Bitcoin Forum

I’ve had a ridiculous experience with Bitmex, both fun and depressing, but I think I’m finally getting a grip on it, so I wanted to share some things I’ve learned. For clarity, when I first started using Bitmex, I lost about 3 BTC over the course of a month because I had no idea what I was doing and I’m an idiot. Since then however, I’ve taken .06 BTC and I’m currently at 2.7 BTC from Bitmex alone in a few weeks. It has the potential to make you rich, but also super broke. Do not take it lightly.

If you've never used Bitmex before, you can read my original newbie guide on how to start using Bitmex here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/84stai/bitmex_for_dummies_leveraged_trading_longshorts/

Also a reminder, you get 10% off fees if you sign up with a referral code. If you already signed up and didn’t use one, email support and ask them to apply one, it's pretty quick and definitely worth the 2 minute hassle. Would appreciate if you use mine, but just make sure you use something to get the 10% off: "http://bitmex.com/register/BCCNeF (http://bitmex.com/register/BCCNeF)"

1. Maker vs Taker: I wasted SO much money on fees originally before I knew about this. Market buying/selling means you pay a fee and based on the last point that is very expensive. If you set limit orders and choose the "post-only" option, you will only place an order if it doesn't execute immediately. If the price hits your mark, you'll actually receive fees rather than paying them. While that seems super small, as mentioned when working with high leverages it adds up a LOT. Fees are based on leverage, so if you’re cross or 100x, you’d literally pay 7.5% just to open an order. At 100k contracts, this is nearly .01 BTC.
2. Cross Leverage: Far left on the leverage slider. This is 100x leverage, but it uses your entire wallet balance as margin. If you have 1 BTC and you open a position worth .1 BTC, on normal 100x leverage, your liquidation would be ~$60 away from your entry price. With Cross, you have .9 BTC as margin, meaning your liquidation would be about $600 away from your entry. Nearly everybody uses this because it helps guard against those fluctuations where you have the right call, but you got liquidated right before. It does mean you can lose 300% or 700% of your money though, so be warned, use stop losses.
3. Funding: In the bottom left of Bitmex, there’s a “Funding Rate”. Every now and then, this will get ridiculously high (i.e. if everyone is longing, and no one is shorting) and play a massive part in the landscape. If the fee is positive and you have a long open, you will pay that fee every 8 hours. If you have a short open in that situation, you get paid that fee. On 100k contracts and a .2 fee, this is .02 BTC, which isn’t bad at all. More importantly beyond the fee though is the pump/dump around it. In the case of a positive .2 fee, the price on Bitmex will tank ~30 minutes before funding (because everyone is closing their longs to avoid the fee) and the second that funding goes through it will skyrocket. Often times it’s worth it to pay the fee just for the price bump afterwards, but I’d honestly recommend just having no position if there’s a massive funding fee coming up.
4. DCA and Small loss vs Big one: There’s two schools of thought to a losing trade. You can dollar cost average, meaning, if I enter long at $9500 and it goes down, I can add more at $9400 to get my entry to $9450. This sometimes works beautifully if you truly believe it goes up. However, the flipside to that is that you add at $9400 and it then goes to $9200. That’s nearly a 300% loss. Adding at stoploss at let’s say $9430 would have lost you 80% instead. But there are times where your stop loss triggers and it shoots up right after. You need to make a decision in these situations how you’re going to handle it. I’ve done days where I make .2 BTC four days in a row and feel great, but then lose 1 BTC all because of one bad trade I refused to get out of and it’s all nullified.
5. Wait for entry and pre-set orders: Bitmex swings HARD. If Bitfinex has a $100 candle, Bitmex may have a $200 candle, solely because of overloaded blocking people from new orders meaning only orders on the books before the big candle are counted. Never, ever, ever, try to catch a candle. By the time your order goes through, it’s too late and you’ll likely be stuck with a terrible entry as it’s about to retrace. Additionally, use this to your advantage. If you expect a $100 pump, put your take profit close at $170 above, or a take profit earlier and then open a short at $170 above with expectations for a retrace. Even outside these large pumps, jumping into a wave is almost always a bad idea. If you miss an entry, just be patient. Missed profit is better than losing money.
6.Signals: You should learn how to do your own TA, but there’s also lots of Twitter guys/Discord groups that provide signals. One thing you’ll find is they never agree on anything. Don’t trust any single person because every single one will brag about how much money they’re making, but they can and will be wrong. Use them as guidelines, but not gospel

Sitting out most of the day today. 9500 is an interesting range where we will either test 9100 or pump back up to test 10k again. Not worth the risk other than small scalps.

