Perpetuals

A perpetual future is a contract that tracks the price of an underlying asset, such as cryptocurrency. You do not own the underlying asset. Instead, you trade the direction of its price:

• Price up: You gain if the price rises and lose if it falls
• Price down: You gain if the price falls and lose if it rises

The position stays open until you close it, or until it is closed for you because your margin has been used.

It's the fee exchanged between traders every eight hours (00:00, 08:00, 16:00 UTC) to keep contract prices close to the spot price of the underlying asset.

You only pay or receive the fee if you have an open position at those times.

Positive rate: Contract price is above spot price. Long positions pay short positions, pulling the contract price back down.

Negative rate: Contract price is below spot price. Short positions pay long positions, pushing the contract price back up.

Liquidation occurs when your margin balance reaches the maintenance margin (the minimum to keep a position open).

When your margin health hits zero, your position is automatically closed at the liquidation price to stop further losses. Each position holds its own margin, so only the at-risk position is closed.

You'll receive warnings as you approach liquidation. To prevent it, add margin or close the position yourself.