10 Futures Market Terms You Should Know!
Welcome to our “Do You Speak Crypto?” series!
At DIFX, we’re constantly looking for ways to raise awareness and improve knowledge within the crypto industry to lower the barriers to entry and drive mass adoption. Therefore, we’ve prepared a series of articles for you in which we’ll discuss common terms in different sections of the blockchain and crypto industry together.
Episode 9: Futures Market Terms
Sometimes a market crash is enough for the crypto space to be full of news headlines pointing to the millions of dollars lost in liquidation. According to the Coinglass Liquidation Data and at the time of writing, more than 78,000 traders were liquidated in the past 24h, with the amount of the total liquidation sitting at almost $210 million!
Follow us in this episode of the “Do You Speak Crypto?” series to learn about common futures market terms that will help you understand the reason behind these massive losses.
1. Futures Contract
An agreement between you and another party to sell or buy a specific underlying asset at a predefined price and date in the future. With futures contracts, you don’t need to buy the actual asset and can simply speculate on its future price.
Bitcoin Futures contracts are an example of futures contracts whose value is broadly dependent on Bitcoin’s spot price.
2. Delivery Date
The delivery date, expiration date, or maturity date, is the time that you’ve specified in your futures contract for your positions to get settled. Some commodities require physical delivery of the underlying asset and the place for the delivery is usually specified by the broker.
It’s worth mentioning that a Perpetual Contract is a kind of futures contract that doesn’t have a delivery date.
3. Long Position
You open a long position when you expect the price of your desired asset to increase in the future.
Let’s say Bitcoin is changing hands at $30k and you believe that its price would increase in a couple of months. You enter an agreement with another trader, agreeing to buy 1 Bitcoin at $30k after 2 months.
Here, you are betting against the future price of Bitcoin without actually buying one. In the best-case scenario, Bitcoin’s price will increase in the next 2 months and you can buy 1 Bitcoin below the market price.
4. Short Position
The futures market allows you to benefit from both market directions. Let’s consider the seller in the previous example.
The seller has agreed to sell their Bitcoin because they believe the price will drop within the next couple of months. In this way, they can sell their Bitcoin above the market price and make profits.
5. Margin Trading
Margin trading allows you to get more exposure to the markets by borrowing capital from your broker or other traders. In other words, you can open your desired position by just paying a portion of the required amount.
6. Initial Margin
The initial margin is the required amount you have to pay to be able to open a position. This amount depends on the leverage rate you choose to have.
7. Leverage
Leverage refers to the amount of capital you are willing to borrow. For example, you want to open a $50k position. You opt for a 50x leverage which allows you to borrow up to 50 times your initial investment. In other words, you just need to pay $1k to open your $50k position.
8. Maintenance Margin
To keep your leveraged position open, each trading platform asks you to keep a specific amount of funds in your trading account. They use maintenance margin as collateral to cover any potential losses caused by future price fluctuations.
9. Margin Call
When your account value falls below the required amount, you’ll get a margin call from your broker to add additional funds to your account to bring it back up to the level.
10. Liquidation
Normally, the broker will give you some time to meet the margin requirements. If you fail to increase your account value, the broker can sell and liquidate part or all of your assets without your permission to cover any loss.
This situation is what we call liquidation which may cost you all your money. As a rule of thumb, never invest more than you can afford to lose and always have proper risk management techniques in place.
Didn’t find the terms you were looking for? No worries. Let us know in the comments so we can cover it for you in our next episode.
You can also join our DIFX Academy to learn more about trading strategies, financial markets, crypto and blockchain fundamentals, and much more!
Disclaimer
DIFX shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any recommendation, forecast or other information herein contained. The contents of this publication should not be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee, or implication by DIFX that the forecast information will eventuate, that clients will profit from the strategies herein or that losses in connection therewith can or will be limited. Trades in accordance with the recommendations in an analysis, especially leveraged investments such as foreign exchange trading and investment in derivatives, can be very speculative and may result in losses in particular if the conditions or assumptions used for the forecast or mentioned in the analysis do not eventuate as anticipated and the forecast is not realized.
About DIFX
DIFX is a CEX that uses blockchain technology to incorporate centralized finance. It is an easy-to-use platform for both new and experienced traders, establishments, and investors. As covered by Cointelegraph, BeInCrypto, and many other media outlets, DIFX allows users to nominate anyone from their family, friends, or loved ones and allows them to legitimize their claim upon the primary user’s demise.
Additionally, the company hopes to increase the use of digital currencies for direct settlement between beneficiary and payer by eliminating intermediaries. To begin your journey with Endless Possibilities, download the app now from the iOS or Google Play Store, or visit us at difx.com.
