How to Trade Futures on Bitget

What is Futures Trading?

Futures trading, a form of financial derivative distinct from spot trading, empowers investors to amplify profits through short positions or leverage. Bitget Futures provides over 200 margin trading pairs, offering leverage of up to 125X. For instance, investors can capitalize on anticipated price movements by taking long or short positions on futures contracts. Notably, regardless of the chosen position, leverage can be employed to enhance returns.
 

Futures Trading types on Bitget

In the cryptocurrency arena, two primary futures trading categories exist: USDT-M/USDC-M Futures and Coin-M Futures. Bitget offers all three: USDT-M/USDC-M Futures, Coin-M Futures, and Delivery Futures. USDT-M/USDC-M Futures, also termed forward futures, settle in stablecoins like USDT and USDC, for instance btcusdT and ETHUSDC (noting the stablecoin as the quote currency). Conversely, Coin-M Futures, also called inverse futures, settle in cryptocurrencies such as BTCUSD and ETHUSD. Notably, USDT-M/USDC-M Futures may also be termed USDT-M/USDC-M perpetual futures, indicating their indefinite holding capability. Coin-M Futures are subdivided into Coin-M perpetual futures and Coin-M delivery futures, the latter having a designated delivery period. It’s advisable for investors to clearly discern between these futures types before engaging in trading activities.

Many of these terms can be confusing for newcomers, but futures trading is very simple — you just need to remember the underlying asset, the settlement currency, and the expiration date. This applies to all futures contracts, be they perpetual, delivery, forward, or inverse. Take Bitget Futures as an example:
 

Differences	USDT-M/USDC-M Futures (forward futures)	Coin-M Futures Perpetual Futures (inverse futures)	Coin-M Futures Delivery Futures (inverse futures)
Quote currency	Usually stablecoins such as USDT and USDC	Usually Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies	Usually Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies
Notional value	In fiat	In crypto	In crypto
Expiration date	No	No	Yes
Suitable users	Newcomers	Newcomers	Experts

How to Trade on Bitget Futures?

Transferring funds to your futures account

To move funds to your futures account, let’s begin by understanding the account types. When you deposit money for the first time, it goes into your spot account. However, if you want to trade futures, you’ll need to transfer these funds. Bitget offers different accounts like funding, spot, and futures, all aimed at helping users manage risks better. Initially, your deposited funds go into your spot account. To start futures trading, follow these steps to transfer funds:

App:

1. Tap on "Assets" at the bottom right, then select "Transfer" to move funds from your spot to your futures account. Choose the type of futures you want, like USDT-M, USDC-M, or Coin-M perpetual/delivery futures. In this guide, we’ll focus on Bitget’s USDT-M Futures.
   
   

2. Each futures type requires specific cryptocurrency as margin. For example, USDT-M Futures need USDT, USDC-M Futures need USDC, and Coin-M futures need cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH. Select the right funding option, enter the amount you want to transfer, and confirm.

3. Go back to the app’s home screen, tap "Futures" at the bottom.
   

Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll enter the futures trading page. But don’t rush into placing orders. Even though the page is user-friendly, beginners should take time to understand futures trading concepts. Once you’ve got the basics down, you’ll be ready to start trading futures.

Website:

The steps on the Bitget website are similar, though button placements may vary slightly. If you’re trading futures on the website, you’ll also need to transfer funds from your funding account to your futures account. Click on the "Wallet" icon at the top right, then select "Transfer." On the Transfer page, choose the futures type, cryptocurrency, and enter the transfer amount, as shown in the images below.

Getting started with futures trading

Now that you have funds in your futures account, you can begin trading immediately. Below is a detailed guide on how to place your first futures order:

App:

Step 1: Choose your futures trading pair. When you enter the futures trading page, Bitget will display "BTCUSDT perpetual" in the top left corner by default. You can tap on this pair to select other trading pairs such as ETHUSDT, SOLUSDT, and more.


Step 2: Choose cross or isolated margin mode. This is a crucial step in futures trading. You can see explanations about cross and isolated margin modes when you click on the margin mode.
Note that if you choose cross margin mode, your available funds in the futures account will be used for all trades. If you prefer to closely monitor risks for specific trades, it’s better to switch to isolated margin mode. In this mode, the maximum loss is limited to the available funds in the isolated margin account. In other words, cross margin is an "all-in" approach, while isolated margin is a relatively safer strategy.

