edgeX Points Practical Guide: Depth Players Reveal the Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement Acquisition Strategy

Author: Jaleel Plus Six

Original Title: Insights from Deep Players on edgeX: A New Approach to DeFi for "Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement"

The next major airdrop project is highly likely to come from the Perp DEX track. According to incomplete statistics from Rhythm BlockBeats, there are at least ten Perp DEX projects on the market that have yet to issue tokens: edgeX, Lighter, paradex, variational, Pacifica, Aster... We want to know: in this track, what can ordinary people do to neither be overly aggressive nor miss out on the Alpha of the track?

To answer this question, Rhythm BlockBeats found a deep player of Perp DEX, anymose (@anymose96), who is the author of "Understanding Web3 from Scratch" and "A Minimalist Introduction to NFTs", and is also a participant deeply researching early alpha projects.

Among these currently most promising competitors, anymose has chosen edgeX as his current main stage, considering a combination of factors such as trading depth, mobile experience, API experience, project background, and airdrop profit-loss ratio.

Next, we will provide a detailed analysis of anymose's practical experience on edgeX—from point acquisition strategies to weight amplification techniques, from TGE time predictions to point value assessments, offering readers a replicable practical path.

Points Strategy for "Reducing Costs and Increasing Efficiency"

In this cycle, the "points system" has become the mainstream method for calculating early airdrop shares for projects. By recording real contributions through points, rewards are allocated according to the ledger during TGE or airdrops. The advantages of this mechanism are evident — it is more compliant, timing is controllable, incentives are precise, and it has a better anti-bot effect. In the Perp DEX track, Hyperliquid has successfully validated this logic, and edgeX has also adopted the same mechanism.

The points distribution of edgeX adopts a "weekly, tiered, and contribution-based" model. The specific operational mechanism is as follows: the platform will distribute points every Wednesday, setting a total points prize pool divided into five tiers based on the cumulative transaction amount of all users for the week. For example, if it is below 4.2 billion USD, the prize pool is 100,000 points; reaching 4.2 billion USD is 120,000 points, and so on, with a total of five prize pools. According to observations from Rhythm BlockBeats, the points prize pools in recent weeks have mostly fallen within the third tier (150,000 points) and the fourth tier (200,000 points).

Points Reward Pool Ladder Diagram

After determining the total prize pool, users can earn points through the following 5 methods, each with different weights.

The largest source of the points prize pool comes from trading volume, which also aligns with anymose's observation: "If we were to rank the weight of points, our calculation is: opening amount (contributing to transaction fees) > positions > profit and loss."

This also means that trading volume is the main source of earning points. So how much trading volume is required to earn 1 point, and what is the approximate cost of acquiring points? This may also be one of the most concerning issues for users. Anymose provides its own answer from the practical perspective of frontline players.

"Our team has contributed approximately $200,000 in transaction fees on edgeX," which, combined with the edgeX fee ratio, allows us to roughly backtrack anymose's total transaction volume to be in the range of $830 million to $1.54 billion. Due to the dynamic nature of edgeX's current point distribution, the difficulty of obtaining points changes weekly, making it difficult to provide an accurate value for "how much transaction volume results in 1 point." However, based on anymose's estimates: "the average cost of 1 point is around $10."

Due to early and in-depth participation, the cost of anymose is relatively low. For ordinary users, the cost will be slightly higher. According to community discussions, currently, 1 point can be obtained for every trading volume of 50,000 to 70,000 USD, with a cost of about 15 USD.

This is also the reason why anymose no longer recommends users to create "premium accounts" instead of multiple accounts: "Cutting costs is the best and should be the most important strategy for playing edgex."

Concentrating funds on a "premium account" allows you to upgrade to VIP level after reaching a certain trading volume and number of invitations, which reduces transaction fees, thus significantly lowering the cost of earning points. With the same amount of funds, you can obtain more points at a lower cost. As shown in the figure below, different VIP levels can enjoy lower trading fee discounts.

Methods to reduce costs, apart from upgrading to VIP levels, include the new coin listing phase, which often has promotions offering extra points. In addition, anymose also added: "Participating more in community activities, as well as trading competitions, referral bonuses, and becoming an ambassador, among various other ways, can all help earn extra points and lower the average cost."

Run API + Vault Full

"Based on historical data, the average weekly wallet points acquisition has dropped to a historical low of 24 points for two consecutive weeks, while the number of traders has reached a new high, making it overall more difficult," said anymose.

Early "shortcut" methods, such as opening multiple new accounts to complete beginner tasks or using liquidation amounts to exchange for points, have become less effective as the popularity of edgeX has increased, leading to a rise in the cost of obtaining points. Therefore, the actual trading volume has become the core factor in acquiring points.

"Ultimately, it is still closely related to your trading volume." Therefore, anymose also highly recommends high-frequency large traders or some quantitative traders to connect to the API for automated trading: "Our strategy is relatively simple, which is to observe the funding rate, and then connect to edgeX's API for unilateral trading, the experience is very good and very smooth. The API application was paused for more than a month before, but it is now open."

In addition to Perp trading, the eLP vault is another major product highlight of edgeX. According to the official documentation, the APY income of edgeX eLP comes from passive market-making profits, liquidation fees, and a portion of platform trading fees. The eLP vault quota for each user increases gradually with the growth of Perp trading. Currently, the quota allocation rules are: individuals receive a quota of $30 for every $50,000 in trading volume; invited users receive a quota of $30 for every $300,000; the maximum is 50% of a $100,000 recharge limit.

