How does Liminal work?

Users deposit USDC into Liminal. No lockups or configuration steps are required.

Hyperliquid's infrastructure allows Liminal to operate with the speed, transparency, and precision required to deliver safe and scalable yield.

Liminal is a protocol that automates delta-neutral strategies to deliver real yield on USDC deposits. It removes the complexity of execution and provides users with seamless access to institutional-grade strategies through a simple interface.

Core Mechanism

At its core, Liminal runs a delta-neutral strategy to capture yield from perpetual funding rates on Hyperliquid.

Step-by-step process

1. Deposit Users deposit USDC into Liminal. There are no lockups or configuration steps required.

2. Position Execution Liminal allocates the deposited funds to open two offsetting positions:

  • A long position in the spot market (HYPE for example)

  • A short position of equivalent size in the perpetual futures market

3. Delta-Neutral Exposure These positions neutralize directional market risk. Whether the asset price moves up or down, the total position remains stable in value.

4. Yield Capture Liminal earns funding rate payments from the perpetual market, typically paid by long traders. These payments are distributed to users as yield.

5. Rebalancing and Optimization Positions are constantly monitored and adjusted to maintain neutrality and maximize funding rate capture. When a position approaches its liquidation threshold, the system proactively adjusts it by closing and reopening the overall structure. This ensures stability, protects user funds, and keeps the strategy neutral at all times.

Infrastructure

Liminal is built natively on Hyperliquid, leveraging its high-performance infrastructure:

  • Deep liquidity across both spot and perp markets

  • Low-latency, real-time execution through HyperCore

  • Native support for delta-neutral design at the protocol level

Hyperliquid’s architecture enables Liminal to deliver scalable, safe, and transparent yield strategies.

Execution Engine

Liminal’s Liquidity Engine handles live trade execution and strategy management. Its responsibilities include:

  • Monitoring and maintaining safe collateral levels

  • Executing and rebalancing positions efficiently

  • Monitoring spreads between spot and perps markets to avoid any imbalance when executing

  • Dynamically adjusting leverage to minimize liquidation risk

This system is optimized to reduce execution risk, eliminate manual oversight, and ensure strategy consistency across market conditions.

Custody Model

Liminal uses different custody models depending on the user profile.

  • For regular users, the strategy operates through externally owned accounts (EOAs) managed and secured by Liminal. All signature operations are executed within an off-internet enclave, and private keys are encrypted at rest using AES-256 to ensure maximum security.

  • For institutional users, Liminal leverages Hyperliquid’s Agent system. This allows trade execution directly on the institution’s own account or sub-account. Liminal can never access or withdraw funds. Institutions retain full custody at all times while still benefiting from automated strategy execution.

This setup ensures a secure and flexible experience across user types.

Modes of Use

Liminal provides two user interfaces, depending on preference:

  • Standard Mode A clean, simplified dashboard showing deposits, performance, yield and your activity

  • Pro Mode Advanced tools for experienced users, including real-time metrics, historical charts, deeper analytics and strategy customization

Both interfaces provide:

  • Real-time visibility into portfolio performance

  • Access to withdraw capital at any time

  • Custody structure adapted to user type, with either full self-custody or secure EOA management

Understanding Metrics Calculation

The Liminal dashboard gives you a real-time view of your strategy performance. Here's how to interpret each metric:

Liminal 30d APY/Your 30d APY

This is the estimated annualized yield based on the last 30 days of gross funding PnL. Note: This APY excludes Hyperliquid trading fees and Liminal’s performance fee.

The displayed value reflects raw funding yield and may differ from your actual net return

Your Liminal Balance

This shows the total current value of your strategy, combining your spot and perp positions. Note: Your balance may vary in the short term due to spot/perp spread, but funding PnL typically offsets these variations over time.

For the most accurate picture, consider this value over longer timeframes, as funding income gradually smooths out short-term fluctuations.

Your Funding PnL

This is the gross amount you've earned from funding payments. It does not include:

  • Hyperliquid trading fees

  • Liminal's performance fee

The amount displayed gives a raw view of funding performance. Net realized returns may be lower once trading and protocol fees are applied.

Summary

Liminal turns a complex delta-neutral strategy into a simple user experience:

  1. Deposit USDC

  2. Earn sustainable, market-neutral yield

  3. Withdraw anytime, with full transparency

Depending on your user profile, custody is either managed securely on your behalf or remains entirely under your control. Behind the scenes, Liminal handles execution, monitoring, and optimization, so you don’t have to.

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