Tough position today. Longing 9050 and shorting 9300 probably.

I would imagine long at 8700 and shorts at any position above 9160. We still depend on good news for a steady climb.

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCUSD/technicals/

Good topic, will be following

Admittedly did horrible the last few days. Kept expecting a bounce, but never got one. Always use stop-losses! Hoping for 8450 then bounce for now.

If you wont lose your house fast dont trade using laverage or if you really need to do laverage dont go very big laverage. As far as i know people always lose trading using laverage because you will be forced to close your poaition if your margin is not enough.

Shorting at 8700 if it hits it today. Tight SL around 8750 in case it decides to go nuts.

Allmeat27 posts some good information here.  If you are new to this take it to heart.  As always, read up on the coins you want to invest in and get to know them.

Nice guide but please don't tell people to trade at 100x leverege. Noobs should just play without any leverage to get familar with the platform then start using leverege but no higher than 5x leverage.

Short at 8700 certainly did well! Layering longs from 8k to 7.8k for a bounce.

Long range didn't hit unfortunately, but crazy day riding pumps and dumps. Great day to demonstrate the massive amount of money you can make (or lose!) from bitmex. Shorting from 8400 to 8k now.

7.8k still not hit unfortunately. No trade zone IMO right now, waiting for either 8350 to confirm up or 8100 to confirm down.

Shorting to 8350. Longing there to 8800ish for the final wave down after that!

Short worked out well, but not feeling as confident about 8800. May sit out for a bit and see what happens. Waiting for an 8450 break or an 8100 break.

Longing 7650. This bear run is nasty though.

Great success playing between 7400 and 7300. Keep tight SLs on your longs though, should still be overall bearish.

Looking to short between 7600 and 7800

Unfortunately never hit my targets before this dump. Sitting out for now, kind of a no trade zone.

Longing 7250, shorting 7800.

Shorting 7650ish

Feeling a serious case of FOMO and want to short at 7650, but reminding myself to stay patient. May hit 7750, looking to short there.

My boyfriend got liquidated a while ago. I found out that there is a simulation website for bitmex by bitmex where u can start learning.
Bitmex is so wild

I also first traded in a big minus on this exchange and when I lost almost everything, I started using stop loss and buy no more than 10% of the capital and gradually return my Deposit! Very insidious exchange, you need to learn how to work in a plus!

Definitely agree. The feeling of getting stopped out SUCKS, but then you realize it saves you in so many situations. Don't let confirmation bias run your trades!

Longing 7550ish here I think. Kind of risky, but due for a quick leg up.

I believe that posting out referral links is strictly prohibited on this forum therefore OP should edit those links above or mods will definitely do it. I havent heard about Bitmex before so i would still use up tradional trading platforms.By the way topic is quite interesting and does really give out some idea. Cheers
But reaching out those points we would still need to breakout that 7700-7800 resistance which i do see it would still takes time to happen basing on the price movement we are seeing.

Playing in between 6680 and 6780 for the day. I think we have another day before the next big move. Lots of resistance both ways.

6.6k short activated. Leggo!

Took profit around 6350, looking to reshort around 6500

Shorting 6700

Longed at 6620. Hoping for another 6800 test.

Is there some statistics how many people losing their first depo totally in first two weeks with such leverage) 99% or 99.99% ;)?

I'd love to see that number too because I'd be in it!

Kind of a no trade zone right now. 6100 is a key number.

Got close to 6500, but looks like it's back down for now. I'm in a quick long from 6050, but tight SL. Think its dump at 6150.

Longing 6050 here again!

Long from 5810. Hoping for 6100.

