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Strategist Role

Overview​

Each Orion vault is managed by a Strategist. The strategist is responsible for defining the portfolio allocation by submitting an intent.

An intent represents a target portfolio allocation across a set of assets. It expresses what the portfolio should look like, not how trades are executed. Execution and settlement are handled by the Orion orchestration layer.

Strategists can be implemented in two ways:

  • Active Strategist: an externally owned account (EOA) submitting intents manually.
  • Passive Strategist: a smart contract that computes and submits intents programmatically.

Both approaches use the same vault interface and execution pipeline.

What Is an Intent?​

In Orion, execution always begins with an intent: an intent is a list of (asset, weight) pairs that defines the desired portfolio composition.

Key properties:

  • Weights are positive-definite.
  • The total weight must sum to 100%.
  • Only whitelisted assets can be included.
  • Intents are validated onchain before being accepted.

Once submitted, an intent becomes the authoritative target state for the vault until a new intent is provided by the strategist.

Strategist Types​

Active Strategist (EOA)​

In the simplest setup, the strategist is a wallet address.

Characteristics:

  • Submits plaintext intents directly to the vault.
  • Suitable for discretionary or semi-manual portfolio management.
  • Can be automated off-chain (e.g. quant pipelines).

This approach maximizes flexibility but relies on off-chain logic.

Passive Strategist (Smart Contract)​

A passive strategist is a smart contract that implements the IOrionStrategist interface.

Characteristics:

  • Computes portfolio allocations on-demand.
  • Encodes allocation logic directly onchain.
  • Enables transparent, auditable, and trust-minimized strategies.

This model is ideal for systematic strategies (e.g. TVL-weighted, volatility-adjusted, factor-based) and encoding index logic onchain.

Design Philosophy​

The strategist abstraction allows Orion to cleanly separate:

  • Strategy definition;
  • Execution and rebalancing;
  • Settlement and accounting.

Enabling modular portfolio management strategy composition.

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