A perps trading competition. Best return takes the pot.
MUTEX Arena runs timed trading duels and tables of up to five. Every player buys in with USDC, gets the same $10,000 of simulated capital and trades live perp markets: crypto, stocks, ETFs, commodities and forex. When the bell rings, the best return wins the pot, and every table moves your Elo rating.
What MUTEX Arena is
MUTEX Arena is PvP trading with a fixed start, a fixed end and a real prize. Two to five traders sit at a table, each pays the same USDC buy-in, and each gets an identical simulated stack. Nobody starts with more capital or more time than anyone else, so the result is a straight comparison of trading.
The capital is simulated, the prices are not: seats trade the same perp markets as the rest of MUTEX at live prices. The money at stake is the buy-in. The winner collects the buy-ins of the whole table, less a small rake.
How a trading duel works
- 01
Open or join a table. The host picks the buy-in, the length, the number of seats (2 to 5) and the view delay. A two-seat table can name one opponent by handle, and any table can be private, shared by its link. Your buy-in leaves your USDC funding balance the moment you sit down.
- 02
The countdown. The last free seat starts a shared countdown, currently one minute. On a table of three or more, the host can also deal once two or more players sit, and the table shrinks to the players who are there. Nobody can place an order during the countdown.
- 03
The clock runs. At zero every seat gets its own match account holding the same $10,000 of simulated capital. You trade it in the MUTEX terminal on any perp market at live prices, with the leverage you pick per market up to that market's maximum.
- 04
Watch the race. The room shows every stack and its return live, an equity race chart, each player's open positions as cards, and a win estimate from the current gap and the time left. Opponents' orders arrive after the table's view delay.
- 05
The bell. When the time is up, every open position is closed at market. A liquidated seat is not out: it plays on with what is left until the bell.
- 06
Settlement. Seats are ranked by final equity. First place takes the whole prize, the pot minus the rake, credited to its USDC funding balance. Every seat's Elo rating moves in the same step.
In MUTEX Arena you trade in the same terminal as a normal perps account, on a separate match account that exists only for that table. You can currently sit at one table at a time, and anyone can open a running table's room to watch; only the seated players can post in its chat.
Buy-in, pot and rake
In MUTEX Arena the pot is every seat's buy-in added together. The rake is the table's rake rate times the pot, rounded down, and it is currently 2% (200 basis points). The prize is the pot minus the rake, and all of it goes to first place. Second place and below are paid nothing.
A table keeps the rake it opened with: the terms are frozen when the first seat buys in, so a later change to the rake never reaches a table that is already open.
| Table | Pot | Rake 2% | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duel, 2 x $25 | $50.00 | $1.00 | $49.00 |
| 4 seats x $25 | $100.00 | $2.00 | $98.00 |
| 5 seats x $100 | $500.00 | $10.00 | $490.00 |
On the four-seat $25 table, the winner paid $25 and collects $98.00, a net gain of $73.00. Each of the other three is down their $25 buy-in. The $2.00 rake is the only fee MUTEX Arena takes; there is no charge to open, join or watch a table.
An example settled table: four $25 buy-ins, $98.00 paid to first place. Names and numbers are illustrative.
Ties, leaving early and seats that never trade
- Ties
- MUTEX Arena ranks seats on exact final equity. Seats with the same equity share a rank. If they share first, the prize is split equally between them, and the smallest unit that does not divide goes to the tied winner with the lowest seat number.
- Leaving before the start
- While a table is open, any player except the host can stand up and get the buy-in back. If the host leaves, the table closes and every seat is refunded. A table that does not fill within 24 hours (currently) closes the same way.
- Surrender
- Once the countdown starts, nobody can leave. A player can surrender instead: the seat's positions are closed, the buy-in stays in the pot, and the seat is ranked below every player still at the table, whatever its equity.
- A seat that never trades
- A seat with no trades finishes on its $10,000 starting stack, a 0% return, and is ranked like any other. If everyone else ends below where they started, the seat that never traded wins the MUTEX Arena pot.
- Liquidation
- A liquidated seat stays at the table and plays on with whatever simulated capital is left. It is ranked on its equity at the bell like everyone else.
- A voided table
- If MUTEX has to void a running table, every buy-in is refunded in full and no rating moves.
The view delay
Every MUTEX Arena table has a view delay, set by the host from 0 to 60 minutes. It decides how late you see your opponents' orders, so nobody can simply copy the leader trade for trade.
The delay hides orders, never the score. Every stack, return and the equity race are live for everyone. An opponent's position shows as a face-down card with only its side and live P&L until it is older than the delay; then it turns face up with its market, size and entry. Order history and open orders arrive the same delay late.
At 0 everything is live for everyone. When the table settles, every card turns face up.
- Live: every stack, return and the equity race.
- Face down: a position opened in the last 5 minutes, side and P&L only.
- Face up: a position at least 5 minutes old: market, size and entry.
- 5 minutes late: orders placed, changed or cancelled.
Elo rating and tiers
Every player in MUTEX Arena has one Elo rating, starting at 1000. When a table settles, each seat plays one game against every other seat: a higher rank is a win, the same rank is half a win, a lower rank is a loss, and the expected score uses the standard Elo formula on the ratings everyone sat down with.
K is 40 for a player's first 10 tables and 20 after that, divided by the number of opponents, so a five-seat table moves a rating about as much as a duel. Buy-in, length and market never weigh in. Cancelled and voided tables rate nobody.
Two new players at 1000 in a duel: the winner gains 20 and the loser drops 20. Five new players at 1000: first gains 20, second 10, third nothing, fourth loses 10 and fifth 20. A surrender ranks last, so it counts as a loss to everyone who stayed.
- Provisionaluntil your first table settles
- Bronzeunder 1100
- Silver1100 to 1299
- Gold1300 and up
A player is provisional until their first MUTEX Arena table settles (the threshold is a setting, currently one table). From then on the tier follows the rating, and the player appears on the Arena leaderboard, the top 50 by rating.
Who MUTEX Arena is for, and the risks
- Traders who want to test a read against another person, not just the market.
- Friends settling who trades better: name an opponent or share a private table link.
- Anyone who wants a fixed, small cost per game: the buy-in is the whole risk.
- Traders building a record before a prop desk challenge, where the same terminal trades a funded account.
- The buy-in is real USDC. Only first place is paid, so most seats at most tables lose it.
- The rake comes out of every pot, so over many tables an average player loses money.
- A short table rewards big, leveraged bets; a high return can come from luck as much as skill.
- Simulated results do not promise the same result with real money in a live account.