Before opening a position, you will need to have perpetuals enabled and fund the account.

1. Find a market

• Search for the asset you want to trade and select to open the perpetuals detail page

2. Choose a direction

• Buy: If you think the price will go up
• Sell: If you think the price will go down

3. Enter your order details:

• Order type: Market or limit
• Price: If placing a limit order, enter the limit price
• Amount: The collateral you want to put up (in dollars)
• Leverage: Choose your leverage
• Take profit/stop loss (optional): You can set the price at which you want to trigger an order to lock in profits or reduce losses. You can enter this as a specific price or a percentage above/below your entry price. These can help manage risk.

4. Review and submit

• Before placing the order, carefully review the summary that includes the estimated costs and impact on your buying power. After you ensure all the details are correct, submit your order.

After your order is filled, you can track your position from the perpetuals detail page.

This is the amount of money you can use to buy perpetual futures. If you have any open positions, you may have additional available buying power only for that position based on any excess collateral that you add or any settled profits.

You’ll need to fund your Perpetuals account to start trading.

• Transfer money from your brokerage account to your Perpetuals account before trading (Transfer → select Perpetuals). Auto-transfers aren't currently available.
• Perpetuals buying power is separate from brokerage/futures buying power.
• Instant Deposits can be transferred and used right away.
• Cash in the Perpetuals account doesn't earn interest.
• When you fully close a position, collateral is immediately returned to your perpetuals buying power. Settled P&L will return to your perpetuals buying power after settlement (typically within 15 minutes). You can then transfer it back to your investing account.
• When you partially close a position, the excess collateral remains on the remaining position. Settled P&L on the remaining position will remain as excess collateral.

Once you have an open position or pending order on a contract, all new orders for that contract must use the same leverage. You can't select a different leverage until the position is closed and any pending orders are canceled.

To change your leverage, you can close the position and cancel pending orders. Then, open a new one at the leverage you want.

Maximum leverage depends on the contract. For more information, refer to Perpetual futures collateral tiers and leverage.

When trading perpetuals, your collateral is allocated per position using isolated collateral.

Isolated collateral assigns a fixed amount of collateral to a single position. Only that amount is at risk—if the position is liquidated, losses are limited to the collateral you allocated.

Take profit (TP) and stop loss (SL) orders are optional risk management tools triggered by price levels you set to help secure potential profits or limit potential losses. When a take profit or stop loss level is reached, these orders will execute as market orders for the specified quantity.

Each position can have one take profit and one stop loss order. TP/SL orders are reduce-only orders, meaning that they can only reduce your position.

How to place a TP/SL order

You can place these orders in 2 ways:

When opening a position

1. Select Add next to Take profit / Stop loss
2. Set your TP/SL in any of the following ways:

• Tap and drag the orders to the desired prices on the graph
• Enter a specific price manually
• Enter a % above/below your entry price

3. Select Save

On an open position

1. Select your position on the perpetuals detail page
2. Select the field under Take profit (TP) or Stop loss (SL)

• Select Add or the price (if one was already set)

3. Set your TP/SL using a price or %
4. You will need to add take profit and stop loss orders separately

TP/SL orders are activated when the pending order they’re attached to is filled. Once activated, they are triggered when the mark price reaches the level you set, which may differ from the market price.

How the % is calculated

When setting TP/SL orders, percentages are always based on your entry price, not the current market price. Dollar P&L values are calculated based on your position size and leverage.

For example:

• You hold a long position with 1x leverage, position size of 1 BTC, and an entry price of $50,000.
• You set a take profit at +$15,000 P&L. This is equivalent to a TP price of $65,000, or +30%.
• You set a stop loss at -$5,000 P&L. This is equivalent to an SL price of $45,000, or -10%.

Input methods (price or %) will always display their equivalents so you can confirm the order is set where you expect.

Long vs short positions

TP/SL orders need to match the direction of your position. Orders must be at least 1% apart from each other to prevent both orders triggering simultaneously in volatile markets.

Long

• Take profit prices are set above your entry price
• Stop loss prices are set below

Short

• Take profit prices are set below your entry price
• Stop loss prices are set above

Canceling TP/SL orders

• You can cancel TP/SLs once they are entered on the perpetuals detail page.
• Canceling one order manually doesn't cancel the other.
• If a TP triggers, the corresponding SL will cancel (and vice versa).
• Both are canceled automatically when the position is fully closed.
• You can't edit a TP/SL price, though you can cancel it and place a new one

• Opening a new position: On a contract where you don't have an open position, select Buy to open a long position or Sell to open a short position.
• Increasing a position: Select Buy more on a long position or Sell more on a short position to increase your position size.
• Closing a position: Select Close on an open position to reduce it, up to fully closing it. You can't reverse a position—such as switching from long to short—in a single order. To open a new position in the opposite direction, close your current position first, then place a separate order.
• Exit & cancel all: Closes your whole position at market and cancels all pending orders, including TP/SL orders.

Effect on collateral

• Active positions affect your available collateral because they settle profit and loss every 15 minutes. If you have a loss, collateral will be used to cover the loss.
• Limit or unfilled orders require collateral to be posted when they are placed before they are filled.
• Commissions and exchange fees are charged from your perpetuals buying power when the order fills.

Because trading perpetuals involves significant risk of losses and liquidations, it's important to continually monitor your position and use tools to manage risk as needed or close your position. Keep an eye on the following:

Position health

Your collateral balance is a key indicator of position health. If your collateral falls too low, your position may be partially or fully liquidated.

Market conditions

Price changes can significantly impact your position, especially when using leverage. You should always monitor the current market price, the mark price (used for liquidations), and your entry price vs. the current price.

Performance

On the position details, Total P&L shows the profits or losses on the position.

Funding payments

Charged or received every 8 hours (00:00 UTC, 08:00 UTC, and 16:00 UTC). If the funding rate is positive, longs pay shorts. If negative, shorts pay longs. You won’t pay or receive funding if you close your position before the period ends. Track the next funding time using the Next funding countdown on the perpetuals detail page.

Time in force (TIF)

When placing a limit order, choose when you want the order to expire.

• Good til canceled (GTC): Orders stay pending until they execute or are canceled.
• Good for day (GFD): Orders expire at 12:00 AM UTC.

If you are having trouble, contact us to report order issues. Provide as much detail as possible, like the contract, order type, error message, and timestamp.

When you open a position, you will incur fees based on the notional value of the position.

• Robinhood commission: 0.005% of notional exposure
• Venue exchange fee: 0.005% of notional exposure
• Regulatory fee (NFA): $0 (covered by Robinhood)

Check out our fee schedule for more details.

Perpetuals are complex derivative products, and trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for all investors, particularly for perpetuals referencing assets which experience volatile price movements. Further, leveraged trading is risky as it can amplify the speed of your losses and increases the chance of you losing all of your initial investment. Please carefully consider if investing in such financial instruments is appropriate for you in light of your specific experience, risk tolerance, and financial situation. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply.