universe open interest and cap
Whether a spot asset is accepted as collateral	`spot[].universes[]` for your universe: `srm_im_discount` (Standard) / `pm2_im_discount` (Portfolio). `"0"` = not accepted there
Whether you can lend / borrow it	`spot[].universes[].lending` — `null` means no pool in that universe; otherwise APYs + `total_borrow_cap`
Remaining OI / supply headroom	`*.universes[].oi.{current_open_interest, interest_cap}` and `lending.{total_borrow, total_borrow_cap}`
Which classes are enabled at a glance	`market_type` (see below)

market_type is a quick summary of the enabled classes; the authoritative check is which of option / perp / spot are actually populated.

`market_type`	Enabled classes
`ALL`	Options, perps, and spot/collateral.
`SRM_OPTION_ONLY`	Options only.
`SRM_PERP_ONLY`	Perps only.
`SRM_BASE_ONLY`	Usable only as Standard-manager base collateral.
`CASH`	Cash/quote collateral only (e.g. a USD stablecoin).

A currency can register several spot assets — e.g. a lending USDC and a non-lending USDC-NL. They appear as separate entries in spot[] with their own discounts and lending, so check the specific name/address you intend to deposit.

Picking your manager

Choose currency and universe

Find the currency and the risk_universe_id you want to trade in (typically the main universe, 1).

Take the manager id

From that universe’s managers[] entry, use sm for Standard (isolated) margin or pm for Portfolio margin.

Confirm your collateral

Check the asset you plan to post has a non-zero srm_im_discount (for sm) or pm2_im_discount (for pm) in the same universe. "0" means that manager won’t count it as collateral.

Create the subaccount

Pass the chosen id as manager_id when depositing to a new subaccount (see Depositing). Universe, instruments, and collateral set all follow from it. You can read them back on private/get_subaccount via its manager_id and risk_universe_id.

Choosing the wrong id has consequences at deposit and trade time:

Fallback routing — depositing to a new subaccount under the fallback manager (0), an asset the universe doesn’t register, or below the creation fee lands the funds in your no-margin fallback subaccount, where they can’t be traded.
Cross-universe trade — a subaccount can’t trade against a counterparty in a different universe; the order is rejected.
Wrong margin model — Standard margins each position in isolation; picking it when your book needs cross-position netting means a much higher requirement for the same positions.

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Reference

Managers & Risk Universes

Manager

Risk universe

How they relate

Managers

Risk universes

The fallback universe

Reading `public/get_all_currencies`

Picking your manager

Manager

Risk universe

​How they relate

​Managers

​Risk universes

​The fallback universe

​Reading public/get_all_currencies

​Picking your manager

How they relate

Managers

Risk universes

The fallback universe

Reading `public/get_all_currencies`

Picking your manager