BitMEX is a renowned peer-to-peer trading platform, offering leveraged contracts that are purchased and sold using cryptocurrency. Offering high leverage and five main navigation tabs, BitMEX stands as a reliable platform for both experienced and novice traders.

BitMEX only deals with cryptocurrency, meaning fiat currency is not transacted on the platform. The absence of fiat currency promotes a wholly digital trading experience, encouraging traders to further familiarize themselves with the complexities of cryptocurrency.

Go to BitMEX’s Official Website

Navigation Tabs on BitMEX

The five main tabs that guide users through the platform are:

Trade:
This dashboard is where all trading activities occur. Here, traders can select their desired instrument, leverage, place, and cancel orders. The trade tab also offers vital contract details and position information.
Account:
This tab contains all your account information, including Available Margin Balances, Deposit and Withdrawal information, Trade History, and Affiliate information.
Contracts:
This tab provides crucial information regarding instruments, such as Funding History, minimum contract sizes, leverage offered, expiry, underlying reference Price Index data, Settlement History, and more.
References:
BitMEX offers an educational section where users can learn about Futures, Perpetual Contracts, how BitMEX indices are calculated, Liquidation process, BitMEX Fees, Support, and other useful information to understand the platform.
API:
This section provides detailed information about developing and maintaining an API connection with BitMEX, featuring a fully featured REST API and a powerful streaming WebSocket API.

Sign up on BitMEX

Getting Started with BitMEX

The first step for any new BitMEX user should be to familiarize themselves with the References Tab and the Exchange Guide. This platform offers guides on Perpetual Contracts, Futures, Auto Deleveraging, Fair Price Marking, Liquidation, and Risk Limits to help users understand key concepts and mechanisms of trading.

Explore more about BitMEX

BitMEX Contracts and Trading Overview

BitMEX offers two primary contract types: Perpetual Contracts and Futures. Perpetual Contracts do not have an expiry date and are subject to a Funding Rate that occurs every eight hours. Futures, on the other hand, do have a settlement price when the contract expires. Both of these contracts can be either long or short, depending on whether you are buying or selling.

BitMEX also offers high leverage trading, with up to 100x leverage on certain products. This means that you can buy as much as 100 Bitcoin of contracts with only 1 Bitcoin. However, this also means that losses can occur at the same high speed as gains.

Go to BitMEX’s Official Website

Futures Contracts and Quanto, Linear, and Inverse Payouts

BitMEX’s Futures Contracts come with a variety of payout types, including inverse, quanto, and linear. Each of these payout types has unique characteristics that traders should be aware of before trading.

  • Quanto Contract: This type of contract is denominated in one currency, but the instrument itself is settled in another currency at a fixed rate.
  • Linear Contract: The price of a linear contract is expressed as the price of the underlying against the base currency.
  • Inverse Contract: This type of contract is worth a fixed amount of the quote currency. In the case of XBT futures, each contract is worth $1 of Bitcoin at any price.

Sign up on BitMEX

BitMEX Fees and Rewards

BitMEX operates a standard fee structure across all spot and derivatives products, providing discounted Taker and Maker fees for high-volume traders. Additionally, BitMEX offers monthly rewards for top market makers, including up to 50,000 BMEX rewards per calendar month. The platform also features a VIP program with reduced fees based on market share.

Go to BitMEX’s Official Website

Spot Trading and Futures Trading on BitMEX

BitMEX is a peer-to-peer trading platform specializing in cryptocurrency-based leveraged contracts. These contracts, which are bought and sold in cryptocurrency, allow BitMEX to stand out in the rapidly evolving crypto landscape by enabling a high level of leverage for traders. Importantly, BitMEX does not handle fiat currency, exclusively focusing on cryptocurrency transactions.

BitMEX Navigation Tabs

The BitMEX platform is organized into five main navigation tabs, each serving a unique purpose.

