Best Crypto Futures Trading Platforms

1. Bybit

Bybit has emerged as the fastest-growing platform for crypto futures trading. It offers more than 400 coins for trading, without requiring KYC or ID verification from its customers. Bybit is among the few exchanges that permit traders to speculate with up to 100x leverage on all the crypto assets available on their reliable and time-tested platform.

They are regarded as the best futures exchange for digital assets due to their deep liquidity and minimal fee structure, beginning at 0.05% for Taker Orders and 0.01% for Maker Orders. Since the recent insolvency of FTX, Bybit has become the preferred destination for traders. For additional details, you can refer to our comprehensive Bybit Review.

2. Binance Futures

Binance is widely recognized as a leading global platform for both Bitcoin futures trading and crypto futures trading. The platform supports trading of various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Aptos, Solana, and hundreds of other assets, against Tether (USDT) with up to 125x leverage. Traders from all around the world can easily create a Binance Futures account within minutes and benefit from the best Bitcoin and crypto futures trading platform available on any exchange.

In addition to its extensive range of features, Binance also provides its users with high levels of security and liquidity, making it an ideal choice for institutional investors and retail traders alike. For more information, you can read our comprehensive Binance Review.

3. Phemex

Phemex is a new derivatives platform that has grown to over 5 million users since being launched in 2019. Their exchange offers deep liquidity on over 150 crypto pairs with up to 100x leverage on their secure and highly performant centralized trading platform. Phemex is widely regarded for its low fees, tight spreads and feature-rich exchange that includes staking, spot trading, options and more.

Another advantage of Phemex is that they do not require verification or KYC to register and trade. This means you can sign up with an email address and password and deposit stablecoins or other digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum to start trading. For a deeper dive, read our extended Phemex Review.

4. eToro

eToro is the world's most extensive multi-asset brokerage platform, enabling traders to leverage trade a wide range of assets, including cryptocurrencies, stocks, commodities, and more. It is highly regarded for its low fees, speedy fiat currency deposits, and diverse asset selection.

One unique advantage of this platform compared to the other exchanges on this list is that it allows traders to trade crypto stock and ETF futures contracts. This means that traders can go long or short on stocks such as Coinbase, Robinhood, and Microstrategy, which are correlated with the price of crypto assets. For more information, you can read our comprehensive eToro Review.

5. DYDX

Dydx is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. It provides a suite of financial products and services, including margin trading and borrowing, lending, and trading of crypto assets. The platform is designed to be transparent, secure, and accessible to a wide range of users, and it operates using a decentralized governance model, with users collectively making decisions about the direction and development of the platform.

The platform's use of smart contracts and blockchain technology helps to ensure that transactions are secure, transparent, and tamper-proof. They have the deepest liquidity to trade the top crypto pairs like BTC, ETH, AVAX, NEAR, LUNA, ONE and many others. Read our DYDX Review for more information.

Why should I trade Crypto Futures?

Crypto futures offers two key advantages for digital asset investors and speculators. The most common reason for sophisticated and institutional investors is to hedge price risk. Derivatives contracts allow investors to mitigate the risk of a falling price by taking a short futures position.  This will help mitigate losses by providing additional profit that hedges exposure from holding spot assets like BTC and ETH.

The other common reason is to speculate on price direction. Crypto leverage trading enables the opportunity for traders to truly speculate on the asset, even with up to 100x leverage if they are extremely confident.

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How do you Trade Futures in Crypto?

Trading crypto futures and derivatives contracts is easy thanks to the wide variety of highly liquid centralized trading platforms. If you are new to futures trading, you can follow this short 4 step guide on how to get started with no KYC or verification required.

1. Create Account: Sign up to Bybit (5% off fees) with an email address & password only.
2. Deposit Funds: Deposit funds to the Bybit platform via Bank Transfer, Credit Card/Debit Card or a Crypto Deposit (e.g BTC, ETH, USDT or USDC).
3. Find Markets: Find the Crypto derivatives or futures market you want to trade on the Bybit platform (e.g BTC/USD or ETH/USD).
4. Execute Trade: Input the amount of USD you want to Long or Short and input your leverage (25x), then execute your trade.

What is Leverage Trading?

Leveraged trading in crypto is simply a way to borrow funds from a cryptocurrency exchange in order to add size to your trade. For example, with crypto leverage trading you can deposit $1,000 and take a trade with 10X leverage. This means that your overall trade positions is now $10,000.

However, with leverage in crypto comes risk. In the example provided above, if your trade was to go down 10% you would be completely liquidated and lose the $1,000.

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Is it Legal to Trade Crypto Futures?

Trading crypto futures is generally legal in most countries and is treated similarly to trading cryptocurrencies. However, the legality and regulation of crypto futures can vary depending on the jurisdiction. In the United States, trading crypto futures is legal and regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC has classified crypto assets as commodities and has jurisdiction over futures and other derivatives based on these assets.

It's important to note that while trading crypto futures is legal in the US and regulated by the CFTC, other countries may have different regulations and restrictions. As always, it's advisable to check the laws and regulations in your specific country before engaging in any crypto trading activities, including trading crypto futures.

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Crypto Futures Trading Fees

Trading futures and derivatives contracts involves different fees than standard spot trading on traditional exchanges like Coinbase or Kraken. Here are some of the common fees and costs associated with trading cryptocurrency futures contracts.

1. Trading Fees: Much like spot trading, Bitcoin Futures contracts will typically charge a commission for
   a buy or sell.
2. Funding Fees: Fees can apply for certain Bitcoin Futures contracts when you keep
   a contract open through a certain time period.
3. Extension Fees: Fees can apply if you extend a Bitcoin Futures contract beyond its close date.
4. Leverage Fees: When you are margin trading Bitcoin, you are borrowing money to use leverage on your trades. There is generally an interest payment attached to borrowing that money.

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Final Thoughts

Cryptocurrency futures trading has become increasingly popular in recent years, and with so many futures exchanges now available, it can be challenging to determine the best option. This post evaluates the five best crypto futures exchanges, taking into account factors such as security, trading fees, liquidity, and user experience. Bybit is rated as the best overall futures exchange, while Binance is best for institutional investors, Phemex is best for altcoin pairs, eToro is best for multi-asset trading, and DYDX is the best decentralized futures platform.