# Overview

Particle is a decentralized borrowing and short selling platform for NFTs. The terms on each position are agreed upon <mark style="color:yellow;">peer-to-peer</mark> and locked between a trader and an NFT supplier. The protocol is <mark style="color:yellow;">permissionless</mark>, as any trader wallet can select any NFT collection from any supplier. In this exchange, Particle unlocks two fundamental aspects for NFT financialization:

1. Traders can [short and profit](https://nft-docs.particle.trade/mechanism/trade) against NFT price drop.
2. Owners can directly [earn customizable interest](https://nft-docs.particle.trade/mechanism/earn) with their NFT assets.

Particle protocol is <mark style="color:yellow;">oracle-free</mark> to the floor price. The NFT suppliers and traders collectively determine the most competitive price. This design creates a new financial primitive to enable fully on-chain hedging, inventory management, yield generation, and more for the NFT asset class.

<figure><img src="https://2479077253-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FkqSXbjmzbhqaUKIhuDAU%2Fuploads%2FUKJNFvqjkfrTRSwS7A30%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=cce5bcd6-c74f-4bc2-adf4-214274cee4c9" alt=""><figcaption><p>Trade flow of a short perpetual position</p></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="https://2479077253-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FkqSXbjmzbhqaUKIhuDAU%2Fuploads%2FniWlOGfAVhDJpQdc9dtB%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=cb4dfeb1-6440-489a-8c3a-aedc921e0b96" alt=""><figcaption><p>Illustration of Particle protocol system design</p></figcaption></figure>