  1. Trade: The trading dashboard is where traders can select their instrument, choose their leverage, place and cancel orders, view contract details, and access position information.
  2. Account: This tab displays all account information, including available margin balances, deposit and withdrawal information, trade history, and affiliate information.
  3. Contracts: This tab provides key information about the instruments available on BitMEX, including the funding history, contract sizes, leverage offered, expiry details, underlying reference price index data, settlement history, and other relevant details for traders.
  4. References: The educational corner of BitMEX, this tab provides comprehensive guides on futures, perpetual contracts, how indices are calculated, liquidation procedures, BitMEX fees, support, and other informative material to help traders understand the exchange.
  5. API: This section is for those who wish to establish and maintain an API connection with BitMEX, providing information on the fully featured REST API and a powerful streaming WebSocket API.

New traders on BitMEX are encouraged to start with the ‘References’ tab, particularly focusing on the Perpetual Contracts Guide and the Futures Guide. Understanding concepts such as Auto Deleveraging, Fair Price Marking, Liquidation, and Risk Limits is critical for effective trading on BitMEX.

Go to BitMEX’s Official Website

Trading on BitMEX

Trading on BitMEX offers a unique experience due to the specific products and product types offered. These include Perpetual Contracts, which do not have an expiry date or settlement, and Futures contracts, which do. Perpetual contracts have a funding rate that occurs every 8 hours, with users holding a position over the funding timestamp either paying or receiving funding. When a futures contract settles, all users who hold a position are settled at the contract’s settlement price. Traders can go long or short on these contracts by simply buying or selling them, making BitMEX a useful tool for shorting purposes.

Margin trading on BitMEX is offered with up to 100x leverage on some of its products. This high leverage allows traders to buy as much as 100 Bitcoin of contracts with only 1 Bitcoin to back it. However, it’s important to note that high leverage can lead to accelerated profit but also potential for accelerated loss. BitMEX employs Auto Deleveraging, which means that in rare cases, leveraged positions in profit may be reduced if a liquidated order cannot be executed in the market.

Start trading Crypto with BitMEX

Futures Trading

Futures trading involves contracts that are agreements to buy or sell a commodity, currency, or other instruments at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future. They are either physically settled or cash settled. On BitMEX, futures contracts do not require traders to post 100% of collateral as margin, allowing trading with leverage of up to 100x on some contracts. Margin on BitMEX is denominated in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

BitMEX offers futures contracts with inverse, quanto, and linear payouts. Quanto contracts are a type of derivative where the underlying is denominated in one currency, but the instrument itself is settled in another currency at a fixed rate. Linear contracts have the simplest payout structure, with the price of the contract expressed as the price of the underlying asset. Inverse contracts are essentially the opposite of linear contracts – the contract’s price is expressed as a function of the underlying asset’s price.

Each futures contract on BitMEX has an ‘expiry date’, at which point the final price of the contract is determined, and all positions are closed at this price. This means traders can hold a position in a futures contract until this expiry date. It’s important to note that the expiry date of a futures contract is the time at which you will no longer be able to hold your position.

Sign up on BitMEX

Spot Trading

Spot trading, on the other hand, involves buying or selling a commodity, currency, or other instruments for immediate delivery and settlement. Spot trades are typically settled ‘on the spot’, once the trade is executed. On BitMEX, spot trading currently is not available. BitMEX focuses primarily on futures contracts and perpetual contracts.

Go to BitMEX’s Official Website

Conclusion

In conclusion, BitMEX is a unique platform that offers crypto-based leveraged contracts, including Perpetual and Futures contracts. It provides a high degree of leverage, making it a potentially profitable platform for experienced traders. However, the high leverage also means a high risk of losses. Therefore, it’s crucial for anyone considering trading on BitMEX to understand how these contracts work, the concept of leverage, and the risks associated with such trading. The educational resources offered on BitMEX’s ‘References’ tab can help new traders get started. As always, it’s important to only trade with what you can afford to lose and to approach high leverage trading with caution.

Explore more about BitMEX