How to trade USDT Perpetual contracts on Bybit

Trading USDT Perpetual contracts on Bybit involves following the correct steps to open, manage, monitor and close your positions. The contracts give you exposure to cryptocurrency and traditional-market assets without needing to own the underlying asset. While potentially profitable, these contracts feature leveraged derivatives trading, which involves significant risk of loss. 

In this guide, we walk you through the App and web workflows for executing USDT Perpetual trades. Whether you use a smartphone or a desktop for these trades, the same basic logic applies to the key procedures.



Key takeaways:

• USDT Perpetual contracts have no expiration date, and settle profit and loss (P&L) in Tether (USDT), while collateral rules depend upon your margin mode. 

• You’ll learn the App and web workflows for opening, managing and closing a position.

• Leverage, funding, fees and liquidation all affect your risk and trading results.

What are USDT Perpetual contracts?

Perpetual contracts are derivative instruments with no expiration date. P&L settles in USDT, and the contracts support both long and short trading directions with leveraged exposure. You may hear them called "perpetual futures," but in this article, we use the specific Bybit product designation: USDT Perpetual contracts.

Trading these contracts confers no ownership of the underlying asset. Your position stays open only while you meet margin requirements. Meanwhile, USDT is a dollar-pegged stablecoin that carries its own risks.

In a Perpetual contract, you choose a long or short direction, depending upon your view of the market. Leveraged exposure means your position responds to price moves on a larger scale than your margin alone would suggest. Because no underlying asset changes hands, your exposure exists only as a contract position on Bybit.

For specific product details, see the Bybit help center article Introduction to USDT Perpetual and Expiration Contracts. In addition, our FAQ on USDT Perpetual and Expiration Contracts offers additional reference.

Which USDT Perpetual contracts can you trade on Bybit?

For underlying assets, USDT Perpetual contracts on Bybit support crypto and TradFi contracts, including stocks and commodities. TradFi Perpetuals share core margin, funding and liquidation mechanisms with crypto perpetuals, but use adapted pricing parameters.

TradFi contracts give you price exposure without stock ownership, voting rights or physical commodity delivery. They remain subject to underlying market closure and liquidity risks. Check each contract's category before you trade so you know which risks apply.

Innovation Zone contracts carry additional risk, along with specific fees, order limits and trading reward exclusions. Review our Perpetual Trading Innovation Zone FAQ before you trade these types of contracts. Additionally, see Introduction to TradFi Perpetual contracts for more information on such products.

Prices and funding for USDT Perpetual contracts

The following three key price definitions are of critical importance when you trade USDT Perpetual contracts on Bybit.

Because Bybit uses the Mark Price for liquidation and margin checks, it’s important to watch it alongside the Last Traded Price when you hold a leveraged position.

Funding is a regular payment that’s exchanged between contract position holders. When the funding rate is positive, long position holders pay short position holders; when the rate is negative, short position holders pay long position holders. Your position direction therefore determines whether you pay or receive the funding fees.

Before you open a position, check the contract’s current funding rate and countdown timer directly on the Bybit platform. Confirm these parameters each time you trade, rather than relying on an earlier reading.

Choosing margin and leverage for USDT Perpetual trading

Margin is the collateral behind your leveraged position. Two key thresholds define it:

• Initial margin is the minimum collateral required to open a leveraged position.

• Maintenance margin is the minimum collateral required to keep that position open to avoid liquidation.

Bybit supports three margin modes, per the table below.

Collateral also differs by mode. Isolated Margin uses USDT, while Cross Margin and Portfolio Margin support eligible multi-asset collateral.

The account maintenance margin ratio (MMR) measures your overall account risk. Think of it as a single reading of how your whole account stands, and monitor it closely whenever you hold open positions.

Leverage limits vary by contract size and tier, so the maximum you can select differs from one contract to another. Under Cross Margin or Portfolio Margin, one position’s losses can draw on the collateral that supports your other positions.

How to trade USDT Perpetual contracts on the Bybit website

Follow these steps to place a USDT Perpetual trade via the Bybit website:

1. Confirm your eligibility. You need an account with Identity Verification completed, and a Unified Trading Account (UTA) that’s ready for trade. Complete both of these steps before you try to place an order.

2. Fund your account. Transfer assets into your UTA so that you have collateral available.

3. From Bybit’s homepage, navigate to Trade → Futures to open the default trading interface.

4. Select a contract by using the search box in the top-left corner of the page. The contract you pick determines which funding rate, price and leverage limits will apply to your trade.

