HTX (suspected) launches perpetual US stock market with xStocks as reference target - interpreting HTX's US stock model When I was scrolling through my tweets today, I accidentally came across a friend saying that HTX is providing subsidies for US stock liquidity. This made me suddenly strange. In theory, if we are doing real US stock spot trading, the more complete route is to cooperate with securities firms and connect to the real stock order books of NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange. Why use subsidies to increase liquidity? Later on, I realized that the subsidy was for contracts, not spot stocks, which was normal. For contracts, it depends on the liquidity of each company, and it is normal to obtain deep liquidity through subsidies. However, upon reflection, it seems a bit wrong. The focus of xStocks should be on the chain, and HTX, which does not have physical stock support, cannot use stocks sold on the exchange as joint margin for contracts. Of course, this has nothing to do with the contract itself, it can only be said that HTX has not yet opened up the association between spot stocks and contracts. However, the current publicly available general index rules of HTX mainly list cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Coinbase, Kraken, Bybit, Bitget, etc., without explicitly listing stock market suppliers, nor explaining in detail how to handle stock indexes during the US stock market shutdown period in the general online announcement. Although this does not mean that HTX did not use professional stock data sources, from the level of public disclosure, HTX's stock perpetual pricing source is not as clear as other exchanges' explanations. I am not very sure, but it seems to be perpetual based on xStocks token as a reference object. This part is very important for contracts, as marking prices can affect funding rates, unrealized gains and losses, and consolidation. If the index only comes from a few token stock markets with weak liquidity, the price stability in extreme market conditions will be lower than directly reading real US stock quotes. And while I continued to review the disclosed information, I suddenly realized that there is no HTX in the cooperation cases currently publicly displayed by xStocks, and I have not found any official announcement of cooperation between the two parties. So there is a high probability that HTX has launched a corresponding perpetual contract for the US stock market using xStocks as a reference benchmark. As for whether there is cooperation between the two parties in terms of market trends, indices, or other aspects, and whether the price directly refers to xStocks spot, it cannot be confirmed at present. Of course, there are advantages to doing so, the most direct one is that it goes live quickly. HTX does not need to open a securities account for each user, nor does it need to handle stock custody, delivery, dividends, stock splits, and shareholder registration in the user account. As long as the index price, marker price, funding rate, margin, and strong leveling rules are combined, new US stock contracts can be quickly launched. Any stock that suddenly becomes a hot topic can be followed by HTX to launch corresponding products. For cryptocurrency users who only want to trade price fluctuations, this model is not a big problem. At most, the price is not synchronized with the market at some point. For HTX itself, it can also save costs for securities firms, securities account opening, custody, clearing, and spot systems. But the disadvantages are also very obvious, and the most core is still contract liquidity. The depth of HTX still needs to be maintained by its own users and market makers. Subsidies can indeed temporarily increase pending orders and trading volume, but after the subsidy ends, if the real trading demand does not keep up, the depth may still decline again. Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, the source of contract prices for HTX and US stocks is not clear, and there is no explanation on how to adjust the index after the US stock market closes. If HTX's index mainly refers to xStocks spot, the real stock price needs to be transmitted to xStocks first, and then enter HTX's index and perpetual contracts, which will add a layer of basis and liquidity risk in between. In normal market conditions, this gap may not be significant. But in the event of financial reports, unexpected news, or extreme fluctuations, xStocks and real stocks may experience premiums or discounts, and HTX's index and marker prices may also be affected. So whether the price source comes from the real stock market or from the tokenized stock market with relatively limited liquidity is one of the important reasons for contract trading. The same goes for the issue during the US stock market shutdown. After real stocks stop trading, HTX contracts can still continue to operate, relying on market maker valuations, other market quotes, or the platform's own algorithms to maintain prices. HTX currently does not have the same level of disclosure as other exchanges, making it difficult for users to predict in advance how the index and marker prices will change during major news events such as weekends, holidays, and after hours. Overall, the advantages of the HTX model are clear, including fast launch, low cost, support for all day trading, and convenience for users to directly use USDT and leverage. But the disadvantages are also obvious. The depth of the contract needs to be cultivated by the platform itself, and the disclosure of price sources and closing quotation mechanisms is not transparent enough. It is difficult for users to accurately evaluate the basis, marked prices, and strong leveling risks in extreme market conditions. If the index mainly refers to xStocks spot, then the real stock price still needs to go through the tokenized stock market and then be transmitted to the HTX contract. In extreme market conditions, there may indeed be an additional layer of risk. If HTX is directly integrated into the professional US stock market, the risk will actually be smaller. The biggest problem now is insufficient public information, and it is currently impossible to determine which pricing method HTX is using specifically. PS: To emphasize again, the current public information is not sufficient to 100% confirm that HTX's index mainly refers to xStocks spot prices, nor is it sufficient to determine what pricing method HTX uses. If HTX can be made public, it will be more helpful for improving user trading confidence.