Bitcoin Forum

I’ve had a ridiculous experience with Bitmex/leveraged trading, 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.

Note, with Bitmex's crackdown on US users, I've begun using Deribit primarily. It has lower fees and doesn't have the system overload issues. If you're outside the US, I'd still probably use Bitmex, but Derebit is a bit more lax if you just use a VPN it seems.

If you've never used Bitmex before, you can read my original newbie guide on how to start using Bitmex here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4319995.0

Also a reminder, you get 10% off fees if you sign up with a referral code on either site. 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: https://www.bitmex.com/register/astVxa and https://www.deribit.com/reg-4025.4455


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. Note, on Derebit, funding is continuously calculated rather than in 8 hour windows, so the idea of a pump/dump for funding is minimized, but you still need to be aware of it.
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. On Derebit, this is much less of an issue.
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

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

I dunno man, that sounds kind of scary.. of course waiting for 6800  breakout area could just be free liquidity for whales to short on.. I've had a long open since about 5900 and I think I'm gonna ride it all the way down back to even if I have to. I've had my share of getting BitRekt but I'm doing very good this year.. hopefully my lucky streak will continue.

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.

I learned my lesson the hard way and I'm going to stay away from shorting for awhile.  Bitcoin can pump at any time without any notice then you are left screwed with your position.  It's just too unpredictable for me.

Very wise.

The rise of Bitmex in particular means it's become super lucrative for deeper pockets to constantly clear out all the people with positions and it doesn't require much of a pump to do it any more. That's pretty much the only action we're getting at the moment.

Shorting can be very profitable but also risky, I think there is no way to avoid lose money, you can just limit the money you can lost.

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.

When i trade on Bitmex i never use leverage more than 5 times, because my opinion if use more than 5 times leverage will be the same like betting. And when we doing  betting we will never win.

Great info, thank you!

Also, thanks for the updates, they give us a "feeling" for whats going on in the market.

Good work, keep it up.  :)

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.

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!

thanks for giving tips for trade in bitmex, before i've ever wanted to try bitmex but because of my lack of knowledge confused start from where and after reading your post I have found out how to start trarding in bitmex
thx bro

Never ever use more than 25x leverage. 10x is best, and 25x if you know what you're doing ;)

Thankyou

Really a good read before using bitmex

Duke

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."

If we break 8k this month,I'd be surprised, hopeful it will happen.

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.

Thanks for the tips. I lost a lot on bitmex when i was new to it, around 10btc.

All good now, i recovered what i lost though it takes a lot of time.

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

BitMEX is a trading platform that helps you earn fast and secure profits
  BitMex contracts have no deadlines and you are not afraid to lose your position. You can find them through trusted sites.

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.

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

In my first trade on Bitmex i been loss $100 because used too high leverage. So recomendation for beginner in margin trading is better to use first only leverage 2 times. And use money pertrade not more than 10% , so if first trade loss we have others trade and possible to recover loss from first trade.

Bitmex has really affected the BTC price, and now recently is ETH. With a huge amount of long and short order, it is difficult for BTC's prices to increase steadily in the near future. But leverage x100 is quite attractive to everyone.

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.

Hi! Nice post! Very useful.

In Bitmex you should always have BTC for any kind of investment, right? What if I have Ethereum only?

Interesting!! I needed these tips. I have been trading on Bitmex for a while now. Started trading on other future exchanges like BBOD.io and 1fox.com :)

This is absolutely helpful for some traders who are beginners. I have been in Bitmex for almost 3 months now and I haven't earner anything yet, but I still don't give up because I am learning my wait out of losses.

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.

Thanks for the helpful tips. I'm new to the whole bitmex exchange. And shorting and going long seems to be the newest trading trends. I'm looking to get aboard to bitmex train and do some trading. But there's still a lot that I don't know. Like the leverage, 10x leverage, 100x leverage and how they work. Would appreciate more pointers on bitmex.

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

100% agreed with you, but we have to improve system to manage such issues.

Took profit at 6500. Shorting 6750ish.

Long at 6300. Quick scalp.

Shorted 6450. Looking to long 6350 now.

Short at 6500

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.

nice thread/good info...thks allmeat27

Took a measely little $30 profit but reshorting 6750

Shorting 6750 again hopefully

bitmex tips I suggest you do not get too greedy there because indeed the movement is so fast that even there can get very many benefits but you have to be able to control your patience.