Took profits at 6100 so that sucked, but longed again at 6300 and took some more profits. 6350 kind of no trade for me, waiting to see what happens.

I learned in part your information about Bitmex and it interested me. But in general, I do not understand in Bitmex. Of course, it's all about knowing and understanding a very good work. That would be someone who helped me to study it. Good luck in Bitmex.

I have a "for noobS" thread as well that walks through starting up. Go chec kit out!

Really tough call here. 6800 could still be in play. Think I'm longing 6350.

6600 is definitely a no trade zone. 6400 break would mean 6k retest I think.

Longing 6500 Range. Little scared because Friday is usually a dump. Tight SLs

Layering shorts from 6.6 to 6.8. I think dump will happen, but not sure when.

Average short is 6.7 and a litttleeee scared. I think if we close above 6800 we may start a mini bull run to 7.5ish. Will get out of my short ASAP if we close there.

Closed short at 6650 for some profit. No trade zone right now. I think dump, but the pump to 7k could still be there.

Took profit at 6650 on the short, regretting that for sure!

Longing 6300 now.

Just been playing these swings over and over. Great time to trade with tight SLs. I think the next big move will probably be up, but very content to play $30 swings right now.

Got pretty lucky and managed to profit on the quick downswing and then flipped to a long and caught this up swing. Super good day today. I think we'll see a retest of 6200 then back up for a bit, maybe 6.5 or something. We'll see how it goes, but definitely leaning long after a small retrace.

Another great day today. Find the resistance points and play between them. Still think a 6.5k retest is coming.

Stuck in a 6500 short but fairly sure it's going to retrace at some point.

Welp, REALLY hoping this retraces. Somewhat scared!

Welp I got mega boned on yesterday's pump as I was still in the short. Unfortunate, but it happens. Lost about a week of earnings, time to get back to it. Shorting from 7500 here.

Beautiful day with all the swings. 7300 is a bit of no trade for me, might see what direction it goes.

Signals is the worst way of making money, all of those guys in telegram groups just want to take your money and mostly trade shit coins.

Another good day. Basically my strategy the last two days has been to find good entry points and then set smaller orders up to $100 passed that point. Even when I miss the entry really bad, it's eventually retracing way passed each one and I've done pretty well. Will likely get caught in one one of these times, but hoping this continues for sure!

Longing 7200 here I think.

Still following this strategy. I think the next move will be 7.8k, but plenty of money to be made before that.

7.6k might be the next stop. 7.8k looking somewhat doubtful.

Said this in my other thread and I was super wrong! Really don't think it should go any further up without some foul play! We'll see I guess!

"Close enough to 7.6k I think thats it. Maybe 7.5k again then 7200 as a retrace."

Good 7800 rejection. Next stop is 7.5k or 7.2k I think.

Whew was I wrong! No trade zone right now. I'm thinking maybe 8.4k then down, but who knows at this point.

Thinking an 8050/8k bounce to maybe 8.3 again.

Had longed 8k and was sweating bullets as I DCA'd down to 7.8k. Definitely paying off now. Seeing 8.3kish as the next target here after a small retrace.

Expecting 8300/8350 then a retrace down to 8k. Everything is mega overbought right now.

8.1 got rejected pretty hard. Playing scalps for now, not sure of the next big move.

Some great scalps. Think next move is up, but continuing to scalp.

Longed 8100. Holding until 8250ish maybe.

DCA'd down my 8100 long and made some nice profit. Thinking of relonging at 8050.

Lucky for me I followed my rule of don't trade at night and didn't relong 8050! Now long at 7700.

DCA'ing this long down every $100 or so. Might take profit at 7700 just to get out of it, but this really should go up.

Took profit at 7650. Currently a no trade zone for me, not sure what will happen. The retrace up should have been bigger than this.

Relonged 7500 here.

DCA'd down and just took profit at 7500. Worked pretty well. Relonging 7350 here.

Shorting 7500 if it hits.

Missed my short... oh wellll

Longing 6950

No trade zone for now. I think 7050 then down, but not confident at all.

Longed 6900

Pretty good scalps today. Shorted 6965 and now long at 6905 again.

