Trading Quick-start
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This content is not maintained and refers to an out-of-date version of Perpetual Protocol.
For the latest documentation, see https://docs.perp.com
Trading on Perpetual Protocol has many advantages:
Only you control your own funds—funds can never be seized or frozen
Trades can be audited and verified by independent 3rd parties at any time
No accounts or sign-ups—authorize trades directly from your web3 wallet
To trade on Perp v2 you will need to provide USDC as collateral on the Optimism network. This will require you to have a wallet like MetaMask loaded with either USDC or another asset you plan to swap for USDC.
Once you have a wallet loaded with your asset of choice you’re ready to bridge to Optimism.
Several bridging options are listed at app.perp.com. Listing does not imply endorsement. You must research and assess the risk of using any bridge before using it, just like you would any other DeFi protocol.
To do this, go to https://gateway.optimism.io/ and deposit the asset you wish to bridge.
A more detailed tutorial on bridging to Optimism can be found on their user documentation at https://help.optimism.io/hc/en-us/articles/4411907057563-Depositing-assets
After bridging your assets to Optimism, you’re ready to deposit them as collateral in order to open a position on Perpetual Protocol.
If you bridged an asset like ETH you’ll need to swap it to USDC on an exchange like Uniswap. If you bridged USDC you can skip this step and proceed directly to depositing.
To do so, head to https://app.perp.com where you’ll be presented with an account overview displaying your address and network, as well as current account value and free collateral.
To deposit your USDC as collateral, click “Deposit/Withdrawal” on your account summary.
Next, enter the amount of USDC you would like to deposit and click “Deposit”.
You will need to authorize the Perpetual Protocol contract to deposit your USDC.
After doing so, and waiting a moment for the transaction to process, your account overview will update with your new account value and free collateral.
Now that you have provided collateral, you can open a position.
To do so, select the “Trade” tab from the side-pane on the left and then choose which market you’d like to trade.
For this tutorial we’ll be trading ETH, but the steps for all markets are the same.
Selecting a market brings up the price chart, order panel, and order history.
At the top of the order panel you can select whether you’d like to go long or short. Select your preference and enter the amount of your desired position in the asset field, or use the slider to set a percentage of your free collateral. You’ll notice that when you enter a value into the asset or USD field the corresponding field will auto-populate.
Buying power includes leverage. If you use 50% of your buying power, your position will be opened with 5x leverage. If you already have a position open, your account leverage will update accordingly.
You’ll also be able to see what percentage of your buying power you will employ by opening the position (current available leverage is up to 10x). You can use the Buying Power (BP) slider bar to adjust the amount of BP you wish to use for the order.
By scrolling down, you can also view the transaction summary with entry and liquidation price, transaction fee and more. When you are satisfied with your position size, click “Confirm Long” (or “Confirm Short”).
You will be asked to confirm the contract interaction through your wallet. After doing so, allow a moment for the transaction to confirm.
After it does, your open position will now be displayed on the price chart, as well as at the bottom of the trading interface in the “Position” tab.
Congratulations, you’ve successfully opened a position!
There are 3 different ways to close an open position.
By clicking the “Close Position” button in the Positions tab.
By clicking the “X” on the open order on the price chart.
By opening a new position of equal size opposite to the open position (so to close a 1 ETH long, open a 1 ETH short; to close a 1 ETH short, open a 1 ETH long). Note that you may end up with a very tiny ‘dust position’ after doing so — you may safely ignore it!
How you close a position is up to you. The outcome of all three actions is the same, but closing it from either the price chart or the position tab will allow you to review your Profit/Loss, Position Size, Exit Price, Price Impact, and the Transaction Fee before doing so.
All options will require you to once again confirm the transaction through your wallet. After doing so and allowing a moment for your transaction to be confirmed, your position will close and disappear from the price chart and Position tab.
Congratulations, you successfully closed your position!