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.

Happy I reshorted. Now long at 6950

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

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.

Had DCA'd at 6150 for avg of 6250. Good profit at 6400. Now unsure what to do. Probably shorting 6400.

Still looking for a 6400 short. Might make do with 6350 eventually

Sitting out the night. Took profit from 6400 short at 6300. Might short a 6500 but seems like a no trade zone right now.

Short at 6340

Short at average entry 6400 now.

Got out of that trade ASAP at breakeven. Phew. Now eyeing another short at 6550.

That's fishing on crocs infested water and nothing says you would always be lucky and certainly not with a 100x leverage, tight stop loss and not much fund. To forestall giving it all back to the market with just a trade gone wrong, it's best to scale down on the leverage and amount per trade. Slow and steady wins the race.

Looking to short 6575 and probably hold that for awhile.

Long at 6400 now.

Honestly, I admire your courage despite from what you loss and even with that amount you still continue to recover your losses, I mean if it happen to someone, they'll probably be insane. Though what you did is risky, like you didn't know what you actually doing otherwise you literally play with your money. I am not saying that everyone should do what you did but your will to trade is very outstanding.

---

May I know how much bitcoin you're using now?
I'm hoping that you still sleep, I mean this isn't easy to monitor the price 24/7.

Average entry is 6300. Not in a great spot, but think I can breakeven on this.

The price is on the side trend for long hours. This kind of market is horrible. Before this last fall, it was also sideways for long hours. As the Asian market has not moved much and the price has not fallen so much, with the exception of the altcoins, I imagine that the European market can open in a good mood in the next few hours.

6300 for long?

WHAT A DAY. Caught a nice short but took a little early at 6200. Got in a decent long for profit as well. Think I'm going to relong 6300 but curious to see what happens.

Shorting 6450ish I think.

I think there`s still a chance for 6700-6800, will wait for that with the December contract, got a nice short grid of orders starting from 6500. But to be covered I opened a short on the March contract at 6300 and will add to it at 67ish. You are right, nice move yesterday, bagged 15% profit.

Not incredibly excited about my 6650 short, but think I can at least break even here.

Trading in bitmex only for expert trader and for beginner is better avoid margin trading because many beginner trader loss much money in this kind of trading. When we use high leverage this mean we increasing the risk and this is make the opportunity to make profit is small.

bitcoin margin trading is exactly the place where different patterns work perfectly. so my advice is to learn the basics of the stock market and apply them here

Breakeven successful! Sitting out for a bit. Thinking the next move is down but no idea for a target

Looking to short 6550 to 6450 possibly. Expecting a small retrace down then upwards to high 6000's again I THINK.

Hoping for a 6425 long.

In a 6520 long. Not feeling great, but think this will turn into profit.

forgot to post and obviously a lot has happened but here we are in a similar spot! I'm once again in a long around 6500. Hoping we get a push but may retrace to 6430 range.

Long at 6430 here.

This is really full of contribution in this forum. I have learned a lot from your tips and I've already copied it for my present use. Actually, I am in a bit of confusion whether to give up doing trading in Bitmex or not. Ive lose money too. But after reading your tips, I made up my mind and will also grip my belief on it.

Took profit at 6550. Sitting out for a bit. Next move is probably a big one but no idea which way it is. I'm hoping for 6k one more time.

Looking for a long at 6500.

The most boring day of all time. Still eyeing a 6500 long, but this is due for a big move for sure.

Good alt movement today. I think we may see 6750 but then a rejection.

Long at 6490

I wonder if you got liquidated with the huge dump

 ::)

Unfortunately had a horrible long at 6490 and got wrecked. Now long at 6100.

Took profit at 6210. No idea what to do next.

Longed 6185

Took profit. Looking for another long maybe at 6350.

Gonna hold this long for a bit I think. Maybe 6550 if I'm lucky.

Boring day. Still looking at maybe 6500 to close this long.

Missed the wick unfortunately. Still long here, but may close early.

Took profit at 6425 and flipped to short. Likely a short term play.

Sitting out for a bit. Would like another long at 6325 or so. Or may short 6450.

Insanely boring last couples days. I'm betting on a quick drop then a climb ,but I have no idea when or how much.

Glad I sat out. I think I'm targeting a 6200 long here.

Really wish I did 6215 instead of 6200. Missed the jump. Not sure what is happening next. I think it should have pumped higher so now I'm skeptical.

