Perpetual futures glossary
Clear definitions, worked examples, and Lynx-specific mechanics for the perpetual futures terms every trader should understand.
Contract mechanics
2 termsPerpetual futures
A perpetual future is a derivative contract that follows the price of an underlying asset without a fixed expiration date. Traders take long or short exposure without owning the asset itself. Margin supports the position, funding helps keep the contract near its reference market, and losses can trigger liquidation.
Funding rate
The funding rate is a periodic rate used by many perpetual futures markets to encourage the contract price to stay near its reference price. A payment normally moves between long and short position holders: when the rate is positive longs commonly pay shorts, while a negative rate commonly reverses that flow.
Capital and risk
5 termsCollateral
Collateral is the asset value committed to support a leveraged position and absorb its losses and costs. It helps a venue enforce margin requirements without requiring the trader to pay the position’s full notional value. Collateral may be isolated to one position or shared across positions, depending on the venue’s margin model.
Leverage
Leverage describes how large a trading position is relative to the capital supporting it. A $5,000 position backed by $1,000 of collateral has 5× leverage. Leverage magnifies the effect of price changes, fees, and funding on that collateral, but it is not a complete measure of a position’s risk.
Initial and maintenance margin
Initial margin is the minimum eligible equity a venue requires to open or increase a leveraged position. Maintenance margin is the lower ongoing threshold required to keep that exposure open. When account or position equity falls below the applicable maintenance requirement, the venue can reduce or liquidate exposure according to its rules.
Liquidation
Liquidation is the venue-controlled process of reducing or closing leveraged exposure after its supporting equity no longer satisfies required risk thresholds. It is intended to limit further losses to the trader and market, but can involve fees, partial or full closure, unfavorable execution, and outcomes that differ from the displayed estimate.
Position size and notional value
Position size describes the quantity of derivative exposure a trader holds. Notional value expresses that exposure in a reference currency, commonly by multiplying quantity by the relevant asset price. Notional is not the same as collateral, account balance, or maximum loss; it is the market value on which PnL and many costs are based.
Pricing and execution
4 termsIndex price
The index price is a reference value intended to represent the external spot price of the asset underlying a derivative. A venue may combine prices from multiple exchanges or oracle publishers, apply weights, and remove stale or abnormal inputs. The index can inform funding, marking, settlement, and other risk calculations.
Mark price
The mark price is a venue-calculated fair-price estimate used for functions such as unrealized PnL, margin checks, and liquidation. It is designed to be harder to distort than a single last trade. Its formula commonly references an index price and market premium, but the exact inputs, bounds, and update rules vary.
Realized and unrealized PnL
Profit and loss, or PnL, measures how a position’s value has changed. Unrealized PnL is the estimated gain or loss on exposure that remains open, usually calculated with a venue-defined mark. Realized PnL records the result assigned when exposure is closed or settled, with fees and funding handled according to venue rules.
Slippage and price impact
Price impact is the change in expected execution caused by the size of a trader’s own order relative to available liquidity. Slippage is the difference between an expected execution price and the price ultimately received. They can overlap, but market movement, latency, transaction ordering, and execution rules can create slippage beyond quoted price impact.
Market signals
1 termsOther common terms
Short definitions for basic trading language used throughout the glossary.
- Long
- A position that benefits when the market price rises.
- Short
- A position that benefits when the market price falls.
- Entry price
- The effective price at which a position is opened.
- Take profit
- An instruction intended to close a profitable position at a chosen price.
- Stop loss
- An instruction intended to reduce exposure after price reaches a chosen level.
- Spread
- The distance between the best available buy and sell prices.
- Oracle
- Infrastructure that brings externally sourced market data on-chain.