Futures trading in crypto allows you to speculate on the future price of cryptocurrencies without owning the asset. In crypto Futures, you can open long or short positions based on your market predictions.

Imagine you believe the price of Bitcoin will rise in the near future. Since you’re not seeing it as a long-term purchase, instead of buying Bitcoin today, you decide to enter into a Perpetual Futures contract that allows you to gain exposure only to its price movement.

On the flip side, if you think the price of Bitcoin will go down, you open a 'short position'. As there is no expiration date, you can maintain this position as long as you wish, provided you manage your Margin Risk.

Currently, on the Nexo app or web platform, you can trade Perpetual Futures by using over 100 contracts. These contracts are settled in USDT, meaning you only need USDT to trade.

To begin trading, you need to complete a short quiz and transfer USDT to your Futures Wallet. Transferring USDT to your Futures Wallet is instant and free. To read more about funding your Futures Wallet click here. The steps to begin trading are the following:

1. Open your Nexo app.
2. Tap the 'Exchange' button on your app dashboard and select Futures.
3. Select an asset from the list with perpetual contracts.
4. Pick a direction - long or short - and adjust your leverage.
5. Choose how much USDT you want to allocate to the position.

Leverage allows you to trade crypto Futures by controlling positions that are greater than your balance. For example, with $100 of your own asset and 10x leverage, you can control a $1,000 position.

If the asset's price rises by 10%, you are up $100, doubling your initial amount. But if it drops by 10%, you lose your $100. The $100 you used as an initial amount is called margin - the amount you offer as collateral in case your position gets closed.

The minimum leverage for a single trade is always 2x and the maximum varies between 10x and 50x depending on the Futures contract.

Cross-margin allows you to use all collateral in your Futures Wallet to manage trades across various assets. Instead of isolating your collateral to individual positions, cross-margin pools your resources.

This provides flexibility and the ability to cover potential losses with profits from other trades without prematurely closing positions.

Futures contracts, while offering potential rewards, come with significant risks. There’s a possibility you might lose your entire USDT collateral. This is why you should be attentive to Margin Calls - a push notification and email that may come when your Margin Risk surpasses a certain threshold.

In normal circumstances, you’ll receive such an alert if your Margin Risk goes above 78%. In this case, you should either close part of your positions or add more USDT to your Futures Wallet to avoid losses. In general, it is important to always monitor your Margin Risk in your Nexo app or web platform when trading Futures.