Understand what ETH futures are and how to use the leverage in futures to amplify your trading gains
Ethereum futures enable you to take long (you profit when market goes up) and short positions (you profit when market goes down) on ETH. Futures have in-built leverage which acts as a multiplier to your returns. Currently, the following Ethereum contracts are listed on Delta Exchange.
Contract Name | ETHUSD |
---|---|
Description | Ethereum Perpetual |
Max. Leverage | 100x |
Margin Currency | USD |
Taker Fees | 0.05% |
Maker Fees | 0.02% |
Contract Type | perpetual futures |
Ethereum (ETH) is the most prominent cryptocurrency in the world. It is a decentralized digital currency that functions without a central bank or single administrator. Peer-to-peer exchange of Ethereum can happen without the need for intermediaries.
Ether is one of the top 5 cryptocurrencies. ETH is the native currency of Ethereum: a global decentralised platform for money and smart contracts. ERC20 tokens are also smart contracts that live on the Ethereum blockchain.
ETH is 'digital money' that can be sent over the internet instantly and cheaply, and also be used in many Ethereum-based dapps and smart contracts.
Ethereum Futures is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell Ethereum at a predetermined future date and price. The futures contract derives its value from the underlying cryptocurrency, Ethereum in this case. Thus the price of a Ethereum futures contract moves broadly in sync with the price of Ethereum.
Trading futures is thus an alternative to actually buying or selling the underlying crypto (aka spot trading). In spot trading, you can make profit by buying Ethereum low and selling it at a high price. This trade however works only in a bull market, i.e. when Ethereum price is going up. However, in a bear market, there is no trade possible in spot trading. Furthermore, leverage trading is not possible in spot trading.
Trading Ethereum through futures offers several advantages over spot trading of Ethereum, namely ability to both long or short and get access to leverage.
You can profit from rising ETH price by going long Ethereum futures. And, when ETH price is falling, you can make profits by going short. This feature of futures trading enable you to navigate all types of market conditions profitably. Compare this with directly buying Ethereum. When price is falling, you can either sell your Ethereum or suffer losses. In spot trading, there is no way of profiting from falling prices.
If you are a HODLer, you can still use futures to mitigate price risk. Say, you hold ETH. You can mitigate the risks you face when Ethereum is falling by going short ETH futures. In this case, a short futures position acts as a downside protection by effectively locking the $ value of your portfolio without the need for selling your Ethereum. Judicious use of futures as hedge can make you a better and stronger HODLer.
Leverage enables you to open positions that are bigger than your trading capital. If you can open a position that is 10 times bigger than your trading capital, then you have 10x leverage available to you. The maximum allowed leverage for futures listed on Delta Exchange is as high as 100x. There are two ways of thinking about leverage:
Leverage as capital efficiency driver: For opening a position of a given size, higher the leverage lower the trading capital required. The leverage in spot trading is always 1x, while it is 3-4x in margin trading. This means futures is 20 to 100 times more capital efficient than spot or margin trading.
Leverage as a returns amplifier: Because in a leverage trade position size is greater than the capital deployed, impact of prices moves gets magnified. The return on capital deployed is leverage times the price return. This means that you can amplify your trading gains the effective use of leverage.
If ETH increased from $0 to $0 your return would be equal to:
In-built leverage magnifies impact of ETH price moves on your return on capital.
Long when bullish. Short when bearish. Trade all market conditions profitably.
Deploy the capital freed up by using leverage in other trading opportunities
Low trading fees, tight spreads & deep order books of our ETH contracts increase profitability of your trades
Set TP / SL with your order, Leverage advanced order types and instruments (Options, Interest Rate Swaps) to create hedging strategies
Use professional charts & advanced analysis tools to quickly identify trading opportunities