Perpetual Futures Fundamentals

Coin Margined Contract

A coin margined contract uses a cryptocurrency such as BTC as margin and may settle profits and losses in that cryptocurrency. The exact mechanics...

Contract Size

Contract size defines how much exposure one derivative contract represents. Depending on the market, one contract may represent a fixed quantity of...

Contract Specification

A contract specification sets out the rules and characteristics of a derivative contract. It can include information such as contract size, margin...

Derivative

A derivative is a financial contract whose value is linked to, or derived from, another asset, price, rate or financial reference. Futures, perpetu...

Directional Exposure

Directional exposure describes how a position is affected by the direction in which a market moves. A long perpetual position generally has positiv...

Expiry

Expiry is the date or time when a derivative contract reaches the end of its contractual life or enters its specified settlement process. Tradition...

Exposure

Exposure describes how much an investment or trading position is affected by movements in a particular market, asset or source of risk. In perpetua...

Futures Contract

A futures contract is a derivative agreement linked to an underlying asset or reference price, with terms specifying how the contract is settled. T...

Futures Market

A futures market is a market where participants trade derivative contracts linked to an underlying asset, price or financial reference. Futures mar...

Inverse Contract

An inverse contract is a derivative structure in which the contract's value, margin or settlement mechanics are denominated differently from a conv...

Leverage

Leverage allows a trader to control a larger market position using a smaller amount of capital as margin. For example, $1,000 of margin supporting...

Linear Contract

A linear contract is a derivative contract where profit and loss generally change in a straightforward relationship with movements in the underlyin...

Long Position

A long position is a position that generally benefits when the price of the market being traded rises and loses value when the price falls. In perp...

Notional Value

Notional value is the total value of the market exposure represented by a derivative position. For example, a perpetual position controlling $10,00...

Perpetual Contract

A perpetual contract is a derivative contract with no fixed expiry date that is designed to track the price of an underlying asset. The term is gen...

Perpetual Futures

Perpetual futures, commonly called perps, are derivative contracts that allow traders to speculate on the price of an underlying asset without an e...

Perps

Perps is the commonly used shorthand for perpetual futures or perpetual contracts. They are derivative contracts that track an underlying market an...

PnL

PnL means profit and loss. It describes how much money a trading position or account has gained or lost. PnL may be unrealized while a position rem...

Position

A position is a trader's active financial exposure to a market. In perpetual futures, a position can be long or short and has characteristics such...

Position Size

Position size is the total amount of market exposure represented by a trade. Depending on the platform and contract, it may be displayed in units o...

Short Position

A short position is a position that generally benefits when the price of the market being traded falls and loses value when the price rises. Perpet...

Spot Market

A spot market is a market where an asset is bought or sold for direct ownership or delivery according to the market's settlement arrangements. In c...

USDT Margined Contract

A USDT margined contract is a derivative contract that uses USDT as the asset for margin and typically for calculating and settling profit and loss...