# Curators
Source: https://docs.noise.xyz/curators
Why curation exists, how to participate, and how curators earn.
Curators are the supply side of Noise. They recognize subjects early, create the pages where communities gather, and earn from the engagement those pages attract.
## Why curation exists
Culture moves before it becomes easy to categorize. A new product, scene, phrase, or brand can matter to a community long before it appears on a conventional market or media index.
Noise relies on people to find those subjects. A curator turns an early observation into a specific page that others can discover, discuss, and eventually trade around. This gives the marketplace a growing supply of subjects without asking one central editorial team to decide what culture is worth following.
Curation and trading have separate roles. Curators propose and shape pages. Communities decide where to spend their attention. Noise decides whether a page can become a tradeable market through policy and listing review. Traders then decide what those markets are worth.
## What curators do
A curator's work has three parts:
1. **Find a subject early.** Look for something specific that people are beginning to follow, discuss, or organize around.
2. **Create a durable page.** Give the subject a clear name and reference image so the same page can carry its identity from discovery through listing.
3. **Bring the page into the marketplace.** Share it with the communities that already care about the subject and give genuine engagement time to develop.
Strong curation is early, specific, and durable. A broad category is hard to follow. A one-day event disappears too quickly. A well-defined subject gives people a place to return to.
## Curation access
Curation access grows through curators inviting curators. An existing curator can extend a limited-use invitation to someone whose judgment and participation they trust.
This makes access a network of responsibility rather than an open signup. A curator's ability to bring in other people depends on the trust they build through thoughtful proposals, durable pages, and responsible invitations.
## Proposing a trend
Noise verifies every proposal before a page can exist. This process uses live web research to check whether the proposed subject is identifiable and suitable for a persistent page.
| Test | What it asks |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Named | Do independent sources use a clear, specific name for it? |
| Recognized | Do multiple sources recognize the same subject? |
| Followable | Does the name lead to one coherent subject? |
| Durable | Is there something to follow beyond one short news event? |
| Organized | Is there an ongoing surface of coverage, community, or activity? |
The gate can accept a proposal, ask the curator to clarify which subject they mean, route a duplicate to an existing page, send an uncertain case for human review, or reject a subject that Noise does not list.
Trend verification determines whether a page can exist. It does not predict whether the subject
will become popular. Finding that potential is the curator's role.
## Listing policy
Noise rejects subjects whose primary purpose falls outside its listing policy. Current hard exclusions include scams and memecoins; bare public figures; political subjects; and content centered on sexual material, illegal activity, weapons, extremism, or divisive religion.
Duplicate, ambiguous, low-signal, or niche proposals follow their own review paths. A subject is not rejected only because it is small. Noise can remove a page later if new information shows that it violates policy.
Creating a page does not give its curator listing authority. Every potential market remains subject to Noise policy review and listing review. The curator cannot decide whether or when the page becomes tradeable.
## From page to market
Every admitted trend keeps one identity as it moves through the marketplace:
| Stage | What people can do |
| -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Pending | Discover the page and engage with its community while listing is reviewed. There is no tradeable market yet. |
| Listed | Trade the market and see market price and relevance alongside the page's community activity. |
| Unlisted | View retained history after trading has been removed. |
An admitted page does not automatically become a market. Listing upgrades the same page in place, preserving its identity, curator attribution, posts, and engagement.
## How curators earn
Noise funds a **monthly curation reward pool**. Eligible curators earn a share of that pool according to the **Quality Score** generated by their enrolled pages. All curator rewards come from this pool and vary with Quality Score. They are not tied to market revenue.
Quality Score measures the engagement a page creates. It currently uses five server-observed signals:
* Page views
* Votes
* Posts
* Replies
* Participating authors
Each signal is smoothed with a seven-day half-life. Noise then compares each page with the rest of the active curator pool. A curator's monthly pool share is the average share earned by their pages across active scoring runs during the month.
