> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.useicaria.xyz/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.useicaria.xyz/resources/faq.md).

# FAQ

Direct answers to what traders, LPs and integrators actually ask.

## Trading

**Would you call Icaria an exchange?** It is a swap venue that takes no custody: quotes come from oracle-anchored vaults and from makers competing with them, settlement happens atomically on Robinhood Chain, and your assets are never held by the venue. There is no book to rest on and no account to fund.

**Why does tonight's spread look wider than this afternoon's?** Because the underlying market has shut. Closed-regime quotes carry a ×3 multiplier on the spread and smaller clips, since LPs are wearing the gap through to the next open. Which multiplier applies is stated on the regime badge. See [Trading regimes](/protocol/trading-regimes.md).

**Is trading possible while a market sits halted?** No, and neither can anyone else, which is the entire purpose. Halts follow the oracle (staleness, corporate actions, implausible jumps) and clear as it does. Your assets sit in your wallet throughout.

**Does buying tokenized AAPL make me an Apple shareholder?** You do not. What you own is a Stock Token: an ERC-20 debt security from Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Ltd that follows the share, with dividends gathering inside the token through its multiplier. Read [Stock Tokens](/assets/stock-tokens.md) before trading size.

**Why did my swap get turned away before I signed anything?** Either no live `TRADER` attestation exists on your wallet, or your jurisdiction is restricted for that particular asset. Which rule failed is something the platform tells you. See [Eligibility registry](/architecture/eligibility.md).

**So where do the dividends go?** In the token. Stock Tokens reinvest dividends by lifting `uiMultiplier()`, and the price follows. Nothing is left for you to claim. See [Corporate actions and dividends](/protocol/corporate-actions.md).

## Liquidity

**What is an LP's actual return?** Realised spread on the fills their vault makes, minus the protocol's 10% share, accruing into value per share. Emissions do not exist here; the yield is whatever the market pays for immediacy. What each market has actually realised is public in the [trade explorer](/using-icaria/trade-explorer.md).

**Could a halt or a pause trap my capital?** It cannot. Withdrawal works in every vault state, halts and the guardian pause included, and an invariant protects that property. Out comes a proportional, in-kind mix of the vault's assets. See [Liquidity provision](/protocol/liquidity-provision.md).

**Is what I am carrying impermanent loss?** Not in the sense an AMM means it. Anchored vaults do not bleed value to reference-price arbitrage, which is where curve LPs lose. Real inventory exposure remains, since the token can fall, as does gap risk on closed-regime fills, and both are stated plainly and both are compensated through the spread.

## The venue

**Where do the prices come from?** A formula over public state: Chainlink mid, tier spread, regime multiplier, inventory skew and an itemised fee. Altering an individual quote or fill is beyond anyone at Icaria. See [Pricing and spreads](/protocol/pricing-and-spreads.md).

**What becomes of this if the company behind Icaria disappears?** Contracts keep quoting from on-chain state, withdrawals stay unconditional, and since the services are open source, anybody can run them. See [Corporate structure](/compliance/corporate-structure.md).

**On what basis should I believe the execution is fair?** Ideally you should not have to. Each fill's itemised breakdown is on-chain, and the venue publishes how far every fill landed from the reference price with nothing filtered, at [Execution quality](/transparency/execution-quality.md).

**Is building Icaria into my own application possible?** You can. There is a public [API and SDK](/architecture/api.md), a permissionless router and no partner tier. Eligibility attaches to your users' wallets rather than to your application.


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