Almost longed 6330 as things were looking juicy but felt too risky Sad

This still looks like it has some room to go. Maybe 6550?

when you trade at a bitmex exchange or other exchange place you should be able to take advantage of price movements in the exchange and try to always get a lot of profits so don't lower their traders just using the existing facilities.

6550 still seems possible, but 6420 seems to be a bit of a block. Scared to long here in fear of a quick 6050 drop. Sitting out tonight for sure.

Sometimes I wish I listened to my own calls. Currently short at 6520 rather than 6550 like I should be!

Long at $6330 but will likely be a somewhat short one.

Might take profit at 6370 or 6430. Depends on how today goes.

Fortunately got out of that pretty early. Now long at 6285.

I opened a short at 6315 and exited all my alt coin positions last night. This seems obvious to retest the lower 6000's again. Will keep an eye to see if anything changes my mind.

Great post for newbies

Well I was 100% right but jumped back in way too earlier. Very surprised it went this low. Should bounce back to 6k but who knows at this point.

I got absolutely blasted. Wrecked multiple times. Lesson learned, quit trying to catch the bounce. I'm making smaller, quick trades right now because I have absolutely no idea where this is going. I'm hoping for another 4k test.

Longing 4080 here I think

Took a bit of a hiatus. Bitmex cracked down on US users and the uncertainty of it made me pause a bit. I'm still using Bitmex a bit, but had to make new accounts.

I've switched primarily to Derebit (https://www.deribit.com/reg-4025.4455 for 10% off fees!). The fees are less there and there's no System Overloaded crap. However, the volume is much lower so it takes some getting used to.

Looking to long 3320 here.

Was able to DCA down and just took a hefty profit at 3430. Expecting a bit of a retrace.

Need to do a better job updating this! Been getting used to Derebit and not having to worry about system overload, has definitely altered mytrading strategy!

The long at 3250 was great, but took profit WAY too early. Currently playing swings. Possibly looking for a relong at 3650ish.

yes there seems to be a lot of price play and a lot of bitcoin price manipulation happens there so you should be able to be careful when you want to trade in an exchange place, you should first investigate how to work at the exchange.

Got in at 3720. Holding this until 3900 I think.

Took profit at 3770. Indicators needed a reset. Might try to relong at 3700.

Feelsgoodman. Profit at 3900. Sitting out for a bit. This is unpredictable as hell right now.

Triangle is really tightening up. I'm really hoping for a 3650 but not sure.

Didn't quite get 3650. Bummed. Might look for 3700 now cause I missed it.

Taken a bit too long to hit 3700. Might move it lower. Possibly looking for 3620 now.

I'm really liking Deribit so far. Not having system overloaded problems completely changed my trading strategy for the better.

Too hungover to trade last couple days! I'm shorting 3900 here if it gets there. Would love for it to drop out of the sky to 3200 and start the new bull run.

Ouch. Nutty candle. I'm stuck at an average of 3980 but I'm EXTREMELY nervous for Bitfinex maintenance in 4 hours. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. Would love to close this ASAP.

Forgot to post but so much for being stuck at 3980! Great profit. I'm looking at 3550 then up right now.

Didn't get 3550. Honestly this is scary. Everything is tightening up. I'm playing small scalps with tight stop losses. Might go big long at 3500 but who knows.

Don't know if you frequent the Bitmex trollbox but with the 98% of bears that post on there it leads me to believe that we are in an inverted head and shoulders and the $3550 or the $3500 area might hold and we might go higher.

I dont think we will see ATH anytime soon but I bet there is tons of shorts from the $6K break or even the $5500 break and the market probably wants to wick them out and cause a short squeeze while trapping longs in the process.

Bitcoin can go either way at this point so it is very risky to trade on Bitmex now. Even if you trade, make sure that you do not use large leverage and try to play with stoploss so that in case of unexpected movement of bitcoin, you are not liquidated.

Serious no trade zone. Going small scalps with tight stop losses because anything could happen here.

I was try margin on Bitmex platform by use 5x leverage but iam not lucky in 3 first open potition my open order touched stop loss, and since that iam decided to quit from that. For beginner trader is better try it with leverage lower than 5x to reduce risk of margin trading, is better make small profit but consistent.

Pretty nuts how much this is tightening. I'm terrified of a $300 candle, but tempted to short 3650