Surge Season 5 officially begins on August 1, with a major expansion: the total monthly rewards pool has doubled to $3 million in DYDX - making it one of the largest on-chain trading incentive programs in the industry.
Administered by Chaos Labs, the program is designed to directly reward traders for trading on dYdX. Season 5 simplifies the structure, eliminates complexity, and puts trading activity at the centre of the rewards model.
Key Highlights
- $3M in rewards in Season 5
- No staking multipliers or boosted markets
- All markets and traders compete on equal footing
- Rewards based on fees paid and front-end usage
This streamlined approach means traders earn more, faster - just by doing what they already do. Trading.
Reward Structure
Surge Season 5 will distribute $3M across two pools:
- 75% ($2.25M): Proportional to trading fees paid, across all perpetual markets on dYdX.
- 25% ($750K): For traders who use front-end interfaces like dydx.trade, on the mobile app.
Whether you trade via web, mobile, or app, your rewards accrue automatically - no sign-up or opt-in required.
What’s Changed
Season 5 introduces a simpler, fairer structure:
❌ No more staking boosts
❌ No more boosted markets
❌ No complex weighting formulas
All traders, all markets, and all front-ends now follow the same clear rules. The more you trade and the more fees you pay, the more you earn.
How It Works (with Examples)
👉 Example 1: You pay $10,000 in fees during August.
If all traders paid $10M in fees total:
→ You earn: (10,000 / 10,000,000) × 2,250,000 = $2,250
👉 Example 2: You trade via dYdX.trade, paying $1,000 in fees.
If all frontend traders paid $10M in fees:
→ You earn: (1,000 / 10,000,000) × 750,000 = $75
Both pools? You qualify for both rewards.
Program Administration
The Surge Program is operated by Chaos Labs, a leading risk and data infrastructure provider, under a mandate approved by the dYdX Community. Rewards are calculated by Chaos Labs based on verified on-chain data and distributed via on-chain governance.
This ensures full transparency, fairness, and verifiability of the rewards process. With $3M in rewards, Season 5 significantly raises the bar for incentive alignment in DeFi.
Get Started
There’s no need to sign up. Just trade. Literally.
✅ Trade any perps market
✅ Pay fees
✅ Use dydx.trade or the mobile app
✅ Earn rewards - automatically
Rewards will be distributed after the end of each month, and all program details are publicly accessible via Chaos Labs and the dYdX forum.
To explore all dYdX Markets: https://dydx.trade
About the dYdX Foundation
Legitimacy and Disclaimer
Crypto-assets can be highly volatile and trading crypto-assets involves risk of loss, particularly when using leverage. Investment into crypto-assets may not be regulated and may not be adequate for retail investors. Do your own research and due diligence before engaging in any activity involving crypto-assets.
dYdX is a decentralised, disintermediated and permissionless protocol, and is not available in the U.S. or to U.S. persons as well as in other restricted jurisdictions. The dYdX Foundation does not operate or participate in the operation of any component of the dYdX Chain's infrastructure.
The dYdX Foundation’s purpose is to support the current implementation and any future implementations of the dYdX protocol and to foster community-driven growth in the dYdX ecosystem.
The dYdX Chain software (including dYdX Unlimited) is open-source software to be used or implemented by any party in accordance with the applicable license. At no time should the dYdX Chain and/or its software or related components (including dYdX Unlimited) be deemed to be a product or service provided or made available in any way by the dYdX Foundation. Interactions with the dYdX Chain software (including dYdX Unlimited) or any implementation thereof are permissionless and disintermediated, subject to the terms of the applicable licenses and code. Users who interact with the dYdX Chain software, i ncluding dYdX Unlimited (or any implementations thereof) will not be interacting with the dYdX Foundation in any way whatsoever. The dYdX Foundation does not make any representations, warranties or covenants in connection with the dYdX Chain software (or any implementations and/or components thereof, including dYdX Unlimited), including (without limitation) with regard to their technical properties or performance, as well as their actual or potential usefulness or suitability for any particular purpose, and users agree to rely on the dYdX Chain software (or any implementations and/or components thereof, including dYdX Unlimited) “AS IS, WHERE IS”.
Nothing in this post should be used or considered as legal, financial, tax, or any other advice, nor as an instruction or invitation to act by anyone. Users should conduct their own research and due diligence before making any decisions. The dYdX Foundation may alter or update any information in this post in the future at its sole discretion and assumes no obligation to publicly disclose any such change. This post is solely based on the information available to the dYdX Foundation at the time it was published and should only be read and taken into consideration at the time it was published and on the basis of the circumstances that surrounded it. The dYdX Foundation makes no guarantees of future performance and is under no obligation to undertake any of the activities contemplated herein.
Depositing into the MegaVault carries risks. Do your own research and make sure to understand the risks before depositing funds. MegaVault returns are not guaranteed and may fluctuate over time depending on multiple factors. MegaVault returns may be negative and you may lose your entire investment.The dYdX Foundation does not operate or has control over the MegaVault and has not been involved in the development, deployment and operation of any component of the dYdX Unlimited software (including the MegaVault).
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