Today marks one year since 10/10, the largest recorded liquidation event in crypto history.

More than $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated within 24 hours. Accounts wiped. Even traders who got the direction right saw their profitable positions forcibly closed.

A year later, we should still be asking how well we’re protected against another event like it.

One of the biggest lessons for me was ADL, or auto deleveraging. When liquidations leave a deficit that the usual backstops cannot absorb, an exchange can forcibly reduce or close a winning position on the opposite side to protect its solvency.

Imagine holding spot and opening a short to protect yourself against a crash. The crash comes, your short does its job… then ADL closes it. You’re left holding the asset while the protection you planned around disappears.

That’s why Flying Tulip Total Return Swaps deserve attention.

TRS provides leverage long or short exposure through its connected lending and spot trading infrastructure, with settlement in ftUSD. Its design does not use ADL.

Your position can remain open while your account meets its margin requirements, without being closed through ADL because other traders positions have gone underwater.

You can still be liquidated if your own account falls below maintenance requirements yes but when that happens @flyingtulip_ uses RFQ (Request for Quote) to seek competing execution quotes and aims to sell only what’s needed to repay debt and restore account health. This allows partial liquidation where possible.

For crypto, the significance goes beyond another way to trade with leverage. Removing ADL removes one reason a hedge can disappear precisely when you need most.

This addresses a very real weakness exposed by 10/10.

After a day like that its important to see more attention paid to how these systems protect a functioning trade when everything around it is under pressure.

That’s the kind of progress worth talking about.