What's the difference between Perpetual Futures and Futures traditionally?
Traditionally, a Futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a particular commodity or asset at a predetermined price at a specified time (named delivery date) in the future.
A perpetual contract has no expiry date and the contract is available for trading permanently, while a delivery contract has an expiry date and will be settled to a price derived from the underlying asset according to a pre-specified rule.
Further information about USDT Collateralized Perpetual contract can be found in this Help Center article.
Why can’t I trade on Poloniex Futures?
Currently, Poloniex Futures is only available for customers who do not reside in these prohibited countries. If your Poloniex account fits the requirement and you cannot trade on Poloniex Futures, please reach out to us for assistance.
For the latest update, please go through our User Agreement.
Does Poloniex provide a trial fund to new Futures traders?
Yes, Poloniex would send trial funds or trial fund coupons to users’ email. You could view “Time-limited Rewards” in the Reward Center and complete the tasks to get Futures trial funds.
What fees do you charge?
Our maker/taker fee schedule on Poloniex Futures is 0.01% maker / 0.075% taker for all customers, regardless of the amount being traded. Spot fee tier doesn’t affect Futures.
Can I get rewards/commissions if I invite friends to trade in Poloniex Futures?
Yes, there is a referral program for Futures. Further information can be found in this Help Center article.
Can I hold a long and short position in one contract at the same time?
No, only one-way mode is supported. Traders can hold either a long or short position in a contract.
Does Poloniex support Cross mode and Isolated mode?
Poloniex support both modes – isolated and cross-margin mode. Further information on Margin can be found in our Help Center articles here and here.
What is/how is leverage applied?
Leverage amplifies investments through the margin mechanism. With leverage, risks and returns are both amplified.
There are 2 types of leverages: initial leverage and actual leverage. The initial leverage is manually set when opening a position. The leverage ranges from 0.01x to 100x.
After opening a position, the actual leverage will change with the unrealized profit and loss, then the leverage could exceed 100x. Actual leverage = position value / (margin+unrealized P&L).
Both Level 1 and Level 2 users can use leverage up to 100x. Traders can view the maximum leverage in the trading section.
What are the Advanced order settings?
The advanced order settings only work for limit orders and stop-limit orders.
Hidden: A large order could be divided into multiple small orders, for the purpose of hiding the actual order quantity. If you set the hidden quantity to 0, it is a hidden order; if you set a smaller number, it is called an iceberg order. Taker fee is charged in this case.
The range for hidden quantity: 0 or 1/20 of the total order quantity ≤ Qty ≤ total order quantity.
Post Only: When Post-Only is selected, the order will not be executed immediately. It will be displayed in the order book, thus a maker fee is ensured. If there is a match order in the market, it will be canceled.
Reduce Only: A Reduce-Only order will only reduce your position (does not require margin to be frozen). If the order would increase your position, it is amended down or canceled automatically.
Time in force settings:
Good Till Canceled (GTC): This order will be placed in the order queue and will remain valid until it is filled or canceled.
Immediate or Cancel (IOC): The tradable part of this order will be executed immediately, and the remaining part will be canceled and never enter a buy or sell order
How is profit/loss calculated?
There are two types of Profit and Loss (P&L): Realized P&L and Unrealized P&L.
Realized P&L is based on the difference between the entry price and exit price of your position, including the trading fees and funding fees.
Unrealized P&L is based on the difference between the entry price and Mark Price of your position. When you have a positive or negative unrealized P&L immediately after an order executed, that means the Mark Price is different from the last price, but does not necessarily mean that you are losing money.
Why is there a realized P&L/Settlement when I hold a position?
Poloniex Futures adopts Settlement mechanism. It occurs every 8 hours at 04:00 UTC, 12:00 UTC and 20:00 UTC. When traders hold a position at these timestamps, the profit and loss of current open positions is calculated, including the realized P&L from previous Settlements and the unrealized P&L from the last Settlement.
Why is P&L negative despite it showing an unrealized profit before I close the position?
As we can see, the Unrealised P&L (also called floating P&L) is the profit and loss of your current positions calculated based on the price gap between the average entry price and the Mark Price. It is just for reference.
If the latest market price is very close to the Mark Price, then the profit will be almost the same. But Futures market price constantly fluctuates, the profit could change when you close it at market price.
It is recommended to pay attention to the Mark Price and latest market price (namely, the Last Price) when you close a position and remember to deduct the trading fees and funding fees.
How does Funding fee influence the position?
Funding is periodic payment made between long short traders. Traders will either pay or receive funding fee, thus the position will gain profit or bear loss.
Please pay attention if you keep paying the funding fee, the position margin amount will be less than the Maintenance Margin requirement, and may cause liquidation.
Further information on Funding can be found in this Help Center article.
What is liquidation?
If the position margin drops below the Maintenance Margin requirement, the position will be liquidated. Traders should pay attention to the difference between liquidation price and Mark Price. Once the Mark Price reaches liquidation price, Traders will lose the Maintenance Margin/cost.
Further information on liquidation can be found in this Help Center article.
What are the risks of trading Futures?
Utilising leverage in crypto trading is complex and risky. Traders may encounter substantial losses if the leverage is too high and there are not enough balance to maintain the position. During market conditions where there is low volatility and small price movements, the positions may get liquidated if traders do not exercise proper risk management. Please read our Help Center article to learn more about the risks of Futures trading.