Perpetuals Page Guide
This page explains the main components of the Rails perpetuals trading page, covering how to place and manage trades.
For definitions and calculations of all terms referenced here, please visit the Trading Metrics Guide.
Price Chart
A digital asset price chart is a graphical representation of an asset’s price movements over time. It helps traders analyze market trends, price fluctuations, and trading volume. We've integrated with TradingView to provide users with a reliable, highly configurable chart which they can customize based on their trading needs.
The price displayed beside the market is the Order Book Price. This is the halfway point between the best bid (highest price someone is willing to buy) and the best ask (lowest price someone is willing to sell). This is the price used to open and close positions.
Our Chart Settings Guide has more information about how to customize the price chart.
Starring your favorite markets
If you are only interested in a few specific assets, you are able to 'favorite' the markets you trade most frequently in the Price Chart as shown below.
Click on All Markets on the top left of the main Trade screen.
Click on the yellow star beside each market that you want to mark as a ‘favorite.’ The star will fill (See below).
Click Show favorite markets at the bottom. This will reduce the market selector to only your favorite markets.
To undo or change your selection, click on See all markets and change as required.
Market Data
The market data displayed at the top left of the perpetuals page provides a real-time snapshot of key metrics that help you assess the activity and dynamics of the asset selected in the price chart.
Explore each metric shown:
Index Price: The current asset price in USD pulled from our Index Price Sources.
Open Interest: The total number of open contracts in the market, serving as a measure of trader participation.
24h Trades: The number of trades executed in the past 24 hours.
Funding Rate: The current funding rate applied to open positions, updated hourly.
Next Funding: A countdown to the next funding interval.
Order Book & Recent Trades
The order book is a real-time, digital ledger that displays all open buy and sell orders for the asset you are viewing in the price chart. It helps traders see quantity and price levels at which others are willing to buy or sell. You'll also find all recent trades tabbed next to the order book.
Order Book
The order book shows Buy Orders (Bids), which list what buyers will pay, and Sell Orders (Asks), which list what sellers offer. It helps traders read market sentiment, spot possible price moves, and make better decisions.
The order book also includes two useful features:
The Spread is the difference between the highest bid and lowest ask. It appears as both a $(asset value) and percentage difference.
The currency switcher lets you view each asset's order book in units or USD at each price.
The tick size (minimum price change) and lot size (minimum order quantity) are both set to 0.00000001 (8 decimal places), but only 6 decimal places are displayed.
Order Panel
This is where you place your trades.
The order panel displays a dynamic summary of your order. Use the percentage bar to select what portion of your buying power you wish to deploy for this order, where buying power refers to your available balance multiplied by your account leverage.
See our order types article for detailed information on available order types and how to place trades.
Calculator
Our built-in trading calculator enables users to estimate the returns or losses of their trades before placing them. It can also be used to determine appropriate take profit and stop loss limits to manage risk.
To access the calculator, click on the icon on the bottom right in the trade input section.
Functions
Estimate the profit or loss of your trade by selecting a long or short position and inputting the quantity, entry price, close price and preferred leverage.
The impact of your trade is calculated and displayed at the bottom of the calculator. This information includes:
Profit (or loss): Estimated amount gained or lost in USD.
% Profit (or Loss): The estimated change in profit or loss (%) of the order total.
% Return: The estimated return of your margin (%) if you used leverage.
This tab allows you to input the quantity and entry price to confirm the liquidation price of your trade.
The impact of your trade is automatically calculated and presented at the bottom right of the calculator. This information includes:
Liquidation Price: The price at which your position will be liquidated.
Order Total: Total volume in USD of your trade.
Leverage: How much your account will be leveraged, based on your available balance. (i.e. Effective Leverage)
This tab is a helpful tool in helping determine your take profit trigger order details by determining the price you need the asset to reach (target price) if you have a desired return on investment (ROI%).
Select the order type (long or short) and input the quantity, entry price and ROI% to assess the target price.
The key results of this assessment are displayed at the bottom of the calculator as follows:
Target Price: The price at which you should close your position for the desired profit.
Margin Used: The amount of your account balance that would be allocated to open this trade.
Use this tab to determine the price at which you should enter a position. Select your order type (long or short) and input the quantity, target price and the desired ROI for this trade.
