Bitcoin Futures & Perpetual Contracts Guide – Delta Exchange

What is Bitcoin Futures Trading?

Bitcoin Futures is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell Bitcoin at a predetermined future date and price. The futures contract derives its value from the underlying cryptocurrency, Bitcoin in this case. Thus the price of a Bitcoin futures contract moves broadly in sync with the price of Bitcoin.

Trading futures is thus an alternative to actually buying or selling the underlying crypto (aka spot trading). In spot trading, you can make profit by buying Bitcoin low and selling it at a high price. This trade however works only in a bull market, i.e. when Bitcoin price is going up. However, in a bear market, there is no trade possible in spot trading. Furthermore, leverage trading is not possible in spot trading.

Trading Bitcoin through futures offers several advantages over spot trading of Bitcoin, namely ability to both long or short and get access to leverage.