Derivatives give exposure with leverage and require strict risk management. The right platform combines liquidity, a robust liquidation engine and transparent funding.

Contracts and costs

• Perpetuals vs dated futures vs options — know what you trade.
• Costs include maker/taker fees, funding (perps), delivery/settlement and borrow rates.
• Check min tick size and lot size on your pairs to avoid excess slippage.

Risk controls

• Liquidation engine, insurance fund size, auto-deleveraging policy.
• Cross vs isolated margin, partial liquidation steps, risk tiers.
• Stability under volatility (system status pages, incident history).

Access & tooling

• Regional availability and KYC requirements for leverage.
• Order types (TP/SL, post-only, reduce-only), latency, API/websocket quality.
• Funding history and basis, analytics for funding arbitrage or hedging.

Use strict position sizing and avoid excessive leverage. Test with small size before connecting automated systems.