I notice that many new people entering crypto want to trade futures immediately without fully understanding the risks. Today, I want to share some experiences to help you avoid costly mistakes.

What is futures? It is a trading method that uses leverage on exchanges. You place an order predicting the price trend—Long if you expect it to rise, Short if you expect it to fall. If your prediction is correct, you make a profit; if wrong, you incur a loss. It’s that simple, but behind it are significant risks, especially for beginners.

The hardest part is leverage. Exchanges allow a maximum leverage of x100, meaning you have $1, and the exchange lends you an additional $99 to trade with $100. Sounds great, but it’s also a double-edged sword. When your order goes against you, the loss will be deducted from your principal capital. If the loss exhausts your initial funds, your assets will be liquidated—completely wiped out. That’s the risk of trading futures that many people don’t realize.

So how can you control the risk when trading futures? First, you must use SL (Stop Loss) and TP (Take Profit). Most exchanges have this feature. You set the stop-loss point and take-profit point in advance to automatically close the position. It helps you avoid the risk of liquidation due to forgetting to monitor.

Based on my experience, here are the rules I follow. When trading BTC, I only use a maximum leverage of x5 or less. For ETH and other altcoins, I stick to x3 or less. Never go all-in on a single trade. Divide your capital into multiple smaller positions to have more chances to withstand losses. The key is to keep the liquidation point as far away as possible to have room to operate.

Actually, the risk of trading futures doesn’t only come from leverage but also from your emotions and discipline. Without a clear plan and knowing when to stop, you can easily incur losses. What I share here is just personal experience, not investment advice. Learn and practice on a demo first, understand what you’re doing, and only then trade with real money. I will continue sharing signals and market updates—follow me so you don’t miss out.