Lighter overview
Lighter on Supanode — WebSocket streaming off the zk order book, a SQL indexer over its trading history, and single-tenant hardware. All three are in build.
// updated 2026-09-09
Lighter is an application-specific zk rollup for perpetual trading, built on Ethereum. It runs one application rather than a general smart-contract platform, so there is no EVM here and no contracts to call - the venue itself is the chain.
Everything on this page is in build. Nothing on Lighter is on sale yet. Tell us on Telegram which streams or tables you need and you go to the front of the queue when it opens.
What is being built
- WebSocket streaming - order-book snapshots and deltas per market, trade prints as they are matched, and account, position and liquidation updates over one connection.
- Historical data indexer - the same trading history as typed ClickHouse tables, queried in plain SQL like every other Supanode indexer.
- Dedicated hardware - single-tenant capacity for teams that need the feed to themselves.
The chain itself
| Type | Application-specific zk rollup on Ethereum |
| Proof system | Plonky2 circuits covering order matching and liquidations |
| Data availability | Ethereum blobs |
| Execution | No EVM and no smart contracts - the rollup runs one application |
| Mainnet genesis | 17 January 2025 |
Sources: L2BEAT, Lighter API docs.
Why there is no RPC product here. There is no EVM to call. Everything a trading system needs on Lighter arrives over the order-book stream or comes out of history, which is exactly what the two products above are.
Where to next
What will be billed, and why there are no numbers yet.
Tell us what you need and we come back to you first when it opens.