On Tradeify Perps you trade perpetual contracts, or perps, that reference crypto assets, indices, commodities and stocks. All trading is simulated, and you never own the underlying asset. This page explains what you trade, how leverage, margin and notional value work, why open positions pay a flat swap instead of funding rates, when positions are liquidated and what trading costs.
Simulated trading
All trading on Tradeify Perps is simulated. Your evaluation and funded accounts use notional balances. You're not trading your own money, and you don't deposit funds with us. Your purchase is a program fee, not a deposit, margin or investment.
Words like "trade", "position", "balance", "profit", "margin" and "liquidation" describe simulated activity and calculations on the platform. They don't refer to real money or to any amount owed to you. Payouts are calculated from these figures under the Funded Trader Agreement.
Prices come from an aggregated price feed.
What a perp is
A perp is a perpetual contract that references an underlying market, such as BTC, an index, gold or a company's stock. On Tradeify Perps, a perp gives you no interest in the underlying asset: no ownership, delivery, dividend, voting or other rights.
Perps are leveraged instruments and carry a high level of risk, even in a simulated environment. Crypto markets trade 24/7, so prices can move sharply at any hour, including at weekends. Prices can gap through stop levels, so a stop loss doesn't guarantee your loss stops where you set it.
See "Markets and leverage" for the instruments you can trade.
Leverage and margin
Leverage lets you hold a position larger than the margin it uses. It magnifies gains and losses relative to that margin.
Maximum leverage is set per instrument, and your daily loss limit option sets the level:
3% daily loss limit: up to 40x, depending on the instrument.
No daily loss limit: half the 3% level on every instrument, rounded down to a whole number.
We may reduce leverage or add margin requirements at any time for risk, liquidity or compliance reasons. During a news window, and over the weekend, leverage is limited to 5x. See "News and weekend leverage limits".
Notional value and total exposure
A position's notional value is its size multiplied by the price. Your profit or loss moves with notional value, not with margin.
Example. You hold BTC with a notional value of $20,000. A 1% rise in the price is a $200 gain on a long position, whatever leverage you used.
Commissions and swap are both calculated on notional value.
Total exposure across all markets is capped at 40x your account balance on every account, whatever the leverage on individual instruments. Your account balance is your balance from closed trades.
Example. Your account balance is $10,000. The combined notional value of your open positions can't be more than $400,000.
Swap, not funding rates
Open positions pay a flat swap, charged every hour on both long and short positions, as a percentage of the position's notional value. It's a fixed fee, not a funding rate, so you don't pay or receive variable funding. Because swap is charged every hour, the cost of holding a position builds up over time.
Liquidation
Positions are liquidated in one situation only: when your equity reaches your maximum loss floor or, if you have one, your daily loss floor. The platform then automatically liquidates all your open positions immediately, at the prices available at that moment, and the account breaches. There's no other liquidation mechanism.
During a news window or over the weekend, the leverage limits may reduce or close positions above 5x. That isn't a breach. See "News and weekend leverage limits" and "Loss limits and the trading day".
Trading costs
You pay two costs:
Commission on each fill, on entry and exit, at a fixed rate. Maker and taker fills pay the same.
Swap every hour on each open position.
Rates depend on the market. Swap is the same on evaluations, funded accounts and Live accounts, but Live accounts pay a different commission rate. See "Commissions and swap" for the rates and worked examples.