Crypto exchange OKEx launches bitcoin (BTC) perpetual swap

OKEx, a Malta-based digital asset exchange, today announced the launch of a brand-new derivative product, a bitcoin-based perpetual swap. With the new addition, users of OKEx can now perform perpetual swap, futures contract, and spot trading with margin and leverage at one stop. Perpetual swap trading will be officially available at OKEx on December 11, 2018, at 01:00 (GMT+9).

The OKEx perpetual swap is a peer-to-peer, virtual derivative developed by OKEx to enable traders to speculate the direction of the price of digital assets, starting with bitcoin. It has a mechanism very similar to futures contract, but with no expiry, and settlement occurs daily. Each swap contract has a notional value of USD 100-equivalent BTC. Users can go long a position to profit from the increase of a digital asset’s price, or short a position to profit from the decline of a digital asset’s price, with a leverage of up to 100x.

OKEx’s Perpetual Swap has the following features comparing to futures contract:

• No expiry – positions can be held indefinitely;
• Trade closely to the underlying reference index — unlike futures contract that normally is traded at a different price to spot market
• Leverage level from 1-100x available
• Track the price of the spot market via funding mechanism

In addition, users can enjoy the advantages including:

• Mark Price mechanism helps to avoid unnecessary liquidation
• Lower transaction fees than other similar products in the market
• Fast settlement – swaps are settled daily, profits can be withdrawn daily;
• Partial liquidation system – minimizing the market impact during forced liquidation
• Tiered margin system enables traders to adjust their leverage level according to their risk appetite and market condition

“This marked a key milestone for OKEx. The launch of perpetual swap demonstrated our continuous commitment to build a complete financial ecosystem on blockchain and crypto. With the new offering, investors and traders can select the products which best fit their trading and hedging strategies. However, we would like to remind our users that due to its high leverage nature, implementing risk control strategies are equally crucial in trading.”