TABLE OF CONTENT
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Introduction
Futures trading in the cryptocurrency market allows you to grow your investments with the right trading strategy. One of the most notable features of futures trading is leverage, which enables you to control large positions with a small amount of capital. Unlike spot trading, futures contracts let you speculate on whether the price of an asset will rise or fall. Additionally, you can protect yourself against unexpected market movements by using stop-loss orders to limit potential losses.
Whether you’re an experienced investor or new to the cryptocurrency exchange, trading futures contracts on Darkex is very easy with its user-friendly platform.
To deposit funds into your futures trading account, you first need to have funds in your Darkex Futures account. If there are no funds in your futures account, you can perform a transfer to your futures account by following the instructions below.
Transfer funds to a futures account
- To deposit funds into your futures account, first log in to your Darkex account and click on ‘Blances’ at the top right
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In the interface that appears, go to the ‘Transfer’ option on the right side
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After selecting the amount, you want to transfer and the destination, you will see that your transaction has been completed
Futures Trade on Darkex
- Now, access Futures from the Market interface. Select the wallet you want to trade with and click ‘Trade’
- The chart that appears shows the instant price movements of the wallet you want to trade.
What can you do on this graph?
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You can view your current chart.
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You can select a contract by hovering your cursor over the current contract name (by default, BTCUSDT).
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You can check the indicator price. It is especially important to pay attention to this as liquidations are based on the indicator price.
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You can check the expected funding rate and the time remaining until the next funding round.
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You can choose between the original chart or the integrated TradingView chart.
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Click the ‘Depth’ button to view the current order book depth in real-time.
- There is an Order Book on the left side of your page.
Order Book
An order book is a real-time, digital list of buy and sell orders for a particular asset, organized by price level, showing the quantities of the asset available at each price. It provides a transparent view of market depth and liquidity, allowing traders to see pending orders and make informed decisions.
Usage of the Order Book
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Here you can monitor your futures trading activity and switch between tabs to check your open and previous orders.
Order Entry field is where you will enter your Buy/Long and Sell/Short orders. Available Order types are Limit, Market and Stop Limit.
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You can adjust your leverage level by placing your cursor right next to ‘Cross’ (default is 5x).
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Futures trading, leverage allows you to control a larger position size with a smaller amount of your own capital. For example, with 5x leverage, you can open a position worth $5,000 using just $1,000 of your own funds.
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To place an order, click on Cross in the section right next to the order book and you will be presented with Cross and Isolated options to select the margin mode of the asset you want to trade.
Cross Margin
In Cross Margin mode, all of your available balance and assets are shared across all your positions. This allows for the use of your total capital to support any open positions, potentially reducing the risk of liquidation but exposing all assets to the risk of a margin call if the market moves against you.
Isolated Margin
In Isolated Margin mode, each position has its own separate margin, and only the margin allocated to a specific position is at risk. This means that the margin for one position will not affect your other positions, helping to limit the risk to only the allocated margin amount.
Limit Order
- In the Limit order option, you can enter the amount of the order you wish to execute in the ‘Price’ field.
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In Futures trading, “Size” refers to the quantity or volume of contracts you wish to trade. It indicates how many futures contracts you are buying or selling. You can select your order size in BTC or USDT from the ‘Size’ field. Additionally, it is also possible to choose the order size as a percentage.
- After completing these steps, you can either add a new order or continue with one of the TP/SL (Take Profit/Stop Loss) order types by clicking on the box.
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Take Profit (TP): This order automatically sells a position when the price reaches a predetermined profit level, allowing you to lock in gains without needing to monitor the market constantly.
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Stop Loss (SL): This order automatically sells a position when the price hits a specified loss threshold, helping to limit potential losses by closing the position at the set level.
Market Order
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In a market order, your order is executed based on the best available price in the market at that moment.
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Under volatile market conditions, the market price can change rapidly. A market order ensures that your order is filled quickly.
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In the price section, you can enter the amount of the asset you wish to trade in BTC or USDT.
Stop Order
- This order combines a stop order with a limit order. When the stop price is reached, the order becomes a Limit Order instead of a Market Order. This means that once the stop price triggers the order, it will only be executed at the specified limit price or better.
- In the Trigger (Stop Price) section, enter the price at which you want to trigger your order. When the Trigger price is reached, your Limit order will be placed into the order book.
- In the Price section, enter the price at which you want to execute your order.
- For the order size, you can specify it either numerically or as a percentage.
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When placing or closing futures orders (Limit Order, Market Order, and Stop Order), you need to click on the options for Open Long / Open Short or Close Short / Close Long to execute your trade or close your existing positions.
Open Long
This means you are buying a futures contract with the expectation that the price of the asset will rise. By opening a long position, you profit if the market price increases above your entry price.
Open Short
This means you are selling a futures contract with the expectation that the price of the asset will fall. By opening a short position, you profit if the market price decreases below your entry price.
Close Short
This means you are buying back futures contracts that you previously sold short. The purpose is to close out your short position. By doing this, you realize any gains or losses from the price movement of the asset since you opened the short position.
Close Long
This means you are selling futures contracts that you previously bought. The purpose is to close out your long position. By doing this, you realize any gains or losses from the price movement of the asset since you opened the long position.
Total Balance
The Total Balance represents the sum of all available assets in your futures trading account, including both cash and the value of open positions.
Wallet Balance
The Wallet Balance refers to the amount of cash available in your futures account that can be used for trading.
PNL
In futures trading, you can track the profit and loss (PNL) amounts from both closed and open orders. The PNL section provides insights into the realized gains or losses from closed trades, as well as the unrealized gains or losses from positions that are still open.
Realized PNL
This is the profit or loss that has been locked in from trades that have been closed. Once you close a position, the PNL becomes realized.
Unrealized PNL
This is the profit or loss of open positions that have not yet been closed. It represents the current value of the position based on the current market price, but it is subject to change until the position is closed.
Final Takeaways
Futures contracts are agreements that obligate you to buy or sell an asset at a future date. Long-term futures contracts do not have a settlement date.
By following the instructions in this guide, you can minimize the risk of your investments. For more information, you can refer to the guides provided by Darkex.
Disclaimer
This guide is for educational purposes only and cannot be considered as financial advice. Remember, every transaction you make on cryptocurrency exchanges is solely your responsibility.
