Staker-Driven Trading Fee Discounts & Performance-Based Leaderboard Incentives

TL;DR

This proposal introduces a staker-aligned incentive system combining

progressive trading fee reductions for GMX stakers (up to 90%), and

a performance-based leaderboard that rewards active traders who also commit capital via GMX staking.

The goal is to increase GMX staking, boost sustainable trading volume, and better align traders with long-term protocol ownership.

Motivation

GMX already rewards long-term participants through staking yields and fee sharing. However, active traders and long-term stakers are currently only loosely coupled.

This proposal aims to:

Strengthen the link between protocol ownership (staking) and protocol usage (trading)

Incentivize traders to stake more GMX, reducing circulating supply

Encourage organic, fee-generating volume rather than short-term mercenary activity

Create a competitive, gamified layer that increases user engagement without compromising protocol sustainability

Proposal Overview

The proposal consists of two complementary components, which may be implemented individually or together.

1. Progressive Trading Fee Discounts for GMX Stakers Mechanism

Trading fees are reduced dynamically based on the amount of GMX staked by a trader.

Higher GMX stake → lower trading fees

Fee reductions scale progressively and can reach up to 90% (10% fees) at the highest staking tiers

Example (illustrative only) GMX Staked Trading Fee Discount 0 GMX 0% (standard fees) Low tier 10–30% Mid tier 40–70% High tier 80–90%

Exact thresholds and caps would be defined during implementation.

Encourages long-term staking

Reduces sell pressure on GMX

Rewards committed participants without inflating token supply

2. Staker-Weighted Trading Leaderboard with GMX Rewards Core Concept

A recurring leaderboard ranks traders based on a combined score derived from:

Trading volume (or fees paid) Amount of GMX staked

Crucially:

The more GMX a trader has staked, the less trading volume is required to rank higher on the leaderboard.

This ensures that capital commitment to GMX directly improves reward efficiency, not just raw trading size.

Scoring Concept (high-level) Leaderboard Score = f(Trading Activity, GMX Staked)

Where GMX staking acts as a multiplier or weighting factor on trading activity.

Rewards

Top-ranked participants receive GMX rewards, distributed periodically (e.g. weekly or monthly).

Two possible funding models:

Option A: Fee-Funded Rewards (Self-Sustaining)

A defined portion of collected trading fees is allocated to the leaderboard reward pool

Scales naturally with protocol usage

Option B: Fixed Treasury Allocation

A predefined promotional budget from the GMX treasury

Suitable for bootstrapping adoption or limited-time campaigns

Expected Benefits

Higher GMX staking ratio, reducing circulating supply

Increased trading volume from aligned, long-term users

Stronger flywheel between traders, stakers, and protocol revenue

No new token emissions beyond controlled, transparent incentives

Improved competitiveness versus centralized exchanges with fee rebates

Risks & Considerations

Fee discounts must be carefully capped to avoid excessive revenue loss

Leaderboard mechanics must discourage wash trading or artificial volume

Implementation complexity should be evaluated by the core team

Parameters should be adjustable via governance if needed

Implementation Notes

Can be rolled out in phases (e.g. fee discounts first, leaderboard later)

Parameters (tiers, multipliers, budgets) remain governance-controlled

Transparent analytics dashboard recommended