New to Arcus? Start here.
Arcus is a self-custodial exchange for tokenized US stocks and perpetual futures, trading 24/7 on Robinhood Chain. It was built by the team behind dYdX, with Robinhood Crypto as a strategic investor. This is an unofficial guide to what it is, who can use it, and what it costs.
Short version: the venue is real and audited, the stock tokens are not shares, and the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada are blocked.
What is Arcus?
Arcus is a decentralised exchange for tokenized US stocks, indices, commodities and crypto, offering both spot trading and perpetual futures around the clock on Robinhood Chain. Spot trades run through a request-for-quote system with no Arcus fee; perps run on an order book with tiered fees and up to 50x leverage. You keep custody of your own funds throughout. The stock tokens themselves are issued by Bitstamp Global, not by Arcus.
From curious to first trade
Disclosure: this page contains a referral link. If you sign up through it and trade perps, this site may earn a share of the fees you pay on Arcus. It does not change what we write or what you pay.
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Check whether you can use it at all
Arcus is not available in the United States, the United Kingdom or Canada, nor to sanctioned regions. That is the first thing to settle, because nothing else matters if you are in one of them. The web app is the real product today; the iOS app is a pre-order listed for January 2027.
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Understand what you are buying
A stock token tracks a share, but it is not one. There are no voting rights, no dividend claim as such, and the price can drift from the real stock. Perps are leveraged derivatives and can be liquidated.
What Arcus is and how it worksWhat a stock token actually is
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Check it is legitimate and learn the risks
The entity is real, the contracts have two public audits, and custody stays with you. The gaps are worth knowing too: no proof-of-reserves attestation has been published, and the insurance fund size is not disclosed.
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Work out what it costs
Spot carries no Arcus fee, so the cost sits in the quoted spread. Perps have a published tier table, currently halved for beta. You also need a little ETH on Robinhood Chain for gas.
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Fund an account, then trade spot before perps
Deposits arrive by card, bank transfer, exchange or crypto and convert to USDG. Spot is open to eligible countries; perps need an invite code that someone already trading has to mint for you.
How to depositYour first trade, step by stepHow invite codes work
Arcus in eight lines
- Built by
- Arcus Labs Ltd the dYdX Labs team; CEO Eddie Zhang; Cayman Islands entity
- Backing
- Robinhood Crypto, strategic investor amount and valuation not disclosed
- Runs on
- Robinhood Chain an Arbitrum-based Ethereum L2, mainnet live 1 July 2026
- Markets
- 190+ stock tokens reported by Arcus via The Block, 1 October 2026
- Spot fee
- 0% Arcus fee cost sits in the RFQ spread; you still pay gas in ETH
- Perps
- up to 50x, tiered fees beta rates are half standard and temporary
- Custody
- Self-custodial embedded wallet by Privy; Arcus never holds your keys
- Blocked
- US, UK, Canada plus sanctioned regions, per the Terms
From arcus.xyz, help.arcus.xyz and public coverage, 2 October 2026. Beta fees and market counts change; check before you trade.
Go deeper
Every guide on the site, grouped by the question it answers.
What it is
Is it safe
Fees, points and money
Read this before you fund anything
Perpetual futures are leveraged, and a position can be liquidated well before your view plays out. Stock tokens are not shares: you get no voting rights, no dividend claim as such, and the token price can diverge from the real stock. Arcus has no token, and its points programme is explicitly discretionary. Nothing on this site is financial advice. If you trade, use money you can afford to lose entirely.