The impact of your trade is automatically calculated and presented at the bottom of the calculator and includes:
Entry Price: The price at which you should open your position for the desired profit.
Margin Used: The amount of your account balance that is being allocated to maintain this trade.
You can then copy to the order form directly from the calculator as shown below:
Account Summary
Here you will find a real-time update of your account summary, including balances, fees and trading volume.
Available Balance: The amount you have available to place new trades. Changes dynamically as you open/close positions, realize profits/losses, or deposit/withdraw funds.
Account Balance: This is the total current balance of your account including both available balance and amount in trades. This updates dynamically if you have open positions, as the index price of your open position fluctuates.
Funding: This is the total funding adjustment applied to your portfolio.
P&L: Your lifetime realized profit and loss total on both short & long positions. When you close a position, the profit (or loss) you earn (or lose) becomes your realized P&L.
Want to know how these values are calculated? Check out the math here.
Fees: The total amount of fees paid for executed trades.
Additionally, further down, your current dynamic fee tier information, including your 30D Volume, when it was last updated, and the fees, is shown:
Volume: The total lifetime volume in USD you have traded.
Unrealized P&L: The potential profit or loss from open positions. These calculations are the same as shown above, but adjust with fluctuations in your open positions in real time.
Trade Summary Tabs
The Rails platform makes it easy for you to access your key information on your recent trading activity at the bottom of the main trading screen.
The Position summary tab provides real-time information on all open positions. It lists the following details:
Market: The asset name of the trade placed (e.g. BTC-USD).
Price: The current index price of the asset, pulled from our Index Price Sources.
Position Value: This represents the total notional value of your open trade. It is a real-time view of how much your position is worth based on the current index price.
Size: The total asset quantity of the open position.
Margin: The available balance being held as collateral to control the open position if leverage is used.
Leverage: The leverage (1x to 5x) selected when placing the trade.
Liquidation Price: The price at which the position will be liquidated if the market moves against your trade.
Average Price: The average entry price of all trades used to fill the order.
Unrealized P&L: The current gain or loss on an open position, based on the difference between the entry price and the current market price, but not yet locked in by closing the trade.
Realized P&L: The accumulated profits or losses that have already settled as a result of funding.
Trigger Orders: A place to add or change take profit or stop loss orders against the position.
Limit/Market Close directly from your position:
From the positions tab, you can also easily close your position either with a limit or market close. Watch the video below to see how:
Limit closes require a price input, and may not close your position immediately. Learn more about limit orders here.
This section lists requested orders that have not been filled yet. It displays the following details:
Status: The status of the open order (e.g. active)
Market: The asset name of the open order (e.g. BTC-USD).
Action: The direction of the trade (Buy or Sell).
Quantity: The total asset quantity of the open order.
% Filled: What percentage of the open order has already been filled, if not fully executed.
Price: The limit price in USD set when the order was placed.
Trade Type: Indicates whether the order was a limit or market order.
Time Placed: The date and time the order was placed.
Modify/Cancel: Buttons to enable users to cancel or modify the open order.
This section is where you find the trigger orders placed to protect your trades. It displays the following details:
Market: The asset name of the trade placed (e.g. BTC-USD).
Trigger Type: Indicates whether the trigger order is a take profit or stop loss.
Trigger Price: The price at which the trigger order will execute.
Action: Indicates whether the order will buy or sell when triggered.
Quantity: The asset quantity that will be bought or sold when the trigger order executes.
Price: The index price at which the order will execute, pulled from our Index Price Sources.
Balance: The expected balance of the trade at the time of execution based on the parameters set.
Trade Type: Indicates whether a market or limit trigger order was set.
Reduce Only: If Yes, ensures the order will only reduce or close an existing position and never increase or reverse it.
Time Placed: The date and time the order was placed.
This section shows your 50 most recent completed trades from the past 7 days. It displays the following details:
Market: The asset name of the trade (e.g. BTC-USD).
Side: Indicates whether it was a buy or sell trade.
Size: The asset quantity of the trade.
Price: The asset price in USD at the time the trade was executed.
Fill Type: Indicates whether the trade was completed or only partially filled.
Execution Type: Indicates whether the user's trade was on the Maker or Taker side.
Completed At: The date and time the trade was executed.
For your full trading history, visit the Portfolio page.
For more in-depth definitions and calculations of the metrics reported here, view the Trading Metrics Guide.
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