Market price, trading volume, position size, open interest, fees, and other financial market metrics are not Quality Score signals. Posts and replies count as community engagement without receiving extra financial weight from the author's position or trading activity.
Pending pages can contribute once they are enrolled in scoring. This lets a curator earn from attention that develops before the page becomes a tradeable market.
## Monthly payout process
1. Noise measures eligible engagement and updates Quality Scores throughout the month.
2. At the end of the month, each curator's eligible page scores determine their share of the curation reward pool.
3. Noise reviews the final allocation and settles curator rewards in USDC.
**Curator Studio** is being designed as the future home for reward visibility and curation tools. It is not yet part of the live product experience.
The signal set, signal weights, and anti-manipulation controls can evolve as curation grows. Noise
will keep the earning mechanism legible and update these docs before a material scoring change
affects a payout period.
## Building a valuable page
Curators earn by creating pages that people choose to return to. A page has more time to build engagement when it is created early. It is easier to discover when its subject is specific. It remains useful when the subject has an identity that can survive beyond one news cycle.
The practical goal is simple: find something worth following, name it clearly, and give its community a durable place to gather.
# FAQ
Source: https://docs.noise.xyz/faq
Common questions about Noise.
Noise is a platform to discover and curate culture. Curators create pages for trends and brands.
Communities discover them, trade listed markets, and reward the people who found them first.
You can trade continuous long and short markets on listed trends. Curators propose pages, but an
admitted page must complete the listing process before it becomes tradeable. See
[Curators](/curators#from-page-to-market).
Relevance is the central evaluation number on Noise, shown with the ° mark. It is a five-minute
exponential moving average of the order-book-derived market price. See [Relevance](/relevance).
Market price is a quantity-weighted top-of-book price that responds immediately to the best bid,
best ask, and their available quantities. Relevance is a five-minute moving average of that market
price. See [How It Works](/how-it-works#the-two-prices).
No. The pricing path does not use an attention score, a social-media signal, or an external oracle.
Market price and relevance are derived from the Noise order book.
Funding periodically transfers value between long and short positions in response to market
conditions around relevance. Positive funding means longs pay shorts; negative funding means
shorts pay longs. Noise is moving the calculation toward an impact-price input, so its exact inputs
and weights remain market-structure parameters. The trading interface shows the current rate and
next settlement time. See [How It Works](/how-it-works#funding).
Below an 80% margin ratio, no risk action is taken. At 80%, Noise sends an add-margin warning. At
90%, the matching engine can begin forced preventative reductions. At 100%, it performs regular
liquidation at available order-book prices and can use auto-deleveraging if liquidity is
insufficient. See [How It Works](/how-it-works#liquidation-and-position-risk).
Curation access grows through existing curators inviting people whose judgment they trust. This
invitation network makes access accountable to the people already participating. Curators can earn
monthly USDC rewards from the curation reward pool. See [Curators](/curators).
Quality Score currently considers page views, votes, posts, replies, and participating authors.
Signals are smoothed over time and compared with the active curator pool. The resulting score
determines each eligible curator's share of the monthly curation reward pool. Market price,
trading volume, positions, open interest, fees, and other financial metrics do not increase a
page's score. Signal weights can evolve, and Noise will document material changes before they
affect a payout period.
Your available balance is used as collateral. Depending on the account experience, the product may
show **Buy Credits** or **Add Funds**. Where USDC deposits and withdrawals are enabled, transfers use
the user's wallet on Base.
# How It Works
Source: https://docs.noise.xyz/how-it-works
How market price, relevance, funding, and liquidation work.
Noise markets trade continuously. Their prices come from the order book. Funding creates incentives around that market price, while isolated margin keeps risk contained to each market position.
## The two prices
* **Market price** is a quantity-weighted price calculated from the best bid and best ask. It appears
on market charts and in live trading references.
* **Relevance** is a five-minute exponential moving average of market price, shown with the ° mark.
It appears across trend, discovery, position, funding, and risk surfaces.
