> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.metric.xyz/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.metric.xyz/use-metric/provide-and-manage-liquidity/risks-and-safeguards.md).

# Risks and safeguards

{% hint style="danger" %}
**Providing liquidity on Metric is high risk. You can lose your entire deposit.** Read this page and check the pool's [tier](/use-metric/provide-and-manage-liquidity/pool-tiers.md) before you deposit.
{% endhint %}

A malicious or compromised pool curator with unrestricted pricing can drain a pool by selling its assets too cheaply or buying them at inflated prices.

Safeguards and permissions differ across pools. Check what actually constrains the curator before depositing.

## What to check before depositing

* **Tier:** check which safeguards and permissions the tier has.
* **Pricing:** inspect the Price Provider's logic, sources and update requirements.
* **Curator:** identify who curates and controls the pool.
* **Control:** check which pricing settings can change, who can change them, and whether the provider can be replaced or upgraded.
* **Extensions:** custom withdrawal extensions can block your exit, and token restrictions can prevent transfers. Whitelisted extensions provide known controls, but their settings matter.
* **Safeguards:** check that guards are enabled, initialized and configured, not just attached. Review their limits and who can change them. [Pool tiers](/use-metric/provide-and-manage-liquidity/pool-tiers.md) lists qualifying configurations, not guarantees of safety.

## Safeguards and their limits

| Risk                                | Protection                                                                                          | Limitations                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Bad or malicious quotes             | **Anchored pricing** limits the provider's buying and selling quotes against an independent oracle. | Protection is only as good as the oracle: it depends on the feed's accuracy and freshness.                                                                                                                                                   |
| Stale price data                    | **Price freshness checks** reject trades when a required feed exceeds its allowed age.              | Custom providers define their own checks.                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| Per-bin drawdown                    | **StopLoss** rejects swaps that breach the configured drop in a bin's value per LP share.           | A bin's first monitored StopLoss trade establishes its baseline and is not drawdown-protected. The peak it compares against decays over time, so losses can keep adding up.                                                                  |
| Reference jumps                     | **Velocity Guard** rejects swaps when the reference-price change exceeds the configured allowance.  | Reference moves within the allowance pass, so a loose allowance lets large jumps through, and the reference can drift any distance in small steps. The guard trusts the pool admin, who can change the allowance or turn it off at any time. |
| Provider replaced after you deposit | An **immutable Price Provider** is fixed when the pool is created and can't be replaced.            | A review of the provider's code stays valid, but what it reads can change: upgradeable feeds or admin-set parameters can still move its prices. Review those too, and recheck them while you're deposited.                                   |

The safeguards reduce these risks but can't eliminate them, and none of them caps how much you can lose.

Mechanisms and settings: [Anchored standard](/how-pools-work/anchored-pricing.md) · [Extensions](/how-pools-work/extensions-and-permissions.md).

## Market and technical risks

* **Inventory exposure.** Trades change your token ratio. A reference-price update moves quoted ranges but does not rebalance your holdings. Asset price losses can outweigh LP earnings.
* **Execution across bins.** Trades can cross multiple bins. The 1**% maximum bin width** used for tiers is not a cap on total slippage or LP losses.
* **Contracts and infrastructure.** Contract bugs, oracle failures, chain disruption and underlying token risks can cause losses or prevent access to funds.
* **Pick-offs.** A trade that executes before the maker's newest oracle update uses old data. When that quote is better for the taker, the difference comes out of the pool, and APR still counts the fill as LP earnings. Preventing this is the curator's job; see [Best practices](/run-a-pool/chain-specific-guides.md).