Crypto markets offer spot and perpetual swap (perp) venues side by side. They can look like the same “BTC trade,” but economics, operations, and risk are not identical—especially if you are coming from FX or CFD habits.
Spot is ownership transfer on the ledger (modulo custody: exchange wallet, self-custody, or broker wrapper). You care about deposits, withdrawals, network fees, and chain congestion. Your P&L is mark-to-market on coins you hold, plus any staking or lending you choose separately.
Perpetual swaps are derivatives that track an index without a fixed expiry. A funding mechanism nudges the contract price toward spot: when perps trade rich, longs often pay shorts (and vice versa). Funding is not a “fee” in the brokerage sense—it is a position-level cash flow that can dominate short-hold results.
Basis and funding together describe how expensive it is to express a directional view via perps versus holding spot. High positive funding can mean crowded longs—or a calm before volatility. Always read the exchange’s funding schedule and caps; rules differ by venue.
Leverage on perps interacts with maintenance margin and liquidation engines. Gap risk is 24/7: weekends and headlines do not respect session breaks. Auto-deleveraging and insurance funds are exchange-specific—read the docs before size.
Operational risks exceed typical FX retail: exchange counterparty risk, API outages, wallet phishing, and regional regulation. Diversifying venues reduces single-point failure but increases operational load.
Do not treat back-tested crypto returns as forward promises. Use each exchange’s live documentation, funding history, and on-chain metrics when sizing risk — past performance is not a guide to future results.
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Educational only—not investment advice.
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Educational only · not investment advice · Risk disclosures