Earn by backing trades
Every Isometric position is written against a pool rather than another trader. Depositors fund the pool, the pool collects what traders pay, and the pool pays the winners. What is left is the depositors' return.
Two pools per market
Each market has two pools, one for each direction:
| Pool | What you deposit | Which trades it backs | What it pays winners in |
| Long pool | The market's asset. cbBTC for Bitcoin | Every long | The market's asset, converted to USDC at settlement |
| Short pool | USDC | Every short | USDC |
The two pools are separate. The long pool never pays a short, the short pool never pays a long, and a shortfall in one cannot reach the other. Each pool is its own book with its own depositors, its own utilisation, and its own return.
What you receive
A deposit gives you shares in the pool, in proportion to the pool's value at the moment you deposit. Shares are standard ERC-4626 vault tokens, named iso-cbBTC and iso-USDC for the Bitcoin pools. Your balance is your shares times the current share value.
Share value rises as the pool earns premium and falls when the pool pays winners. It does not depend on which trades you personally backed, because you do not back individual trades. You own a slice of everything.
The three numbers on your ticket
| Figure | Meaning |
| Your balance | What your shares are worth right now |
| Available now | The most you can withdraw right now |
| Backing trades | The rest of your balance, currently locked against live positions. It frees as they settle |
Your balance and your available amount are different numbers because the pool locks money against every open position. Deposits and withdrawals explains when it frees.
What the pool page shows
| Figure | Meaning |
| Total deposits | Everything the pool holds for depositors, including what is backing open positions |
| Available now | The part that could be withdrawn right now |
| Utilisation | The share of the pool locked against open positions, and the cap it cannot go past |
| 30d APY | What the share value did over the last 30 days, annualised. A record, not a forecast |
Below the headline figures the page lists the pool's capital breakdown, its recent trades, and the earliest open position waiting to settle.
Is this for you
A pool is the right place for money you can leave alone for a while and are comfortable putting at risk. It is not a savings account. Winning traders are paid from it, and a run of them lowers your share value. Pool risks says what can go wrong. How the yield works says where the return comes from.