# How vaults work

> A vault lets others invest in a strategy run, or a project traded by hand, without seeing the strategy. NAV, dealings, a real-money record, and rules ftw.trade enforces so investors needn't trust the manager.

A **vault** wraps a strategy run (or a project you trade by hand) so other accounts can invest in it. They see its record, its terms and its rules. They never see its code.

## The parts

| Part | Means |
|---|---|
| **NAV** | What one unit is worth. It starts at 1 and moves with the run's return, with fees taken off |
| **Dealing** | When orders fill, at that dealing's NAV: hourly, daily at 00:00 UTC, weekly on Monday or monthly on the 1st |
| **Notice** | How many hours before a dealing an order must be in |
| **Terms** | Fees, minimum, capacity and the period, fixed when the vault is made |
| **Criteria** | Rules ftw.trade enforces: a drawdown that winds it down, a leverage cap, what it may trade, a timelock on changes |

## Where vaults live

- **Vaults** in the app lists every vault taking orders, ranked by 7- and 30-day APR, with its return, AUM, investors and next dealing. Vaults the ftw.trade team backs are marked sponsored and shown first.
- Each vault has a public page at `/v/<id>`, with its own branding, record and a deposit form, and [Discover](https://ftw.trade/discover) shows them to visitors.
- **Protocol vaults** (Ethena sUSDe, Sky sUSDS, Morpho, Aave, Kamino, Maple and others) are listed beside them with their APR, as places a strategy can put money.

## Real-money records

A vault over a **live** project or a strategy run on live wallets has a real-money record: its NAV follows the real wallets (marked every 15 minutes, with top-ups and withdrawals set aside), from the moment the vault is made.

> [!WARNING] Investors' money is paper for now
> Units are bought with play ETH from your paper balance. A vault marked Real money follows real wallets and real trades at real prices, but ftw.trade does not pool investors' real money yet. A vault today is a verifiable track record and a way to follow one.

## Next

```cards
- [Invest in a vault](https://docs.ftw.trade/vaults/invest): Subscribe, redeem and take profit at dealings.
- [Create and run a vault](https://docs.ftw.trade/vaults/create): From a run or a hand-traded project, raise, upgrade and wind down.
- [Fees and protections](https://docs.ftw.trade/vaults/fees-and-protections): Per-investor high-water marks, fee holds, and the rules a vault can't break.
```