# Re-enable Instant Market Listings
**URL:** https://dydx.forum/t/re-enable-instant-market-listings/5053
**Category:** dYdX Chain
**Tags:** update
**Created:** [March 26, 2026, 5:51am UTC](https://dydx.forum/t/re-enable-instant-market-listings/5053 "2026-03-26T05:51:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@eguegu](https://dydx.forum/u/eguegu)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2026, 5:51am UTC](https://dydx.forum/t/re-enable-instant-market-listings/5053/1 "2026-03-26T05:51:05Z")
## Simple Summary
This proposal seeks to re-enable Instant Market Listings on dYdX Chain by restoring the `hard_cap_for_markets` parameter to its original value of 500. A bug was identified that allowed malicious or accidental lowercase market listings to disrupt oracle price routing for existing markets; this bug has since been patched in the `v9.6.2` rolling software upgrade.
## Abstract
A vulnerability was discovered in the Instant Market Listings feature on dYdX Chain. The bug allowed a market to be listed using a lowercase ticker (e.g., `eth-usd` instead of `ETH-USD`). Once listed, the prices module would incorrectly route all oracle updates to the lowercase variant, causing the canonical uppercase market to lose price updates and effectively pause trading.
In response, the community passed an [expedited governance proposal (#366)](https://www.mintscan.io/dydx/proposals/366) to pause Instant Market Listings by setting the `hard_cap_for_markets` parameter to 0, thereby preventing any new instant listings from going through.
The dYdX Chain software upgrade to v9.6.2 addresses the root cause of this bug. With the fix deployed via the rolling upgrade, the original safeguard mechanism is no longer necessary. This proposal seeks to restore the `hard_cap_for_markets` to 500, re-enabling Instant Market Listings for the community.
Restoring this parameter allows permissionless market listings to resume, maintaining dYdX’s ability to rapidly list new assets and remain competitive in the broader derivatives landscape.
## Motivation
Instant Market Listings is a flagship feature of dYdX Chain, enabling permissionless, community-driven listing of new perpetual markets without requiring a full governance vote for each asset. This capability is important for dYdX’s competitiveness, as it allows the protocol to respond quickly to market demand and list trending assets in near real-time.
The feature was paused as a necessary precaution following the discovery of the lowercase ticker bug, which posed a direct risk to market integrity — a malicious actor could have exploited it to disrupt oracle pricing for any existing market.
With v9.6.2 now addressing the underlying vulnerability through the rolling upgrade process, there is no remaining technical justification for keeping the feature paused. Leaving Instant Market Listings disabled unnecessarily limits protocol functionality, reduces dYdX’s ability to attract new trading pairs, and creates a worse experience for traders and market makers who depend on timely asset listings.
Restoring the hard cap to 500 brings the protocol back to its intended operating state and allows the community to benefit from the full capabilities of the Instant Market Listings system.
## Specification
**Parameter:** `hard_cap_for_markets`
| | Value |
| --- | --- |
| **Current value (post-proposal #366)** | **0** |
| **Proposed new value** | **500** |
**What this change does:**
- Raises the `hard_cap_for_markets` back to 500, which was the value in place prior to the pause enacted by proposal #366.
- This re-enables the Instant Market Listings flow, allowing any user to permissionlessly list a new perpetual market up to the 500-market ceiling.
No other parameters are being changed by this proposal.
For more background on how Instant Market Listings work, refer to the [official FAQ](https://help.dydx.trade/en/articles/240150-instant-market-listings-faq).
## Next Steps
We intend to submit the on-chain vote for this proposal shortly.
---
### Author:  [@tak](https://dydx.forum/u/tak)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://dydx.forum/t/re-enable-instant-market-listings/5053/2 "2026-03-26T13:33:53Z")
We’ve submitted [proposal-369](https://www.mintscan.io/dydx/proposals/369).
Don’t miss the chance to vote!