When making investments on a crypto exchange, crypto users have several choices. The first choice is spot trading (e.g. buying BTC). However, in this case, investors can only profit from their crypto holding when the price rises against the volatility of the crypto market. The second choice is to trade derivatives. For instance, when trading delivery contracts, investors can earn more profits from price swings via high leverage compared with their spot returns. Yet they could not hold onto their delivery contracts over the long run as such contracts will eventually expire, which is where the third option comes in — futures contracts. Although both are financial derivatives, futures contracts differ from delivery contracts because they do not have any expiration/settlement days, which means that an investor could hold onto a futures contract indefinitely. Unlike spot traders, futures traders can open a position and start trading without having to own the underlying asset. Thanks to its many advantages, futures contracts now make up half of the crypto market in terms of the trading volume. Many crypto trading platforms now offer futures contracts. In terms of their functions, these platforms can be roughly divided into two categories: entry-level platforms and pro-level platforms. Though pro-level platforms are more suitable for veteran futures investors or professional traders, they are not friendly to inexperienced futures inv...
