An exchange that fills
by price, not by speed
Superluminal is an on-chain perps exchange that batches orders every 40ms and fills everyone in an auction at a single clearing price.
Batches orders in a 40ms window
and clears each auction at one price
Superluminal isn't its own chain — it's an app on Fogo, a high-performance L1 with 40ms blocks. What matters is how it processes orders: DFBA (Dual Flow Batch Auction) collects orders in a 40ms window and matches them at an auction clearing price (everyone in the same auction gets the same price).
collecting
Processed by a window, not by order
Instead of arrival order, DFBA collects orders in a 40ms window and settles two auctions (buy / sell) — each at one clearing price.
Collect — sealed for 40ms
Orders are gathered into a sealed box for 40ms. No one sees who came first, no one can react. Line-cutting becomes impossible.
Dual flow — buy & sell auctions
Orders split into a buy auction and a sell auction, run independently. Makers don't fight each other; they match real demand.
One clearing price per auction
Each auction settles at its own single price. 0.001s early or late, same price. Speed drops out of the equation.
On a normal exchange (CLOB),
the faster side takes the good price first
A CLOB (continuous limit order book) fills orders the instant they arrive, in arrival order. Play it below and watch how a fast order ⚡ grabs the best quote first.
Incoming orders · arrival order
ORDER BOOK
Compare it yourself
Send the same order into CLOB and DFBA. Notice the books differ — that's the point: CLOB widens its quotes to defend against fast pick-off; DFBA can't be picked off by speed, so makers quote tighter (docs: narrower spreads). Result: DFBA fills at one better price, no front-run.
The whole thing in one slide
CLOB processes by order; DFBA processes by window. That one difference sums up to the four numbers below.