Perpetuals Trading on Arkham Exchange

Perpetuals (or perps) are derivative contracts that track the price of an underlying asset, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Unlike Spot, you do not own the asset directly. Instead, you trade a contract that allows you to profit from price movements in either direction.

Perpetuals also support leverage, meaning you can open larger positions than your deposited collateral, but with added risk of liquidation.

Accessing Perpetuals Markets

To access Perpetuals markets:

• Click Trade on the top bar.

• Select USDT Perps.

• Choose the contract you wish to trade (e.g. BTC.P/USDT).

Trading Interface

The Perpetuals trading page includes the following sections:

Price Chart

– Shows contract price movements over time. You can switch time frames (1m, 1h, 1d, etc.) and apply indicators for technical analysis.

Top Bar Metrics

Displays key contract data:

• Mark Price: Used for PnL and liquidation calculations.

• Index Price: Spot reference from multiple exchanges.

• Funding Rate: Payment exchanged between longs and shorts every hour to keep perps aligned with spot.

• Next Funding: Countdown to the next funding payment.

• 24h Volume: Contract trading activity in the past 24 hours.

Buy/Sell Panel (Right)

Place and manage orders:

• Limit Order: Specify your price.

• Market Order: Execute immediately at the current price.

• Leverage Selection: Choose leverage (e.g. 1x, 5x, 10x). Higher leverage reduces required margin but increases liquidation risk.

• Stop Loss / Take Profit: Optional risk management tools to automatically exit at preset prices. Confirm by clicking Buy/Long (betting price goes up) or Sell/Short (betting price goes down).

• Order Book (Right Side) – Buy orders (green) and sell orders (red), showing size and price levels of open orders.

• Recent Trades (Below Order Book) – The most recent filled trades, updated in real time.

Leverage and Margin

Perpetual contracts use a dynamic margin schedule to determine leverage.

• Initial Margin: The collateral required to open a position.

• Maintenance Margin: Half of the initial margin, the minimum equity required to keep a position open. Falling below this triggers liquidation.

• Effective Leverage: Determined by your position size and the margin schedule. Smaller positions allow higher leverage, larger positions require more collateral.

Example:

Long BTC/USDT, size = 800,000 USDT. Initial Margin Rate = 2% → Initial Margin = 16,000 USDT. Maintenance Margin = 1% → 8,000 USDT. Effective Leverage = 50x.

Depending on the Margin Schedule, larger trades reduce leverage, smaller trades allow higher leverage. Check Codex: Leverage and Margin Schedules for more information.

Account Information

The lower section of the page provides details on your current positions and account health:

• Positions: Open contracts with entry price, size, and unrealized PnL.

• Open Orders: Limit or stop orders not yet filled.

• Order History / Trade History: Record of executed and pending trades.

• Wallet (Lower Right): Shows available USDT as margin. If your equity falls below your position’s maintenance margin, liquidation will occur.

Key Takeaways

• Perpetuals allow trading price movements with leverage, without owning the underlying asset.

• Margin requirements increase with position size, reducing effective leverage.

• Falling below maintenance margin triggers liquidation, which may result in loss of your collateral.

• Funding rates are applied hourly — positive rates mean longs pay shorts, negative rates mean shorts pay longs.

• Risk management tools (Stop Loss, Take Profit) are strongly recommended when using leverage.