Inside the system, market price is the **mid-price** and relevance is the **mark price**. These docs use only the product terms from here on.
There is no oracle in the pricing path. Market price and relevance do not use an attention score,
a social-signal score, or an external index.
## Market price
Market price uses the best bid, best ask, and the quantity available at each price. Each price is weighted by the quantity resting on the opposite side of the book.
Let `B` be the best bid, `A` the best ask, `Q_B` the quantity at the best bid, and `Q_A` the quantity at the best ask:
$$
P_{\text{market}} = \frac{Q_A B + Q_B A}{Q_B + Q_A}
$$
This is commonly called a microprice. A larger bid quantity moves market price toward the ask, reflecting stronger buying pressure. A larger ask quantity moves it toward the bid. When both quantities are equal, market price is the plain midpoint.
Because the calculation needs both sides, Noise cannot produce a current market price when either the best bid or best ask is unavailable.
## Relevance
Relevance smooths market price with a 300-second exponential moving average:
$$
R_t = \operatorname{EMA}_{300\text{s}}\!\left(P_{\text{market},t}\right)
$$
The five-minute window reduces the effect of brief order-book changes while preserving sustained moves. Relevance remains entirely order-book-derived. A value of `581.50` is displayed as **581.50°**.
The EMA form and window are market-structure parameters. Noise can tune them as liquidity and risk requirements evolve.
## Funding
Funding periodically transfers value between long and short positions. It responds to market
conditions around relevance and helps limit persistent imbalances between the two sides of a market.
A positive funding rate means longs pay shorts. A negative rate means shorts pay longs.
Noise is moving the funding calculation from a top-of-book microprice input toward an impact price.
Impact price reflects the order-book depth needed to execute a representative trade, making the
funding signal less dependent on a single best bid or ask.
The exact price input, component weights, caps, and settlement interval are market-structure
parameters. They can change as liquidity develops. The rate and next settlement time shown in the
trading interface are the current values for that market.
## Liquidation and position risk
Liquidation is a forced risk action taken by the matching engine when a position no longer has enough equity for its margin requirements. Noise uses isolated margin, so the action applies to that market position without drawing margin from another position.
The matching engine tracks this risk through the margin ratio. It compares margin already in use, plus margin reserved for resting orders, with the position's total equity. Let `M_used` be used margin, `M_orders` be open-order margin, and `E_total` be total equity:
$$
\rho = \frac{M_{\text{used}} + M_{\text{orders}}}{E_{\text{total}}}
$$
Total equity accounts for deposited collateral, realized and unrealized profit or loss, trading costs, funding, and withdrawals. A rising margin ratio means the position has less equity available to absorb further losses.
* **Below 80%: safe.** No risk action.
* **80% to below 90%: margin call.** Noise warns the trader to add margin or reduce exposure. The
position has not entered forced liquidation.
* **90% to below 100%: preventative liquidation.** The matching engine places a small forced order
to reduce the position and its risk.
* **100% or higher: regular liquidation.** The matching engine forcibly reduces the position at
available order-book prices. If the book cannot absorb the liquidation order, Noise can use
auto-deleveraging to complete the risk reduction.
Liquidation can realize losses, and its execution price can differ from relevance because the order executes against available liquidity. Traders can lower their margin ratio before forced action by adding collateral where supported, reducing or closing the position, or cancelling resting orders that reserve margin.
Monitor the position's margin ratio rather than market price alone. At 90%, Noise can begin
reducing the position without a separate confirmation from the trader.
The relevance window and funding configuration are market-structure parameters. Noise may tune
them as market conditions change and will update these docs when a material behavior changes.
# How We Verify Trends
Source: https://docs.noise.xyz/how-we-verify-trends
How Noise verifies proposed trends
## How trend verification works
Every proposed trend is verified before a page can exist. Noise uses live web research to check whether the subject is identifiable and suitable for a persistent page, usually within a minute. Every decision comes with a reason, and many come with suggestions for what to propose instead.