Step 3: Set the leverage. On the right side of cross/isolated margin, you’ll see a 10X icon. Clicking on it allows you to select your leverage level. Taking the BTCUSDT futures as an example, the minimum leverage is 1X and the maximum is 125X. If you’re new to futures trading, it’s recommended to keep your leverage under 10X.

Step 4: Select the order type. Since this is your first trade and you don’t have any existing positions, you only need to open a new position. However, within the limit order, there are several options that determine your buying cost and timing, which is crucial in futures trading.

Bitget offers five order modes to users: limit order, advanced limit order, market order, trigger order, and trailing stop-loss. Here, we’ll introduce three simple and common order types for beginners.

● Limit order: When you select a limit order, the price of that pair is automatically displayed below. You only need to enter the amount of cryptocurrency you wish to buy or sell. The limit order is placed in the order book at a specific limit price, which is determined by you. The order is only executed when the market price reaches, or is higher than, the current bid/ask price. Limit orders help users buy low or sell at a price higher than the current market price. Unlike a market order, which executes immediately at the current market price, a limit order is placed in the order book and only triggered when the price is reached.

● Market order: This is the "lazy" mode where the system selects the best available price to execute an order. If the order is partially filled or not filled, the system continues to execute it at the next best price.

● Trigger order: Some users prefer to buy or sell a cryptocurrency only when it reaches a specific price point. Trigger orders fulfill this requirement by placing an order at a pre-determined quantity and price, which is triggered only when the market price reaches the trigger price. Funds will not be frozen before the order is triggered. It’s important to note that trigger orders are somewhat similar to limit orders, but the latter involves a system-determined price, while the former requires manual input from you.

Step 5: Set take-profit/stop loss and place buy/sell order. Bitget strongly advises new users to set stop-loss or take-profit when venturing into futures trading for the first time. This will help you better manage risks and understand the impact of leverage on your account assets. Buying or selling an order means you are going long or short respectively. Choose "Open long" if you are feeling bullish and expecting a cryptocurrency to rise in price; otherwise, choose "Open short".

Website:
With a larger screen size, the website is more convenient for users who prefer doing technical analysis and are skilled at reading candlestick charts.

Whether you choose to trade futures on the website or the app, once you’ve gone through all the steps above and clicked on "Buy" or "Sell", you have executed a futures trade. While the steps may seem straightforward, there are still some matters you need to be aware of before making a futures trade

Understanding orders and positions

Funding rates

• Funding rates are also known as funding fees. Using USDT perpetual futures as the article’s basis, since perpetuals do not have a delivery date, profits and losses are calculated differently compared to standard futures contracts. Bitget’s funding rates reflect the profits and losses of traders, and they are updated and calculated every 8 hours based on the price difference between the futures market and the spot market. Bitget does not charge funding fees, and they are paid to winning accounts with funds taken from losing accounts, based on the unsettled positions.

Margin

• The leverage in futures trading is facilitated through margin, which means you do not need to pay the full amount for the asset. Instead, you only need to invest a small amount of funds at a specified rate based on the futures value as collateral. This fund is known as margin.

Example:

User A holds a long 2X position in EOS/USDT with a current margin of 0.15314844 USDT. If A increases their leverage, the margin will reduce accordingly. Conversely, if User A reduces their leverage, the margin will increase accordingly.

● Opening margin

• Opening margin is the minimum amount of margin required to open a position, which is displayed as the "order cost" when placing an order.

Opening margin = (position value ÷ leverage multiple) + estimated opening fee at the time of opening a position When the order is fulfilled, any remainder after deducting opening fees will be automatically returned to the available funds.

● Position margin

• After creating a position, you can check the margin for that specific position in the Positions section of the futures trading page.

Initial position margin = position value ÷ leverage You can also adjust the margin of the position by using the "+/-" button or by adjusting the leverage.

● Available margin

• Available margin refers to the margin that can be used to open a position. This margin will be partially released, increasing the utilization rate of funds, due to the state of the hedge position where a larger margin is taken, and the actual state of the transaction shall prevail.

● Maintenance margin

• Maintenance margin refers to the minimum value you need to keep your positions open. It varies according to the current size of your positions.

Transaction fees

• For beginners, fees are a major concern, just as they are in spot trading. Futures transaction fees are calculated based on a percentage, which may vary depending on the product type. Additionally, whether the trader is a maker or a taker also influences the percentage. For specific fee rates, please refer to the fee schedule.

