Vault Managers
Vaults are delegated trading pools where depositors provide capital and a manager (delegate) trades with it under strict withdrawal rules. Unlike Drift, where drift-vaults is a separate repo/program, Velocity Vaults are first-party: the vaults program (programs/vaults/, program ID vAuLTsyrvSfZRuRB3XgvkPwNGgYSs9YRYymVebLKoxR — unchanged from Drift) and its TypeScript client, @velocity-exchange/vaults-sdk, live directly in the velocity-v1 monorepo. This section covers the lifecycle and operations you need as a vault manager. You can manage vaults via the CLI (recommended, packages/vaults-sdk/cli) or programmatically with the SDK’s VaultClient.
How it works
Each vault has its own Velocity user account that the manager trades with. The manager has delegate authority over this account: they can place and cancel orders and manage positions. Depositors’ funds are pooled in this single account; PnL affects all share holders proportionally. Vaults use share-based accounting: depositors receive shares when they deposit and redeem them after a cooldown (redeem period).
Roles and lifecycle
- Manager/delegate: trades for the vault, updates allowed parameters, collects fees.
- Depositor: deposits, requests withdrawals, and completes withdrawals after the redeem period.
Lifecycle: create → deposit → trade → request withdraw → wait (redeem period) → withdraw.
Velocity’s UI/listing process is not yet finalized as public documentation — check the velocity-v1 repo or ask in the community Discord for the current process.
Parameters and fee constraints
Parameters you set at initialization (and how they can change later):
| Parameter | Notes |
|---|---|
name | Unique identity for the vault. |
management fee | Annualized; after initialization can only be lowered. |
performance fee (profit share) | On realized gains; after initialization can only be lowered. |
redemption period | Withdrawal cooldown in seconds; after initialization can only be shortened. |
permissioned | If set, only the manager can initialize new vault depositor accounts. |
max_deposits / max-tokens | Capacity limit; can be raised or lowered after init (applies to new deposits only). |
min_lp_deposit / min-deposit-amount | Minimum deposit size; can be changed after init (applies to new deposits only). |
Fees: Fee parameters use percentage precision (e.g. 1e6 scale) and are annualized. Management fees apply only when there are non-manager deposits and are charged across the vault; they compound on actions, so more frequent depositor activity slightly reduces the effective annualized fee. Performance fees are calculated per depositor with watermarks so drawdowns don’t cause double-charging; once charged, this fee is not reclaimed.
Security and guardrails:
- Managers cannot withdraw user funds directly; withdrawals are governed by redeem period and share accounting.
- Managers can decrease (but not increase) the redeem period and can only lower fees after initialization.
Accounting
Share price is implied as vault_equity / total_shares in the vault’s deposit asset. Vault equity is the value of vault assets (and for Trusted vaults includes the manager’s borrowed value). Depositor and manager shares are tracked on the vault and depositor accounts.
What to monitor and risks
Liquidations: If a depositor has waited the redeem period and their withdrawal would breach the vault’s initial margin requirement (e.g. the delegate is over-leveraged), a permissioned liquidator can temporarily assume delegate control and close positions in reduce-only mode (until withdrawal is processed or for up to 1 hour), then restore the original delegate. Monitor total outstanding withdrawal requests (stored on the vault account) and keep margin usage in check so depositor withdrawals don’t trigger takeovers; the redeem period gives you time to unwind positions.
Trust and incentives: The design is not trustless between depositors and managers. Without reputation or stake, incentives can be misaligned (e.g. moving value via losing trades). Depositors have no on-chain recourse, so they must trust the manager. Operate with clear terms and consider reputation or skin-in-the-game where appropriate.
In this section
Related Resources
@velocity-exchange/vaults-sdk, CLI and TypeScript SDK for vault operations- Protocol Concepts, accounts and onchain data model
- Velocity SDK, core trading and positions SDK