DeFi, told plainly
How to read a perpetuals trade screen
The perpetuals screen packs a cockpit of dials into one page, and every dial speaks plain language once you learn its name. Here is each one: long and short, leverage, margin, the liquidation price, the funding rate, and the order book and open interest story.
Reviewed and current as of September 12, 2026
01Long and short, in plain words
Going long means you expect the price to climb. You open a position looking at tomorrow's price sitting higher than today's, and when it does, the difference flows to you as profit. Going short is the mirror: you expect the price to slide lower, and the drop becomes your gain. Both are simply direction bets, stated in plain words.
The screen shows your choice with a colored button pair, Long on one side and Short on the other. Many traders picture it like wind in a sail: a long catches the wind pushing upward, a short catches the wind pushing downward. Picking a side is the first decision every perpetuals screen asks for, and everything else on the page flows from it.
02Leverage, explained simply
Leverage multiplies your exposure. With 1x leverage, a one percent price move moves your position by one percent. With 10x, that same one percent move swings your position by ten percent. The trade screen shows a small slider or preset buttons, 1x, 5x, 10x, 20x, and each step up adds power and speed to every move.
It helps to picture leverage as a volume knob. Turning it up makes the music louder in both directions: gains arrive faster and louder, and losses arrive faster and louder too. Careful traders start with the knob low and only reach higher once the rest of the screen, margin, liquidation, funding, feels like a familiar friend.
03Margin in plain words
Margin is the collateral you set aside to hold your position open. When you open a trade worth one thousand dollars with 10x leverage, you place one hundred dollars of your own as margin, and the exchange supplies the rest. That margin sits locked for as long as the position lives, and it absorbs the market's first moves.
Two flavors appear on the screen. Cross margin lets your whole account balance back every position, which gives each trade more room to breathe. Isolated margin locks only the margin of a single position, which keeps one trade's story separate from the rest of your account. Choosing between them is choosing how much of your balance stands behind each position.
04The liquidation price
The liquidation price is the line where the exchange closes your position for you. If the price drifts against you far enough that your margin can barely cover the loss, the exchange steps in and closes the trade automatically. The screen always shows this price clearly, usually in warm colored text beside your position, because knowing it is part of reading the screen well.
Liquidation exists so losses stop at your margin and stay contained there. Think of it as the pool's deep end marker: swim above it and you play on, touch it and the session ends. Lower leverage pushes the line further away and gives you wider water to swim in, which is one more reason experienced traders keep the knob low while they learn.
05The funding rate
The funding rate is a small payment that keeps the perpetual price near the spot price. When many traders are long, longs pay shorts a tiny fee, which cools the crowd. When many are short, shorts pay longs instead. The money simply moves from the crowded side to the other side, every few hours like clockwork.
The screen shows the rate as a percentage, with a countdown to the next payment. Positive funding on a long you hold means you pay a little each round, while on a short you collect it. Reading funding before you enter tells you whether the crowd's enthusiasm is quietly working for you or against you.
06Order book and open interest
The order book is the live list of everyone waiting to trade. Green rows show bids, buyers waiting below the price, and red rows show asks, sellers waiting above it. The gap between the best bid and the best ask is the spread, and deep books with thick rows let big trades slide through with barely a ripple.
Open interest is the total value of all positions currently open, and it shows how much conviction sits in the market. Rising open interest with a rising price means fresh money is joining the climb, a healthy sign. Falling open interest while the price climbs means traders are closing out, which reads as momentum running on memory. Together, the book and open interest turn the price chart from a single line into a full story.
01What is a perpetual contract?
A futures contract that stays open as long as you keep the margin posted. Traditional futures settle on a fixed day, while a perpetual keeps running, and the funding rate keeps its price tracking the spot price.
02What is the difference between long and short?
Going long profits when the price rises, and going short profits when the price falls. They are mirror bets on direction, chosen with the Long and Short buttons before anything else on the screen.
03How does leverage work on a perpetuals screen?
Leverage multiplies your exposure. With 10x leverage, a one percent price move changes your position value by ten percent. Higher leverage brings larger gains and larger losses from the same move, so the slider rewards a careful hand.
04What is the liquidation price?
The price where the exchange closes your position automatically because the market has moved against you far enough to use up your margin. The screen shows it beside every open position, and lower leverage keeps it further away.
05What is the funding rate and who pays it?
A periodic payment between longs and shorts that keeps the perpetual price near the spot price. The crowded side pays the other side every few hours, and the screen shows the rate with a countdown to the next payment.