Algonney

Spot vs futures

Updated

Spot trading buys and sells the coin itself, long only and without leverage. Futures here means USDT perpetual contracts, which allow shorts and leverage and add funding and liquidation.

Spot

  • Long only, without leverage, funding or liquidation.
  • A strategy that shorts or uses leverage on spot is refused before the run.
  • Fees and order rules come from the exchange's spot market.

USDT perpetual futures

  • Long and short positions with leverage, capped by your plan and by the exchange for each symbol.
  • Isolated margin, as in live trading.
  • Funding is paid or received at each funding time. Longs pay when the rate is above zero.
  • In a backtest, liquidation is checked first on every bar, from the exchange's maintenance tiers.
  • The stop loss must sit inside the liquidation price, or the trade is refused.

Which one to test

Both markets are available on every supported exchange, within the limits of your plan. Testing the same strategy on spot and on futures shows how leverage, funding and fees change the result, and the trade view makes the two runs easy to compare side by side.

Exchanges and markets

ExchangeMarketTrading symbolsAs of
BybitSpot3892026-10-24
BybitUSDT perpetual futures5222026-10-24
BinanceSpot5142026-10-24
BinanceUSDT perpetual futures5172026-10-24
OKXSpot4512026-10-23
OKXUSDT perpetual futures5072026-10-24

Timeframes and demo mode

ExchangeTimeframesDemo mode
Bybit1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 4h, 6h, 12h, 1D, 1W, 1MAvailable
Binance1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 4h, 6h, 8h, 12h, 1D, 1W, 1MAvailable
OKX1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 4h, 6h, 12h, 1D, 1W, 1MAvailable

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