## What happens when you submit
1. **Safety check.** Your submission is screened for policy violations first. Clear violations are rejected immediately.
2. **Duplicate check.** If the subject already exists on Noise (even under a slightly different name), you are routed to the existing page instead of creating a copy.
3. **Research.** Noise searches the web for evidence that your subject is a real, followable cultural topic: who covers it, who follows it, and whether it will still matter next month.
4. **Decision.** Noise can accept the proposal, ask you to clarify which subject you mean, route a duplicate to its existing page, send an uncertain case for human review, or reject a subject that Noise does not list.
You do not need a perfectly formatted name. Natural language works: "i'm seeing more and more people wearing Stussy" is understood as a submission about Stussy.
## What we check
| Test | What it asks |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Named | Do independent sources use a clear, specific name for it? |
| Recognized | Do multiple sources recognize the same subject? |
| Followable | Does the name lead to one coherent subject? |
| Durable | Is there something to follow beyond one short news event? |
| Organized | Is there an ongoing surface of coverage, community, or activity? |
Trend verification determines whether a page can exist. It does not predict whether the subject will become popular. Finding that potential is the curator's role.
## What makes a good proposal
* **A named, real subject** people actually follow: a brand, show, game, artist project, aesthetic, practice, scene, or movement
* **Something with staying power.** Ask: will there be something to follow next month? A named thing (a fashion, music, or social trend) usually qualifies. A one-off news moment usually does not
* **One subject per submission.** If your text mixes several ideas, you will likely be asked to clarify
* **Context helps.** A link or a sentence of context makes ambiguous names much easier to resolve
## What you can curate
* Brands and companies as cultural subjects (Stussy, ChatGPT, FP Journe)
* Named works: albums, films, tours, games, shows ("Drake Iceman", "Taylor Swift Eras Tour")
* Creators' channels, podcasts, shows, and ventures ("Emma Chamberlain podcast", "Chamberlain Coffee", "MrBeast" as the brand)
* Aesthetics, practices, and scenes ("vibe coding", "mob wife aesthetic", "run clubs")
* Sports teams, competitions, and events ("Ferrari F1", "Champions League")
* Named memes and internet phenomena with an established identity
## What you cannot curate
* **Bare public figures.** Individuals (musicians, athletes, actors, influencers, executives) are not listable as themselves. Curate their work instead: their album, tour, channel, company, or brand. Noise will usually suggest these alternatives for you
* **Political subjects.** Politicians, parties, movements, elections, conflicts, and policy debates are not listable
* **Scams and memecoins.** Tokens where the meme is the whole product track speculation, not cultural attention. Established networks with real technology are treated differently
* **Public companies or any proxied financial metrics.** Markets that resolve on a stock price, earnings, sales numbers, or launch performance are not listable. The brand itself as a cultural subject is fine
* **Content centered on sexual material, weapons, extremism, or divisive religion**
* **Anything illegal or exploitative**
* **One-off news events.** An announcement, ruling, or single incident has nothing left to follow once the news cycle passes
* **Generic phrases.** "Luxury fashion trends" or a random word mashup is not a specific, trackable thing
* **Duplicates.** If it already exists on Noise you will be routed to the existing page
Subjects rejected for policy reasons stay rejected: resubmitting the same thing with different wording produces the same result.
## After verification
An admitted trend appears as a pending page that anyone can discover and follow. Listing is a separate review: an admitted page does not automatically become a market, and Noise decides whether and when it becomes tradeable. Noise can also remove a page later if new information shows that it violates policy.
## Questions or wrong decisions?
Trend verification is automated and improves constantly, and it can occasionally get something wrong in either direction. If your proposal was rejected and you believe it qualifies, or you see a page that should not be on Noise, flag it to the team.
# Introduction
Source: https://docs.noise.xyz/introduction
The essentials of how Noise works.
## What is Noise?
Noise is a platform to discover and curate culture. Curators create pages for trends and brands. Communities discover them, trade markets around them, and reward the people who found them first.
