A recent report from blockchain security firm Zellic revealed that two distinct bugs within a fork of the Gains Network's leveraged trading protocol had the potential to allow traders to earn profits of up to 900% on every trade, irrespective of the token's price. One of these bugs was present in a previous version of Gains but was subsequently patched, while the other was unique to a fork of the protocol. Zellic identified and notified the developers of Gains forks such as Gambit Trade, Holdstation Exchange, and Krav Trade about these vulnerabilities, and they have since rectified them. However, Zellic cautioned that other Gains forks may still be susceptible to these issues.

Gains Network, described as an ecosystem of decentralized finance (DeFi) products operating on Polygon and Arbitrum, offers a leveraged trading app called "gTrade," which has facilitated over $25 billion in derivatives volume since its inception in May 2023. Zellic noted that numerous popular DeFi trading platforms are based on the Gains Network's foundational code, including Gambit Trade and Holdstation, among others. While studying a particular fork, Zellic uncovered the exploit but refrained from disclosing which fork it was.

According to Zellic's findings, Gains Network contracts enable users to initiate market, reversal, or momentum trade orders. These orders allow users to buy or sell assets immediately or specify a price at which they wish to trade. The smart contract records these orders, and once the specified price is reached, any user can execute the order and receive a small execution fee. This mechanism mimics limit and stop-limit orders found on centralized exchanges but without the need for a centralized entity to execute them.

The discovered flaw was unique to the fork under investigation and did not exist in Gains Network itself. However, during the examination, Zellic stumbled upon a second vulnerability present in a previous version of Gains. This bug allowed traders to gain a 900% profit on sell orders regardless of the price action. By exploiting this flaw, traders could manipulate the system to their advantage, provided they used leverage exceeding 9x. Although this second bug was patched in subsequent versions of Gains, Zellic cautioned that some Gains forks may still harbor these vulnerabilities, endangering users' funds.

Zellic took proactive measures by informing the affected forks about these security flaws and reaching out to the Crypto Security Alliance to identify other protocols that might be affected. Despite their efforts, the possibility remains that some Gains forks continue to contain these bugs, posing a risk to users' assets. Cointelegraph sought comments from Gains Network, Gambit Trade, Holdstation Exchange, and Krav Trade regarding these findings but received no response at the time of reporting. Gains Network emphasizes providing accurate spot prices for listed assets and boasts superior forex trading compared to competitors.