Talos Adds Perpetuals Trading Infrastructure for Brokerages

Retail and institutional brokerages face a growing list of customer requests, including access to leveraged instruments. Offering perpetual swaps or CFDs* means solving margin policy, funding rate mechanics, real-time exposure monitoring and risk pass-through to liquidity venues before a single order reaches production. Talos now supports end-to-end linear derivatives trading across the full account lifecycle, from account setup through funding, monitoring and position close, giving brokerages a turnkey path to offering leveraged products without building the underlying infrastructure.

The margin, funding and risk stack behind a leveraged product

Supporting a leveraged instrument requires infrastructure. Funding rates need to be computed and applied on a schedule, with the flexibility to vary by asset and account. Every incoming order needs real-time validation against available collateral and configured leverage limits. Positions need continuous mark-to-market once open, and risk teams need a live view of exposure concentration. A brokerage would need to build a margin engine, a funding engine and a risk monitoring system before it lists a single instrument.

From account setup to position close: How the derivatives layer works

The workflow can be outlined in stages.

1. Account setup. Margin requirements, leverage limits, funding schedule and stress factors are configured per customer.
2. Order submission. Every new order is checked against available collateral and configured leverage limits (set by the client) in real time, and margin is locked on approval.
3. Position open. Equity, margin and unrealized P&L update continuously, with mark prices refreshed every 10 seconds.
4. Funding. Payments compute automatically on the client-configured schedule and post to customer accounts without manual intervention.
5. Position close. Realized P&L credits or debits the collateral balance, and locked margin releases.

The derivatives layer is built into Talos's White Label platform, alongside customer setup, pricing, ledgering and settlement, accessible through the same UI and API. Position tracking and customer accounting for the leveraged part of a brokerage’s book run through that same infrastructure without having to stand up a separate system to manage it. The result is that clients can trade across spot and derivatives in one environment. 

Configuration and monitoring for brokerage risk teams

Margin requirements and funding rate schedules are set with global defaults and per-customer overrides, so a brokerage applies its own risk policy rather than a fixed template. A customer positions blotter gives risk teams a live view of positions, exposures and margin usage by account, with roll-ups across the customer base and stress P&L scenarios run against both favorable and adverse price moves. Talos is also building a unified counterparty risk view that will bring OTC derivative and loan exposure into the same monitoring surface as the electronic derivatives book, giving brokerages a single picture of counterparty exposure and collateral health across products.

"Brokerages don't need to choose between speed to market and control over their own risk policy," said Elizabeth Dethy, Product Manager for Sell Side Solutions at Talos. "We give clients the ability to set their own margin and funding defaults, with the option to override at the customer level, so they can get to market quickly with their chosen risk framework."

What’s on the development roadmap

Margin validation, unrealized P&L tracking, funding events, realized P&L ledgering, stress P&L scenarios, collateral support across USD, USDC, USDT, EUR, and EURC (each currency margins positions in that same currency) are available now. Funding rates are configurable per asset and client today, with market-referenced dynamic rates in development.

Auto-liquidation, options margin support and inverse derivative support are in the planning stage. The liquidation engine will reduce positions automatically when equity falls below a client-configured maintenance margin threshold. The same margin engine is being extended to non-linear products and inverse settlement types.

As leverage products spread across a wider set of retail and institutional brokerages, the binding constraint is the infrastructure required to offer it responsibly. A brokerage's margin and risk framework will determine how far it can scale a leveraged offering.

To learn more about derivatives support through Talos White Label, contact us.

* CFDs are not available to trade in the U.S.

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^{Disclaimer: Talos Global, Inc. and its affiliates (“Talos”) offer software-as-a-service products that provide connectivity tools for institutional clients. Talos does not provide clients with any pre-negotiated arrangements with liquidity providers or other parties. Clients are required to independently negotiate arrangements with liquidity providers and other parties bilaterally. Talos is not party to any of these arrangements. Services and venues may not be available in all jurisdictions. For information about which services are available in your jurisdiction, please reach out to your sales representative. Talos is not an investment advisor or broker/dealer. This document and information do not constitute an offer to buy or sell, or a promotion or recommendation of, any digital asset, security, derivative, commodity, financial instrument or product or trading strategy. This document and information are not intended to constitute investment advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain from making) any kind of investment decision and may not be relied on as such. This document and its information are subject to change without notice. It is provided only for general informational, illustrative, and/or marketing purposes, or in connection with exploratory conversations with institutional investors and is not intended for retail clients. The information provided was obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of preparation, however Talos makes no representation as to its accuracy, suitability, non-infringement of third-party rights, or otherwise. Talos disclaims all liability, expenses, or costs arising from or connected with the information provided.}

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