Every listed trend has a central evaluation number: **relevance**, shown in degrees. Relevance is a five-minute moving average of the market's order-book price. It is not a social-media score, an oracle reading, or a dollar value.
Relevance is written with the Noise degree mark, for example **581.50°**.
## How it works
Curators propose trend pages. A proposal must pass Noise's admission process before it can move toward a tradeable market. Once listed, the market stays open continuously instead of resolving on a fixed date.
Traders can go **long** when they expect relevance to rise or **short** when they expect it to fall. Orders meet on an order book, and open positions gain or lose value as the market changes.
The main parts of the system are:
* **Curation:** Curators identify subjects and create their pages. See [Curators](/curators).
* **Discovery:** Communities find pages, post, reply, vote, and follow their activity.
* **Trading:** Buyers and sellers place orders in continuous markets. See [Trading](/trading).
* **Pricing:** The top of the order book produces market price, and Noise smooths it into relevance. See [How It Works](/how-it-works).
# Relevance
Source: https://docs.noise.xyz/relevance
The central evaluation number on Noise.
Every listed trend has **relevance**, the central evaluation number shown across Noise.
Relevance is written with the Noise degree mark, for example **581.50°**. The ° mark is Noise's
signature for relevance.
## What relevance represents
Relevance gives each market a stable reference that still follows trading. Noise uses it across trend, discovery, position, funding, and risk surfaces so people can compare the current level with past levels and their own entry price.
Relevance comes entirely from the Noise order book. No attention score, social-media signal, or external oracle enters the calculation.
## How relevance is calculated
Noise first calculates market price from the best bid, best ask, and the quantities resting at those prices. Relevance is a 300-second exponential moving average of that market price:
$$
R_t = \operatorname{EMA}_{300\text{s}}\!\left(P_{\text{market},t}\right)
$$
A brief change in the book affects market price immediately. Relevance follows sustained movement while reducing the influence of a short-lived imbalance.
The five-minute window is a current design parameter. Noise can tune it as liquidity and risk requirements evolve. See [How It Works](/how-it-works#market-price) for the complete market-price calculation.
## Which trends have relevance
Curators can create pages before a market exists. A pending page can collect community activity, but relevance appears only after the page becomes a listed market. See [Curators](/curators#from-page-to-market).
# Trading
Source: https://docs.noise.xyz/trading
How to open, manage, and close a position.
## Balance and collateral
Your available balance is the collateral you can commit to positions. Noise's current product can present funding as **Buy Credits** or **Add Funds**, depending on the account experience that is enabled.
Where USDC deposits and withdrawals are enabled, transfers use the user's wallet on Base and appear in account activity after they are recorded by Noise.
## Positions
You take a directional position on a trend:
| Position | Your view |
| -------- | ----------------------------- |
| Long | You expect relevance to rise. |
| Short | You expect relevance to fall. |
An open position shows its entry, size, margin, relevance, and profit or loss. Closing all or part of a position sends an opposing reduce-only order so the close cannot create a new position in the other direction.
## Order types
### Market orders
A market order is submitted as an aggressive limit order so it can execute immediately without accepting an unlimited price. Noise applies a default **1.5%** price boundary when no other slippage setting is supplied.
The order can fill at one or more available prices up to that boundary. Any behavior for an unfilled remainder is determined by the order instructions shown in the trading interface.
### Limit orders
A limit order executes only at its selected price or better. A limit buy can fill at or below its limit; a limit sell can fill at or above its limit. Until then, the order can remain open on the book or be cancelled.
### Reduce-only orders
A reduce-only order can close or shrink an existing position without opening a position in the opposite direction.
## Leverage and margin
The current trading interface submits new positions at **1x leverage**. Noise uses isolated position margin, so risk and collateral are tracked per position by the matching engine.
Funding and forced risk actions can affect a position while it remains open. See [How It Works](/how-it-works#funding).