Learn: crypto derivatives data, explained
43 short explainers for the data and trading concepts on this site: what they mean, how traders use them and where they mislead. Selected guides also show live numbers.
New to futures? Start here
- What are perpetual futures?Start here: what a perpetual future is and why it never expires. then try: Funding rates
- How does leverage work in crypto?See how leverage changes your exposure and the margin you need. then try: Liquidation price calculator
- What is the funding rate?Learn who pays funding and why the payment changes. then try: Funding rates
- What is open interest?Read the size of open futures positions alongside price. then try: Open interest
- What are liquidations?Understand when a leveraged position is forcibly closed. then try: Live liquidations
- What is the long/short ratio?Find out what long and short account counts can tell you. then try: Long/short ratio
- What is a liquidation heatmap? Estimated liquidation levels vs order-book liquidityLearn to read estimated liquidation levels and their limits. then try: Liquidation heatmap
Explainers
Selected guides include live numbers
What is open interest?The total size of open futures positions, and what it means when it rises or falls with price.
What is the funding rate?The periodic payment between longs and shorts that keeps a perpetual close to spot.
What are liquidations?Forced closes of leveraged positions, and why the public numbers are a floor, not a total.
What is the long/short ratio?The share of accounts that are net long, what it counts and what it does not.
What is CVD (cumulative volume delta)?The running total of aggressive buying minus aggressive selling, for spot and perps.
What is basis?The gap between a futures price and spot, and how funding keeps a perpetual's basis small.
What is a volume spike?A minute of trading far above a market's normal pace, and how to read what came after.
What are HIP-3 stock perps?Builder-deployed perps on stocks, indices and commodities, and why market hours matter.
What is the altcoin season index?What altcoin season means and how our index is calculated: top 50 altcoins vs Bitcoin over 90 days, what is excluded, the 75/25 thresholds and limits.
Funding arbitrage: cash flows, fees and risksUnderstand spot-perp and perp-perp funding arbitrage with a two-leg dollar example, trading fees, capital assumptions and settlement interval risks.
What is a liquidation cascade?How forced liquidations chain together in crypto, the leverage setup, live busiest-hour concentration and what followed past liquidation clusters.
The cash-and-carry trade in cryptoCrypto cash-and-carry: buy spot, short a dated future, lock in the basis. Annualising, costs, the perp funding version and risks, with live BTC rates.
What is the Coinbase premium?What the Coinbase premium index means: Coinbase USD vs Binance USDT bitcoin prices, why it is read as US demand, the USDT caveat and how to read it.
Exchange concentration: venue share, HHI and 24h shiftsUnderstand venue share, top-two share, HHI on a 0–1 scale and 24h share shifts in percentage points, with worked examples and coverage limits.
How to read the CME COT report for bitcoinWhat the CFTC Commitments of Traders report shows for CME bitcoin and ether futures: trader groups, why leveraged funds are net short, and its limits.
How Bitcoin options workLearn Bitcoin calls, puts, strike, expiry and premium with worked payoff examples and the live BTC at-the-money call and put from the options chain.
Order-book depth, imbalance and slippageLearn how bid and ask depth bands, signed imbalance and estimated market-order slippage work, with an illustrative book walk and the limits of snapshot liquidity.
Gamma exposure (GEX) and the dealer assumptionUnderstand options gamma exposure, the GEX formula, dealer sign assumptions and the zero-gamma level, with a synthetic example and model limits.
Option greeks: delta, gamma, vega and thetaUnderstand Black-76 option greeks, their displayed units and a worked example, plus why model estimates can differ from exchange greeks.
What is HLP on Hyperliquid?How the Hyperliquid HLP vault makes money from market making and liquidations, the 4-day lockup, drawdown risk, and its live TVL, APR and 30-day PnL.
What is an insurance fund, and what is ADL?Crypto exchange insurance funds and auto-deleveraging (ADL) explained: bankruptcy price, shared and isolated pools, the ADL queue, with live balances.
Implied volatility, smile and 25-delta risk reversalUnderstand annualized options IV, realized volatility, the smile and expiry term structure, with a worked 25-delta risk reversal example.
IV rank vs IV percentileCompare IV rank and midrank percentile with a synthetic spike example. Understand the observed 30-day window, coverage and missing history.
What is the kimchi premium?Why Bitcoin often costs more in South Korea: how the kimchi premium is calculated from Upbit and Bithumb prices, why arbitrage fails, and its limits.
How does leverage work in crypto?How crypto leverage works: initial and maintenance margin, isolated vs cross margin, the liquidation price formula and why max leverage falls with size.
What is a liquidation heatmap? Estimated liquidation levels vs order-book liquidityHow a liquidation heatmap estimates forced-close levels from open interest, how it differs from a measured order-book liquidity heatmap, and its limits.
Options max pain and liquidation max painTwo meanings of max pain: options expiry payout and modelled liquidation bands. Follow a worked example and understand what neither metric predicts.
RSI, MACD and moving averages: how the screeners compute themLearn the RSI, MACD and moving-average formulas, seeds, candle rules and limits behind the crypto screeners, with synthetic worked examples.
Buy walls, sell walls and spoofingRead buy and sell walls on an order-book heatmap, understand pulled vs consumed orders, and see why a disappearing wall is not proof of spoofing.
Hourly price and OI states: measuring what followedUnderstand hourly price and open interest states, state entries, non-overlapping outcomes and quantiles. Recorded history of one contract, not a forecast.
What happens when Bitcoin options expire?Bitcoin options expire at 08:00 UTC and settle in cash against a 30-minute index average. See the next BTC and ETH expiries, open interest and max pain.
Options vs perps: open interest and positioningUnderstand options OI as a share of perp OI, put/call beside top-trader long share, venue coverage, matched UTC hours and the limits of this comparison.
What is a perp DEX?Perp DEXs explained: custody, order books, funding and risks, with live Hyperliquid, Aster and Lighter open interest, volume and OI share.
What are perpetual futures?Perpetual futures explained: no expiry, how funding ties perps to spot, mark price, leverage and liquidation, perps vs futures, with live BTC numbers.
Put/call ratio: open interest vs 24h volumeLearn how options put/call ratios differ for open interest and 24h volume, with coin units, a worked example and coverage limits.
Realized vs implied volatilityCompare Bitcoin 30-day realised and implied volatility, understand the volatility risk premium, and read the IV minus RV spread in vol points.
What is a short squeeze? Short and long squeezes in cryptoShort and long squeezes in crypto explained: forced buying and selling from liquidations, their signature in liquidations, OI and funding, and limits.
What is a stop hunt?Why crypto stop-losses cluster, how triggered orders can move price, and live BTC stop clusters from tracked Hyperliquid wallets. Coverage and limits.
What is the taker buy/sell ratio?Taker buy/sell ratio explained: aggressor-side volume, the formula, a worked example, how it differs from CVD and the long/short ratio, and its limits.
Futures term structure, calendar spreads and annualised basisRead dated crypto futures curves, contango, backwardation, calendar spreads and expiry rolls, with a simple annualised basis example and live BTC curve.
ATR, Bollinger Bands and volatility squeeze explainedCompare Wilder ATR, Bollinger %B and bandwidth, and Parkinson 7d/30d volatility squeeze with synthetic examples and clear limits.
How to track crypto whalesTrack crypto whales with large taker trades, Hyperliquid wallet positions and top-trader ratios. Live readings, whale alerts and the limits of each method.
Mark price and index price: how exchanges price liquidationsHow Binance, OKX, Bybit and Bitget build a perp's index from spot venues, turn it into a mark price, and why thin or concentrated indexes add liquidation risk.