TradeSta Launches 100x Leverage Equities on Avalanche

The launch by TradeSta represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of decentralized trading. By bringing global equities on-chain via the Avalanche network, the platform directly connects the massive, established world of traditional finance (TradFi) with the rapidly growing decentralized finance (DeFi) space. The scale of this integration is staggering; the global equity market is valued at over $124 trillion, dwarfing the entire DeFi ecosystem’s total value locked (TVL) of approximately $170 billion. This move effectively positions Avalanche as a critical infrastructure hub where DeFi traders can gain exposure to one of the world’s largest financial markets without leaving the blockchain environment.

According to Kieron Cartledge, CEO of TradeSta, this development marks a “turning point for decentralized trading.” The platform’s design is built to address key pain points of both traditional and existing decentralized exchanges. By leveraging Avalanche’s proven speed, scalability, and low-cost environment, TradeSta promises real-time, transparent pricing and execution. Crucially, the platform removes traditional frictions like borrow fees and funding rates, offering a experience that the company claims not only rivals but surpasses centralized platforms.

The technical foundation of TradeSta’s new offering is critical to its value proposition. The platform relies on Pyth Network for real-time market pricing, ensuring that on-chain equity valuations accurately reflect traditional market data. This integration is vital for maintaining trader confidence and market integrity. Furthermore, TradeSta’s architecture is engineered to minimize slippage and eliminates reliance on traditional order books. This results in a more transparent, efficient, and fully permissionless trading experience where users maintain self-custody of their assets at all times.

A key innovation highlighted by Hasan Zahr, CTO of TradeSta, is the platform’s commitment to community governance through a weekly listing cadence. Each week, a new asset—spanning equities, crypto, commodities, or forex—will be introduced based on community votes, subject to internal review and risk assessments. “This is a step toward true decentralization and a bridge between the worlds of traditional finance and DeFi,” Zahr stated. This model ensures the platform’s growth is both user-driven and responsibly managed, aligning with core DeFi principles.

The successful launch of equities trading on TradeSta underscores the growing strategic importance of the Avalanche blockchain as a foundation for sophisticated financial applications. Jacob Van, Senior Ecosystem Growth Associate at Ava Labs, emphasized this point, noting that the launch “highlights the versatility of the network and the growing demand for real-world assets in DeFi.” Avalanche’s high throughput and low latency are essential technical prerequisites for supporting the demanding performance requirements of equity trading, enabling TradeSta to deliver new asset classes on-chain while maintaining the user experience traders expect.

This development is part of a broader trend of real-world assets (RWAs) moving on-chain, and TradeSta’s inclusion of equities alongside other RWAs positions Avalanche at the forefront of this movement. By providing a scalable and efficient environment, Avalanche is cementing its role as a preferred blockchain for developers building applications that require high performance and low transaction costs, particularly in the competitive realm of decentralized exchanges and perpetuals trading.