About

FTX Exchange was a centralized cryptocurrency exchange that dealt with derivatives and leveraged products. The exchange was established by Sam Bankman-Fried and provided various trading products, including derivatives, options, volatility products, and leveraged tokens. However, FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11, 2022, leading to Bankman-Fried's resignation. The bankruptcy filing revealed that the exchange had $8 billion in liabilities it could not fulfill.

History

FTX is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange launched in April, 2019 that offers futures and leveraged tokens on both individual and baskets of cryptoassets, over-the-counter (OTC) trading, and binary options on the outcome of the 2020 American Presidential election. It is backed by Alameda Research, a trading firm accounting for between $600 million and $1 billion of volume a day or roughly 5% of global volume.

FTX was designed to prevent clawbacks using a three-tiered liquidation model that closes positions with rate-limited orders and leverages an insurance fund to prevent customer losses. Rather than fracturing liquidity across various tokens, collateral is shared in one universal stablecoin wallet to mimic the traditional futures market. FTX also allows traders to take leveraged or short positions without trading on margin or futures with their Leveraged Tokens that mimic the experience of trading on spot markets but allow 3x, -1x or -3x on various tokens. The FTX OTC desk is powered by Alameda and trades around $30 million per day with no fees.