Futures trading

Futures let you trade with leverage and profit from a falling price as well as a rising one. Skyrexio supports futures on most connected exchanges, in the Terminal, in bots and through the agent. Futures are riskier than spot, so read the last section before you use them with real money.

Spot and futures accounts#

On an exchange, spot and futures are separate wallets. In Skyrexio they appear as two entries of the same exchange account. You connect the exchange once, and the spot and futures sides count as one account for your plan limit. You switch between them with the Exchange account selector in the Terminal, and with the account selector in the bot settings: pick the futures entry to trade futures.

Futures are available on Binance, OKX, Bybit (Global), KuCoin, Gate.io, Crypto.com, HTX, BitMart, BloFin, XT and WEEX. BloFin is futures only. Bybit EU is spot only. The demo account has both spot and futures, so you can try everything below with virtual money. See Supported exchanges.

Long and short#

A Long position profits when the price rises. A Short position profits when the price falls. In the Terminal, the buttons on a futures market read Long and Short instead of Buy and Sell.

Leverage#

Leverage multiplies your position size relative to the money you put in. At 5x, 100 USDT controls a 500 USDT position. Gains and losses are multiplied by the same factor.

• The lowest value is 1x, which means no leverage.
• The highest value is set by the exchange for each pair and can differ between pairs. A major pair usually allows more than a small coin.
• The default when you ask the agent without naming a value is 1x.

Set it in the Leverage field of the order panel, or tell the agent. The agent checks the allowed range for the pair before it builds the card, and the card shows the leverage you are about to use.

Margin mode#

Skyrexio supports two modes, shown as Isolated and Cross:

Choose it in the order panel next to the leverage, or ask the agent. The futures card in Accounts also has a margin mode switch.

The liquidation price#

If the price moves against you far enough, the exchange closes the position by force and you lose the margin. The price where that happens is the liquidation price. Skyrexio shows it in the Orders view of the trade, in the Liquidation column, and on the price ruler as LP. You can also ask the agent: "What is the liquidation price of my BTC position?"

Keep your stop loss well before the liquidation price. Higher leverage moves liquidation closer to your entry. At high leverage a small move can wipe out the position.

Place a futures trade#

1. Open Terminal and select the futures account and the pair.
2. Choose Long or Short.
3. Set the order type, the size, the Leverage and the margin mode.
4. Add the take profit and the stop loss.
5. Press Create trade and confirm.

Through the agent it is the same trade, with a card. See Smart trade for the order types and Managing trades for what you can do afterwards. Futures bots work the same way as spot bots, with the leverage and margin mode set in the bot settings. See Bots.

Risks#

• Liquidation. You can lose the whole margin of a position, and with cross margin more.
• Leverage cuts both ways. At 5x, a 2% move against you costs 10% of the margin.
• Funding. On perpetual contracts the exchange charges or pays a funding fee every few hours. Backtests assume zero funding (see Backtest results).
• Fast markets. A stop loss is not a guarantee. In a sharp move the order can fill at a worse price.

Start on the demo account, use low leverage and always set a stop loss.