To open a margin position, go to the Nolus app. You need a non-custodial wallet, Solflare or Phantom, to confirm it. A Solana wallet signs everything on Nolus for you, so you do not need a second wallet. Before you connect anything, the app shows the Solana catalog.
You do not have to connect first. The Long and Short forms are fully browsable without a wallet, with a live quote, and when you open one from a link without a wallet the app asks for a wallet only at the final click on the button that names the position, for example Long SOL.
From Home there are two ways to reach the form:
Pick a market with the market picker at the top of the Margin Markets card and click its Long button, which names the market's asset, for example Long SOL. The form opens on that market and that side. With no wallet connected, that button asks you to connect first. A matching Short button appears only where that side is offered.
If the card cannot show a market, it offers a single Open Position button instead, which opens the Long form on the first market the Long side offers.
Long is for an asset you expect to rise, and on Solana you can go long on cbBTC, HYPE, JLP, JUP, NVDAx, PUMP, RAY, SOL, wETH and ZEC. Short positions are currently available on Solana for cbBTC, SOL and wETH.
Configuring the position
You are taken to a form where you set up the position. Its title names the side and the market, for example Long SOL, with the market's live price and 24-hour move under it. The side and the market stay as you picked them on Home: the form has no Long or Short tab and no asset field, so to change either, go back to Home with the arrow at the top left and pick again.
Choose your down payment with the buttons beside Collateral. They list only the assets that market accepts: for a long on Solana that is SOL or USDC, except that cbBTC, HYPE, JLP, wETH and ZEC open with USDC only. The asset you hold the most of, by dollar value, starts selected, and USDC when you hold none of them. Picking a collateral never changes the market.
Enter the amount you want to commit. Your balance of the selected collateral sits on its own line right above the amount field.
Adjust the Leverage slider to set how much you borrow on top of your collateral. Its steps are multipliers, labelled under the track from 1.25× up to the maximum, which is up to 5x. It starts at 3×.
Under the slider, a summary lists the position's figures, one line each: Collateral, your down payment and its dollar value; Borrow, what you borrow (on a long the USDC borrowed and the same amount in the market's asset, on a short the asset borrowed and its dollar value); Monthly Interest; and Swap Fees, in dollars. They refresh a moment after you stop typing or dragging, not on every keystroke. The Details panel on the right of the form (below it on a narrow screen) previews the position itself: the total Size, a chart of its Collateral and Borrow parts on a wider screen, and a Liquidations rail.
The Liquidations rail shows where the position would be liquidated. Its first row is the live price, tagged Price Now. Under it on a long position, and above it on a short one, sit up to three trigger prices, each with the move it would take to reach it. If a full liquidation falls inside those three, the last rung carries the tag Full. The levels are computed at the position's current debt, and accruing interest and liquidation slippage are not included. If the app cannot compute them, the cell shows a dash instead of numbers.
Every position also has a minimum and a maximum down payment: on Solana the minimum is $40 and the maximum depends on the asset you are buying. If your amount falls outside the range, the form shows you the live limits before you can continue, rounded so that you can type them back as they are.
Clicking your balance above the amount field fills in the largest amount you can commit. When the network fee is charged in that same asset, the figure it fills is a little below that balance, because the fee is left behind.
If the lending pool for the pair you picked has nothing to lend, the quote is refused and the amount field carries the reason: Not enough available liquidity in the LP to borrow from. Please check back later. That is the state of the pool, not a fault in the app, so pick another collateral, choose another market on Home, or come back later.
Confirming
If everything looks right, click the button under the summary that names the position, for example Long SOL or Short SOL, and confirm the transaction in your wallet. The transaction you are asked to sign is prepared by Nolus for you, and the app checks it against what you asked for before handing it over. If you arrived through someone's referral link, the prompt also carries a memo reading ref:NLS- followed by the code, which changes nothing about the position. The app then takes you to the new position's page, where a Position Now Opening alert follows its steps. Opening usually takes less than 30 seconds. On Solana a position is typically live in about 20 to 25 seconds.
What happens behind the scenes
Your collateral and the borrowed funds buy the asset you chose through an integrated exchange aggregator on Solana. The funds first move between your Nolus account and Solana over the protocol's transfer channel. Once the transaction confirms, your position is live and listed in Your Positions on Home.
If a step cannot complete, the position is never left half open. The app shows Position Not Opened and confirms that your down payment was returned to your account: it comes back and the borrowed amount is returned to the pool in the same transaction, so you can simply try again.