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Every subaccount is bound to a manager and, through it, to a risk universe. Together they decide the margin model you get, which instruments you can trade, and which assets you can post as collateral. You never set the universe directly — you pick a manager_id, and everything else follows.

Manager

The margin model applied to your subaccount — Standard (cross collateral margin) or Portfolio (scenario-based netting).

Risk universe

Restricted set of instruments, collaterals and lending rules, aimed at containing risk. Losses are socialized only within it.

How they relate

  • A subaccount can only have one manager.
  • A manager belongs to exactly one universe.
  • A universe exposes at most one Standard and one Portfolio manager.
  • You choose a manager_id; that fixes both your margin model and your universe.
Diagram of the breakdown of managers, currencies, instruments, and collaterals in each risk universe. The latest values can be taken from the public/get_risk_universes endpoint.
This breakdown is exactly what public/get_risk_universes returns — see Reading public/get_risk_universes below.

Managers

A manager is the margin engine that risk-prices your subaccount. There are two: Each manager has a numeric manager_id. A subaccount stores its manager_id and derives its universe, tradeable instruments, and accepted collateral from it. Picking Standard vs Portfolio for the same book changes your margin requirement, not what you can hold.

Risk universes

A risk universe is a set of assets and managers that share a single risk boundary. It exists so that an insolvency in one universe can only ever be absorbed by that universe’s own Security Module and, if needed, socialized to solvent accounts inside the same universe — never across the whole exchange. As a direct consequence, a trade, RFQ, or liquidation is rejected if the two sides sit in different universes. Everything risk-related is keyed by (asset, risk_universe_id): collateral discounts, OI caps, and lending pools can all differ per universe for the very same asset.

Two ways to find a manager

  • By risk universe — public/get_risk_universes. Break down all trade-able instruments and supported collaterals by universe and manager.
  • By currency — public/get_all_currencies. Similar to above but broken down by currency. This route also includes market summary data such as APYs, borrow headroom, OI details and caps.

Reading public/get_risk_universes

Response (abridged, one universe)
For app builders, public/get_all_currencies carries useful market data that can be useful for onboarding such as open interest caps, lending limits, APYs.

Picking your manager

1

Decide what you'll trade and post

Settle on the instruments you want to trade (e.g. ETH-OPTION) and the collateral you’ll post (e.g. USDC). If you care about the margin model, decide SM (Standard cross-collateral) or PM2 (Portfolio) too.
2

Find the manager

Call public/get_risk_universes and scan its managers for the one whose instruments[] include what you want to trade and whose collaterals[] include what you’ll post (add a margin_type filter if you want a specific model). Its manager_id is the id you pass everywhere.
3

Confirm the collateral earns margin

Check your collateral’s im_discount under that manager is non-zero — "0" means the manager holds it but grants no margin against it.
4

Create the subaccount

Pass the chosen id as manager_id when depositing to a new subaccount (see Depositing) — the collateral entry’s address is the deposit asset. Universe, instruments, and collateral set all follow from it. You can read them back on private/get_subaccount via its manager_id and risk_universe_id.
Choosing the wrong id has consequences at deposit and trade time:
  • Fallback routing — depositing to a non-existant manager or one that doesn’t support your asset sends the funds to the fallback subaccount (universe 0).
  • Cross-universe trade — a subaccount can’t trade against a counterparty in a different universe; the order is rejected.

The fallback universe

Universe 0 is a special fallback (“lost-and-found”) universe: a no-margin holding area whose only job is to safely custody collateral that has nowhere else to go. It registers every spot asset but supports no trading, borrowing, options, or perps. Every wallet is given a single fallback subaccount when its account is created. A deposit lands there — instead of the subaccount you intended — whenever it can’t be honoured as requested:
  • it targets the fallback manager (manager_id 0),
  • the asset isn’t registered in the target manager’s universe, or
  • the amount is below the subaccount-creation fee.
Funds in the fallback subaccount are safe but idle — you can’t trade against them. To put them to work, move the spot out to a real subaccount with private/transfer_spot. The fallback appears in public/get_risk_universes like any other universe (as id 0, listed first) — with no tradeable instruments. Skip it when choosing where to deposit.