Perpetuals
This tutorial will teach you about perpetuals trading on Vertex.
Last updated
This tutorial will teach you about perpetuals trading on Vertex.
Last updated
Tutorial Contents:
Perps Overview
Perp Market Info & Prices
Placing Perp Trades
Margin Mode and Leverage
Managing Position
Setting TP / SL
Closing Position
PnL Settlement & Funding Payments
Perpetuals (perps) are derivative contracts on an underlying spot asset.
Traders can go long or short the contract with leverage using margin.
Unlike traditional futures, perps contracts have no expiry date. Instead, a funding rate and payment exist to bring the price of a perp closer to parity with the spot price. Funding payments are made every 1 hour on Vertex.
PnL is paid out in Vertex’s quote currency -- USDC.
PnL is settled between winning and losing positions continuously. Once a position is closed, any unsettled PnL is fully settled.
Read More:
At the top of the trading page, you will find the latest info for the selected market.
Last Price: The last traded price on Vertex.
24H Change: The past 24h price change on Vertex using last price.
24H Vol: The past 24h volume in USDC.
Oracle Price: The price of the perpetual contract on other exchanges.
Spot Index Price: The price of the underlying spot asset on other exchanges.
Open Interest: The total open interest for the perp on Vertex in USDC
Predicted Funding: The predicted next hourly funding rate
Countdown: When the next funding payment will occur.
Annualized Funding: The annualized predicted funding rate.
Sentiment: The market’s social sentiment (Powered by The Tie).
Market Info: Full parameters for the market.
Below are the general steps to placing a perps trade on Vertex. Further information is outlined in the sections after.
Go to the perp market you want to trade.
Decide if you want the position to be isolated or cross-margin (info below).
Set your max leverage (info below).
Decide if you want to Buy / Long or Sell / Short the perp.
Decide what order type you want to use.
Enter the order details:
Amount of assets to buy.
Estimated total quote value.
Percentage of your max order.
Optional: Check the TP / SL box if you want to add a Take Profit or Stop Loss order (info below).
Optional: use the advanced drop-down for more order settings.
Review the summary below the submit button.
Click the Buy / Long or Sell / Short submit button to place trade.
If successful, you should receive an order placed notification.
Vertex gives traders the flexibility to trade perps their way.
Why: Every account on Vertex is cross-margin by default for capital efficiency, flexibility, and the ability to perform trades such as Spreads.
Cross Positions: An account’s margin is shared across all of its perps, deposits, borrows, and LPs.
Leverage: When placing a perp trade, you can set a max leverage per trade, which is an order scaling tool and not the same as account leverage.
You are trading BTC-PERP, which has a maximum leverage of 20X.
You have $100 of available margin.
You set your trade leverage to 10X.
Your maximum order size will be scaled to be:
$100 * (10x / 20x) = $50
Using isolated margin allows you to isolate risk between your positions & your main cross-margin account.
When making an isolated trade, the margin (USDC) is transferred from your cross-account to your isolated position. The leverage you select determines the amount of margin transferred. For example:
You are opening an isolated position with size of $100 and select 10x leverage.
The amount of margin transfer is calculated by $100 / 10x = $10.
Liquidations and PnL from your isolated position do not affect the health of your cross-account.
Upon closing the isolated position, margin (including settled PnL) is transferred back to your cross-account
You can only create 1 isolated position per market.
Once created, you cannot switch the side of your position (ex. Long -> Short). You must fully close the position first.
When an isolated position is closed, all existing limit or TP / SL orders for that position are cancelled.
Stop Market orders are not allowed for isolated positions.
You can view Perp Positions via:
The “Positions” table underneath the chart on the trading pages.
The “Positions” table on the portfolio overview Page.
The Portfolio Perps Page.
Position: The amount of the perp you hold and its notional value ($)
Margin / Leverage: The margin mode for the position and leverage for isolated
Click on the ✏️ icon for isolated positions to add or remove position margin.
Oracle / Entry: The Oracle and entry price (see info below).
Est. PnL: The estimated profit or loss on the position (using the oracle).
Est. Liq: The estimated liquidation price of the position (see more below).
TP / SL: Add or edit take profit and stop loss (see below).
Funding: The total funding received or paid on the position
▶️ Arrow: Share the position on socials.
Close Button: Close a portion of or the entire position.
Add a TP / SL to a Position:
Go to the perp position on a positions table.
Under the TP / SL column click on the ➕ Add button.
A pop-up will open.
Enter your take profit and / or stop loss order details.
Select the trigger price.
Check estimated gain or loss %.
Decide if you want to use Last Price or Oracle Price.
Last Price: The order will trigger if last traded price hits the trigger price.
Oracle Price: The order will trigger if Oracle price hits the trigger price.
Click on [Place Take Profit] and / or [Place Stop Loss].
Once placed, the pop-up will display your trigger order details and the estimated profit or loss.
The TP / SL will also be reflected in your open position on the table.
Two Options:
Price Chart (Desktop):
To adjust the trigger price simply drag the TP / SL order on the chart.
To cancel, click the (x) in the order box on the chart.
On the Position Table:
Under the TP / SL column click the ✏️ icon beside your TP / SL.
Cancel the existing triggers.
Follow the steps to add a new TP / SL.
Close a Position:
Go to the position on the positions table.
Click on the [Close] button to the right.
A pop-up will open.
Select the amount you wish to close.
Click [Close Position].
Close All: If you wish to quickly close all your positions you can do so by clicking the [Close All] button in the top-right of the positions table, which will fully close all of your positions.
PnL is paid out in the quote currency — USDC.
Losing traders pay winners. This ‘settlement’ between positions is handled automatically by Vertex and happens throughout the life of a position when Vertex’s systems deem it necessary. Any remaining Unsettled PnL is fully settled when a position is closed.
To View PnL Stats:
Portfolio Overview: Open Perps PnL is your total PnL (settled and unsettled).
Perps Page (Portfolio): The chart displays your cumulative perps trading PnL.
To View PnL Settlements:
Go to your history on the portfolio page.
Click on 3 dots to the far-right of the table.
Select "Show Settlements."
View your PnL Settlements.
Funding payments exist to bring the perp price in line with the spot price. When the perp price diverges too far from the spot price, traders can take a particular side of the market to earn the funding rate.
Positive Funding Rate: Longs pay shorts.
Negative Funding Rate: Shorts pay longs.
Payments: Funding Payments are made every hour on Vertex.
View Rates: You can view all of the current predicted funding rates on the markets page. Click the drop-down to change the rate's time-frame.
View Historical Funding Stats:
Go to the portfolio perps page.
To view payments, click the funding tab.
To view totals, refer to the funding chart.
You do not need to sign to place orders if you have enabled .
Calculation: The is calculated using the Oracle and Spot index price.
