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Paradex rolled back its blockchain on January 19 after a maintenance error reset funding indices to zero and triggered erroneous liquidations across multiple markets, forcing the derivatives platform to refund $650,000 to approximately 200 affected traders in what executives described as the first chain rollback in company history.
As maintenance bug liquidations spread across several markets, Paradex determined that a full chain rollback was the only viable option.
The platform said targeted fixes were impractical due to the scope of the disruption and the number of affected users.
To stabilize the network, Paradex temporarily blocked access and restored the chain to a snapshot taken before the upgrade began. All open orders were canceled—except for take-profit and stop-loss orders—to ensure a controlled recovery.
However, the turbulence did not end there. Paradex revealed that during a short post-only trading period, aggressive trades distorted prices, particularly in PAXG, leading to additional liquidations.
These secondary maintenance bug liquidations compounded trader frustration and highlighted how thin liquidity can amplify system errors.
In response, Paradex conducted a full audit of accounts affected by maintenance bug liquidations, reimbursing $650,000 from its Liquidator Vault.
Approximately 200 users received refunds for improper liquidations and related inconsistencies.
“Every impacted account was reviewed individually,” Paradex stated, adding that lingering portfolio and vault data inconsistencies were expected to be fully resolved by January 26.
The exchange emphasized that compensating users quickly was critical to maintaining trust. Industry observers note that such responsiveness contrasts sharply with other platforms that have historically resisted covering losses tied to operational failures.
Following the incident, Paradex implemented several system upgrades aimed at preventing future maintenance bug liquidations. These include enhanced service restart procedures, additional data validation safeguards, and a revised scale-up process for full-downtime maintenance events.
The platform also introduced post-only price band protection, designed to limit price manipulation during low-liquidity windows. Paradex said the changes “strengthen the system’s ability to operate safely as usage scales.”
Still, the company acknowledged the severity of the event. Paradex described the rollback as “an undesired but necessary action to protect users and restore network integrity,” marking the first chain rollback in its history.
The Paradex incident adds to a growing list of market disruptions caused by infrastructure issues rather than security breaches.
In October, decentralized exchange dYdX halted trading for nearly eight hours after a code-ordering error caused mispriced trades and liquidations. The protocol later proposed compensating traders up to $462,000 from its insurance fund.
Centralized exchanges have faced similar scrutiny. Binance recently came under fire after technical issues coincided with sharp market volatility, including the depeg of Ethena’s USDe.
While Binance denied responsibility for trader losses, it later launched a $400 million assistance program.
Traditional markets are not immune either. In November 2025, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) suspended trading for almost ten hours due to a data center cooling failure, underscoring how maintenance bug liquidations and outages reflect a broader systemic fragility across global trading infrastructure.
