Arcus Guides and Tutorials

What Arcus is, in short

Arcus is a self-custodial exchange on Robinhood Chain with two products. Stock Tokens are tokenized US stocks and ETFs that trade spot with no Arcus fee, many of them around the clock. Perpetual futures cover crypto, single stocks, index ETFs and commodity ETFs, settled in USDG. It is built by dYdX Labs with Robinhood Crypto as a strategic investor, and it runs separately from dYdX Chain. The What Is Arcus? explainer covers how it works and where the trust sits.

Two things trip up most new users. First, spot and perps have different doors: Stock Tokens are open to anyone in an eligible region, while perpetuals are in beta and need an invite code or a waitlist slot. Second, a referral code is a separate thing again. It attaches a referrer and, per Arcus, takes 5% off your trading fees, but it does not unlock perps. The referral code guide sets out all three.

How these guides are organized

Getting Started walks through signing in, funding with USDG and a first trade. Trading Features covers Stock Tokens and equity perps outside market hours, order types and margin. Fees & Savings lays out the beta and standard fee tiers. Comparisons measure Arcus against Hyperliquid, Lighter and dYdX Chain. Ecosystem explains Robinhood Chain, pTokens, points and the dYdX connection. Security & Safety covers wallets and the fake sites and tokens already circulating, and Troubleshooting handles region blocks, deposits and access errors.

Before you start

Arcus restricts the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and sanctioned regions, and blocks spot as well as perps there. Its terms prohibit using a VPN to get around that, and this site will not explain how. If you are outside those regions, the beginner's guide is the place to begin. If you are not sure the site you are on is the real Arcus, read the scams and fake sites guide first.