Castle Labs Says Variational Swaps Have Lowest Execution Costs Among Listed Assets

Castle Labs released a research report on September 10 comparing the execution costs of Variational’s swaps product with traditional perpetual contracts. According to ChainCatcher, the report said Variational is currently the lowest-cost venue among listed assets for most trade sizes, with a $1 million trade in the US100 market costing $47. The report said RWA perpetual trading volume rose from less than $100 million in October 2025 to more than $12 billion in August 2026. It now accounts for about 12% to 13% of on-chain perpetual trading volume, after briefly reaching 20% in July. As of the report’s release, total open interest in RWA perpetuals stood at $490 million, with TradeXYZ and Variational together accounting for nearly 90%. Variational’s swaps use RFQ execution and its proprietary liquidity provider Omni, with liquidity sourced directly from traditional finance partners. Instead of funding rates tied to market supply and demand, the product charges a holding cost once at daily close. The first markets launched, including US100, US500, XAU, XAG, and USOIL, have generated $380 million in trading volume since the start of the month, with open interest peaking at $245 million. Swaps now account for more than 50% of Variational’s daily trading volume and over $220 million in open interest.