Although the eLP vault only accounts for 10% of the prize pool's weight, it excels with its high APR, performing around 13.65% APR over the past month. Therefore, the anymose team's choice is: "Vault is full, increase the limit at any time to capture points and high APY returns."

As of the time of publication, the TVL of the eLP treasury is 196 million USD; data source: edgeX

As for the "witch rule" that the community is very concerned about, anymose stated that the edgeX team says about witches: "As long as you have earned points, there is no such thing as a witch."

"This means that if there are witches, you won't get any points," said anymose.

However, the only thing to note is that there is a rule in the trading rules of edegX: self-trading does not count for points. "Self-trading means placing an order and then fulfilling it yourself, which is easy to identify," explained anymose. According to information obtained by Rhythm BlockBeats in the community: the weight of ultra-short reversals (opening and then immediately closing) will be lower, and with the same trading volume, the longer the holding time, the greater the point weight.

Therefore, the most prudent approach is to: first concentrate the funds to create a premium account to elevate VIP status, prioritize limit orders to reduce fees, engage in real transactions to avoid self-trading, combine activities with ambassador rebates, and fully or gradually increase the eLP treasury. This way, it can optimize every bit of cost while also enhancing real transactions and stable returns.

1 point 30 dollars, overestimated or underestimated?

Recently, there has been discussion in the community on social media about the price of edgeX points. Although the over-the-counter trading volume is not large, the price of $30 per point seems reasonable to anymose.

"I conservatively estimate that the FDV of edgeX is around 2 billion, with an airdrop ratio of 20%. The total points are calculated at 6 million, so the price of 1 point is 67 dollars. However, considering the valuation aspect, there is an elasticity of plus or minus 50%, so we ultimately calculate that the price of 1 point is in the range of 30 to 50 dollars. Therefore, the current OTC price is not outrageous."

According to statistics from Rhythm BlockBeats, edgeX has currently issued a total of 2.83 million points, including the points issued in the first season Alpha Season and the points issued in the second season Open Season. If 250,000 points are issued weekly for the next 7 weeks at full capacity, the total points will amount to 4.83 million.

At this point, let's refer to another community member akonresearch's calculation model: if when edgeX issues its token, the daily trading volume reaches 1.5B, the daily number of trading users reaches 8K, and the TVL reaches 500M, then the FDV can be reasonably estimated as 1/20 of the hype, which is 2.4B. Therefore, when estimating the airdrop share to be 20%-35% with a total of 6 million points, the value of the points can reach 80-140 dollars, which is much higher than anymose's estimate.

Of course, this estimation is based on the assumption that "the second season is also 21 weeks". If the market performs poorly, there may be a delay in timing, and the estimated value of points will also be adjusted downwards. However, from another perspective, although the number of points may continue to grow, causing dilution, the maturity of the product line, liquidity, and user structure are healthier, and the price support after the TGE may also be more stable. "After all, edgeX still has many products in development, and the depth of trading pairs outside the mainstream and the stability of the system need time to continue optimizing," Anymose candidly stated.

In terms of the timeline, the official stance is: if the market and product progress smoothly, the target is TGE in the fourth quarter of this year. Anymose provided a more detailed observation point: "So the next key time point is 7 weeks later, which is at the end of October. Now the open season has reached week 14, and by week 21, this season might come to an end."

In addition to paying attention to the product situation and market environment after 7 weeks, anymose also suggests focusing on several signals as TGE approaches: whether trading volume will surge again, the addition of partners, and the progress of products such as the vault and V2 testnet, etc.

In the race against competitors, anymose stated that Lighter might take the lead in TGE: "Lighter's model and pace are faster, and VC might provide more resources, resulting in a more singular product. However, from a perp perspective, it differs too much from edgex. If Lighter launches first, our marginal investment in edgeX will decrease, shifting to a defensive strategy." But in the long run, anymose is still more optimistic about edgeX's growth potential, "In terms of the team, after interacting with the people from edgex, I can feel that they are very focused on their business, not so flashy and aggressive."

In fact, the income data also supports anymose's judgment. As of the time of writing, edgeX's 30-day income ranks 11th among all cryptocurrency protocols. Among the top 15 protocols (excluding the stablecoin issuers USDT and USDC, as well as Axiom, which has repeatedly stated that it has no plans to issue tokens), only edgeX remains without a token issuance. For more information about edgeX's income, you can read: "This DEX that hasn't issued tokens has income surpassing Uniswap."

In terms of liquidity depth, within a 0.01% price spread, edgeX's order book can accommodate a maximum order volume of approximately 6 million USD in BTC, higher than Hyperliquid (approximately 5 million USD), Aster (approximately 4 million USD), and Lighter (approximately 1 million USD). Although the overall depth is still slightly inferior to Hyperliquid, edgeX has the best depth among Perp DEXs aside from Hyperliquid for most cryptocurrencies. When considering trading volume, edgeX is only behind Hyperliquid and Lighter. This means that in terms of product completeness and various metrics, edgeX is striving for second place and third place in the Perp DEX sector.

So is $30/min really expensive? The answer depends on your expectations regarding FDV, airdrop ratio, and the number of points. More importantly, the way you participate determines your marginal cost. Focusing on trading volume for "premium accounts" to increase levels and reduce fees, stacking ambassadors/events/invitations with eLP treasury, and thinning out the cost of every cent while waiting for the TGE window.

Among them, the most important eight principles may be cost reduction and efficiency improvement, as the great way is simple.