Help · FAQ
Questions, answered.
Honestly.
The ones that matter, including the uncomfortable ones. If something’s still unclear, the thesis and method pages go deeper.
The basics
What is Onyx?
A non-custodial automation service that runs a market-neutral crypto-carry engine on your own exchange account. It aims to earn from how crypto markets work — the funding paid in derivatives markets — not from guessing which way prices go.
Is this a scam? What’s the catch?
Fair question. The honest catch: it’s funding-rate carry — not lending, not a “yield product”, not borrowed deposits. The positions are real and sit on your own account, where you can inspect them. The record is a published, verifiable simulation that can compress or lose money when funding turns. We’d rather show the limits than the dream.
How does it actually make money?
It buys a coin and short-sells the same coin’s perpetual future, 1:1. Price moves cancel out. While the market pays shorts a “funding” fee — which it usually does, because crypto skews long — the engine collects it, every settlement.
Your money
Where does my money sit?
In your own exchange account. When live, we connect with trade-only keys — they can place orders but can’t withdraw. Onyx never holds, pools or can move your funds.
Can I lose money?
Yes. Market-neutral means direction-neutral, not risk-free: funding can turn negative, the hedge uses leverage and can be liquidated, and a venue can fail. Capital is at risk when live. Right now, in paper, no real money is involved at all.
What happens if an exchange fails?
That’s real venue and counterparty risk we don’t pretend to remove. The carry engine de-risks on halts and depegs; the directional book doesn’t, and either way if a venue fails while your positions sit on it, you could be affected.
Right now
Why is it free?
We’re in the paper phase: a free, fully simulated book — no funds, no payment. It exists to build a verifiable track record before any real money moves.
When does it go live?
Only after an FCA green light. No live trading of anyone’s money happens until we’re cleared and our own validation gate passes.
Who can join?
Certified sophisticated or professional investors only — crypto-derivatives can’t be sold to UK retail consumers. We verify your investor category before we admit you.
What’s the track record?
A validated out-of-sample result — a base rate of ~9–13%/yr net (Sharpe 2.79, max drawdown 1.3% over 885 days), currently in shadow. A research result, not a promise of future returns.
What will it cost?
Nothing in the paper phase. Paid tiers and pricing open only after authorisation, and no prices are shown until then.
How do I get in?
Request an invite. We verify your category, then email a code that opens onboarding — where your free paper book provisions automatically.
Glossary
Plain-English terms.
- Funding rate
- The periodic fee that keeps a perpetual’s price tethered to spot; longs often pay shorts.
- Perpetual future (perp)
- A crypto derivative with no expiry — the instrument the engine shorts.
- Carry
- Income earned for holding a position — here, the funding collected.
- Market-neutral
- Long and short legs cancel price exposure, leaving the spread.
- Basis
- The gap between spot and the perpetual’s price.
- Shadow record
- The engine running on live prices with simulated capital, before going live.
- Out-of-sample (OOS)
- Tested on data the strategy wasn’t tuned on — a harder, fairer test.
- Paper book
- Your free, simulated account during the paper phase.
- Siphon
- Sweeping realised profit out of the working float into safety.
- Sleeve
- The high-octane, opt-in book — 50 seats, signed risk disclosure.
- Drawdown
- The peak-to-trough fall in value — how deep it dips.
- FSCS
- The UK compensation scheme — Onyx is not covered by it.
Still have a question?
We’d rather answer it than have you guess.
Capital at risk. Onyx is a non-custodial automation service for certified sophisticated & professional investors — not a deposit, not FSCS-protected, not investment advice. Simulated performance is not a guide to future results. Live trading opens only after FCA authorisation. © Onyx.