Well that long sucked. Lost a good chunk there. Long at 6525 now.

love to see a channel sharing about bitmex scalping trade
but i dontknow im too scared to join them lol
but for sure i want try it

Luckily DCA'd down and re-took profit at 6500. Long at 6200 now.

Possibly shorting 6400 but feels risky. Would rather long 6200 again.

Took profit on the long. Looking to short 6580 or re-long 6380

Longed 6430. Have a DCA at 6300, but think we'll see 6550.

Feels like 6k is a good bounce point. Doing some scalps here and there. Few trades have gone south but all have bounced back luckily.

There's the bounce! Was long at 6100. Probably sitting out for a bit to see where this goes.

Long at 6200. Will probably take around 6350 or 6400

Relonged 6300.

Took profit at 6420. Waiting for a retrace, kind of hoping to long 6300 again.

Heard a lot about Bitmex and how it has rekt a lot of people and made a few rich equally. I don't seem to understand what it is all about, especially shorting and going long. I need to sit it out and get a hang of it

Well crap. Got owned on my 6250 long, but wasn't horrible. Longing 5875 here.

Beautiful day after being so horrible last night. Took profit. Waiting to see what happens.

Long at 6300.

DCA'd at 6200. Average entry is 6260 right now.

Nice thread, I tried bitmex for my first time 2 days ago. At first didn't understand what are these margin and leverage stuff, but it's not so hard to understand this. Got my first 0.032 BTC profit yesterday, so damn excited because I can get money as easy as that (within few hours), feeling excited, I then decided to try ETHUSD market, wasn't a pleasant experience to be honest.. lost 0.05 BTC so far. Well, I guess greedy sucks, and I will never ever use x50 leverage ever again.

NB : Still pissed because I just realized that the liquidation is pretty unrealistic (3$ differences, I shouldn't try it in the first place), well, stupid me.

Took profit at 6500. Shorting 6750ish.

Long at 6300. Quick scalp.

Shorted 6450. Looking to long 6350 now.

Short at 6500

OUCH!

amirite?

Been gone a couple days. The Bitmex going down and BTC pumping $500 1 minute later was hilarious.

I think I'm going long at 6375ish here. Really think we'll test 7k at some point but being very careful.

Took profit at $6500 but still think next move is up. Hoping to get a reentry around 6400

Short at 6700.

Took a measely little $30 profit but reshorting 6750

Shorting 6750 again hopefully

Hit and took profit at 6670 to switch to long.

Caught in a short at 6825 but added at 6950. Think 6700 may be the next stop but may take profit earlier.

Well uh oh. Average entry is 6850 so not too happy right now. will add more to short at 7150, but really hoping we're done going up for now.

Average entry ended up being 6950 and I took profit at 6901. Sitting out for a bit. Might reshort 7050.

when the market shows a green color and we see their growth Bitcoin and the etherium, it really becomes calm on the soul. But the topic title worries me, because in reality there are people who take money on the security of the house to invest in the crypto currency. Do you understand What is the huge risk?

Happy I reshorted. Now long at 6950

Took profit at 7k from a 6820 long. Sitting out to see where it goes next.

Nice one mate. Being running away from Bitmex for a long time now. Maybe it's time to test the waters. Thanks for the heads up. Cheers

Shorting 7060

Closed at 7030 since I'm going to bed. Really unpredictable next ~12 hours. Feels like 6800 and 7150 are major breakpoints.

Short at 7250.

Long at 7190.

Short at 7320

Longed at 7250. Took profit at 7325 which I'm regretting pretty hard but oh well. Would have liked to get a short in at 7400 but missed it. Hoping we touch there again to short.

Knew short was right but missed it while I was sleeping. Unfortunate. I say retrace to 7100 or so but down is still the direction IMO.

Unfortunately got caught in a 6600 long and that did NOT go well. Longed 6300 but took profit at 6450. Would like to long 6325 again or so.

Looking for a 6350 long here.

Long at 6150.

Wonderful resource :) I've used Bitmex somewhat in the past but have always struggle for success. Meriting as well, thanks for this post!