Clearing V1
Keepers
Keepers are the permissionless upkeep of the protocol. They open resolutions on force-closed positions, settle expired ones, and help fill and fund, and they are paid to do the one job that is time-sensitive: catching a force-close. There is no trusted keeper role, anyone can do the work, and the finder fee is what makes sure someone does.
What keepers do
Every keeper action is open to anyone; a keeper is just whoever calls first.
- Open a resolution. When a cover is force-closed, someone has to open the auction on the naked position. This is the time-sensitive job, and it carries the reward.
- Settle expired positions. An expired position needs its short retired and its bond returned to the writer; anyone can crank it, so covers are freed promptly.
- Fill and fund. Filling a resolution (buy-to-close) and topping up an exercise claim are both open, so keepers and arbers clear them alongside everyone else.
- Auto-exercise. On tickers where admin turns it on, exercise a trader's in-the-money options a set window before expiry and take a cut of the intrinsic (below).
The finder fee
Opening a resolution pays the finder fee: an amount reserved on top of the bond at mint (a per-ticker fraction, frozen for the life of the option) and paid to whoever opens the resolution when it fills. It is set aside on top of the floor so the auction still has the full recollateralization budget to work with, and it is what turns catching a force-close quickly into a paid job rather than a chore. Whoever opens the resolution is recorded as the finder and collects the fee at fill.
Auto-exercise
Decentralized options have a sharp edge that tradfi does not: an in-the-money option a holder forgets to exercise before expiry is forfeited (see Exercise & Settlement). Auto-exercise closes that gap. A keeper exercises a trader's in-the-money options a set window before expiry, a per-ticker parameter, and takes a cut of the intrinsic for the service, the on-chain version of a broker exercising for you at the close. Admin decides per ticker whether a keeper network is required, and a frontend that runs one gives its traders broker-grade UX and earns the fee for it.
Keeper networks and the auction
Because filling is permissionless and the buy-to-close is a single transaction, the auction is open to competition rather than a single trusted operator. A keeper network can post the live auction offers as signed orders on a CLOB, so ordinary exchange liquidity clears resolutions, and arbers can buy a long on a venue and tender it to the auction in one transaction whenever the offer beats the cost. The protocol does not depend on any one keeper; it depends on the reward being worth competing for.