Bitget’s futures fee structure is open and transparent, and is calculated as follows:

• Transaction fee = (position size × transaction price) × transaction fee rate = order value x transaction fee rate

Note: Order value = futures order amount × transaction price

For example, A buys a BTCUSDT futures using a market order and B sells a BTCUSDT futures using a limit order. If the transaction price is 60,000 USDT,

• A’s taker fee = 1 × 60,000 × 0.06% = 36 USDT
• B’s maker fee = 1 × 60,000 × 0.02% = 12 USDT

The key to success in futures trading

When trading financial products or derivatives, no strategy guarantees consistent profits without incurring losses. Even experienced traders like Warren Buffett have encountered setbacks throughout their long careers. However, one thing is certain—you need to manage your emotions, maintain the right mindset, and allocate your positions sensibly. For leveraged products like futures, any price fluctuation could significantly impact your assets, so it’s important to remain calm throughout the process. Remember, futures trading is not a sprint but a marathon.

Pros and Cons of Futures Trading

As leverage is the biggest feature of futures trading, its pros and cons are quite clear. In layman’s terms, investors have the chance to make massive gains in a day, but they are also at risk of losing everything all at once.

Pros:

- Huge gains with small investments

• In futures trading, investors can leverage small amounts of capital into large profits. At present, the maximum leverage offered by major exchanges is 125X, which means that investors can magnify their earnings by as much as 125 times their capital. While futures trading improve asset utilization, it is important to note: high leverage is not suited for new traders as it increases the risk of liquidation.

- Rapid profits

• When compared to spot trading, futures trading allows investors to profit much quicker. Measured at an average of 10% per increase, it would take 7 increases to double a spot trade of $10,000 in principal. On the other hand, a trade at 10X leverage would double the principal in a single increase of the same amount (profit = $10,000 × 10 × 10% = $10,000).

- Option to go short

• Crypto is a typical short-bull, long-bear market, meaning that entry timing is critical for investors. While it is easy to profit just by buying during bull markets, but profiting via spot trading becomes challenging during bear markets. Futures trading offers investors another option — going short, which allows them to profit from downward market trends.

- Hedge against downside risk

• Hedging is an advanced trading strategy used by experienced investors and miners. As investors’ spot holdings decrease in value during bearish markets, they can hedge against this risk by opening short positions, which will rise in value as the price of the underlying asset falls.

Cons:

- Liquidation risk

• There’s no certain way to quickly make huge profits. While futures trading does magnify gains, it also carries a high risk of losing money. One of the biggest risks is liquidation, which is when an investor opens a futures position but does not have sufficient funds to maintain the position when the price moves against them. Simply put, when the negative price movement multiplied by the leverage exceeds 100%, the entire investment will be lost.
• Suppose that Investor A goes long on BTC at 50X leverage. If the price of BTC falls by 2% (50 × 2% = 100%), Investor A’s principal will be completely lost. Even if the price rises after 5 minutes, the damage would already be done. The same principle applies to short positions. If Investor A goes short on BTC at 20X leverage, then their position will be liquidated if the price rises by 5%.
• Liquidation is the biggest risk in futures trading. Many investors who are just starting out with futures trading don’t have a good understanding of leverage and fail to realize that the potential losses can be just as great as the potential gains. For information on how to avoid liquidation, control risks, and keep your principal secure, refer to How to avoid liquidation.

- Quick reversal

• Quick reversals were a common trend in the early years of futures trading. They occur when candlesticks on the chart suddenly move downward and then back upward (or the other way around), signaling a big fluctuation followed by a quick stabilization. These events have no effect on spot traders but pose great risks to futures traders. Since leverage magnifies all price movements, if Investor A opens a long position at 100X leverage and the price drops by 1%, their position will immediately be liquidated. Even if the price then goes on to increase by 1000X, they won’t reap any of the profits. This is why positions are liquidated even when the current price is the same as the entry price. When the price fluctuates against the position, there is a risk of immediate liquidation.

Empowering Futures Trading: Bitget’s Comprehensive Platform and Risk Management Approach

In conclusion, trading futures on Bitget offers investors a comprehensive platform with diverse account options, including funding, spot, and futures accounts. The ability to seamlessly transfer funds between these accounts enables users to navigate various trading strategies with ease. Bitget’s intuitive interface, coupled with a wide range of futures options such as USDT-M, USDC-M, and Coin-M perpetual/delivery futures, caters to both novice and experienced traders alike.

Moreover, the platform’s commitment to risk management empowers users to make informed decisions, while the educational resources provided facilitate a deeper understanding of futures trading concepts. Overall, Bitget stands as a reliable and accessible avenue for engaging in futures trading within the cryptocurrency space, offering a blend of accessibility, functionality, and risk management features tailored to meet the diverse needs of its user base.