5. In the right-side order pane, set your order type (Market, Limit or Conditional) and enter the quantity. Limit and Conditional orders additionally require trigger price levels to be specified.



1. Optionally, tick the TP/SL box and add Take Profit and Stop Loss levels.

2. Click on the Long or Short button to specify your order direction.

3. Review your order details, and click on Confirm.

An accepted order isn’t guaranteed to fill immediately, so check your open orders after you’ve submitted them.

Trading USDT Perpetual contracts on the Bybit App

Placing an order on the Bybit App follows the same general logic as on the website. After completing the first two requirements listed above, follow these steps:

1. Tap on Trade in the bottom menu of the homescreen, and choose the Futures tab at the top.

2. Select your asset by tapping on the contract name at the top left.



1. In the order interface, set your order type (Market, Limit or Conditional) and enter the quantity. Limit and Conditional orders additionally require trigger price levels to be specified.

2. Optionally, tick the TP/SL box and add Take Profit and Stop Loss levels.

3. Tap on the Long or Short button to specify your order direction. 

4. Review your order details, and click on Confirm.



Managing and closing a USDT Perpetual position

Bybit lets you track your contract trading activity in separate interface tabs. The Open Orders tab helps you see your unfilled orders, while the Positions tab lists your orders that have either been filled or are still open.

Order History lists the orders you’ve placed, including ones that were canceled or never filled. In contrast, Trade History lists only the executions, which includes only the filled orders that have actually been executed and were live at some point. 

Each tab serves a different purpose: use Positions to monitor open positions, Open Orders to check pending orders, Order History to review submitted orders, and Trade History to review executed trades.

Monitor your margin risk continually in order to avoid liquidation. Your position remains open only while you meet margin requirements, so check your margin whenever you hold a trade. You can adjust Take Profit (TP) and Stop Loss (SL) settings dynamically on an open position, which lets you update your exit controls while the trade is live. Pending orders can be canceled independently of your positions, so you can cancel an order on its own if your plans change.

To exit, you can reduce or close a position using Market or Limit orders. The Reduce-Only function ensures your order only reduces or closes your open position, and never increases your exposure. Meanwhile, Post-Only is an optional setting that you can add to Limit or Conditional orders. It ensures your Limit order is placed into the order book, instead of being executed immediately. Because the order rests on the book, you’ll pay a lower trading fee than you would if your order were executed on placement. 

Remember that stop-losses are subject to slippage. They don’t guarantee complete protection against liquidation, so keep monitoring your margin risk after you set one. Margin checks, TP and SL controls, pending orders and exit orders are all part of managing a position, so review each of them while a trade remains open.

Understanding USDT Perpetual P&L and ROI

Now we’ll consider a hypothetical trade that shows how P&L works for USDT Perpetual contracts. Let’s say you open a long position with a quantity of 0.01 BTC, an entry price of 50,000 USDT and an exit price of 51,000 USDT. Gross P&L here equals quantity multiplied by the difference between exit price and entry price: 

0.01 × (51,000 − 50,000) = 10 USDT 

Because P&L settles in USDT, the result is expressed in USDT. This figure represents Total P&L, and excludes trading fees and funding payments.

We’ll also assume a hypothetical 100 USDT margin, which gives a return on investment (ROI) of 10%. Note: In this example, the 100 USDT figure is illustrative, and doesn’t represent the actual required margin for the trade. Your actual ROI denominator depends upon applicable margin and fee calculations, so treat the 10% as an illustrative guide only.

Bybit tracks unrealized P&L, realized P&L and closed P&L separately, based on whether a position is active or settled. Unrealized P&L relates to positions that are still active, while realized and closed P&L relate to settled ones. Trading fees and funding payments affect your net financial results, so the 10 USDT result changes once you account for these payments. Note that changing leverage alone doesn’t alter P&L for a fixed trade size and price level.

For the full details on P&L calculations, read our Profit and Loss Calculations for USDT Contracts.

The bottom line

USDT Perpetual contracts have no expiration date, and settle P&L in USDT. You can trade long or short with leveraged exposure, and you hold no ownership of the underlying asset. Your position remains open only while you meet margin requirements, and USDT — as a dollar-pegged stablecoin — carries its own risks.

The App and website workflows above cover the basic opening, managing and closing procedures for USDT Perpetual contracts. Margin mode, leverage settings, funding, trading fees and liquidation all affect your results, so use the performance monitoring tabs provided by Bybit to stay on top of each trade.

To start with these contracts on Bybit, please visit our platform’s default USDT Perpetual contracts trading interface. 



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