When you first use the contract trading page, you may see terms such as “margin,” “mark price,” and “unrealized P&L” at the same time. This article organizes common terms according to the trading process to help you understand the meaning of the information provided. Specific values and calculation methods are subject to the applicable rules for the selected contract and the trading page.
1. Understanding Contracts and Positions
| Term | Meaning |
| Underlying asset | The asset referenced by the contract price. For example, the underlying asset of a BTC-related contract is BTC. Trading a contract does not equal directly holding the underlying asset. |
| Perpetual contract | A contract with no preset expiry date. The position must still meet margin requirements; otherwise, it may be liquidated. |
| USDT-margined contract | A contract that uses USDT as the margin and P&L settlement asset. |
| Coin-margined contract | A contract that uses the cryptocurrency specified by the contract as the margin and P&L settlement asset. |
| Contract face value / contract multiplier | The quantity or value of the underlying asset represented by each contract. The same number of contracts may correspond to different position values under different contracts. |
| Position / holding | The quantity and direction of contracts that have been filled but not completely closed. |
| Opening a position | Establishing a new long or short position. |
| Closing a position | Reducing or ending an existing position. Placing an order does not mean that the position is closed immediately; the actual fill is what determines this. |
| Going long / long position | A position established in anticipation of a price increase; a price increase may result in profit, while a decrease may result in a loss. |
| Going short / short position | A position established in anticipation of a price decrease; a price decrease may result in profit, while an increase may result in a loss. |
“Perpetual” indicates whether the contract has a preset expiry date; “USDT-margined / coin-margined” indicates which asset is used for margin and P&L. A contract can be both a perpetual contract and a USDT-margined contract.
2. Placing Orders and Fills
| Term | Meaning |
| Order | A buy or sell instruction submitted to the trading system. Successful order submission does not mean that the order has been filled. |
| Limit order | An order with a specified acceptable price. A buy order is filled at the specified price or lower, and a sell order is filled at the specified price or higher; it may also remain unfilled. |
| Market order | Executed at the currently available market quotes. The execution price may vary with market depth and market conditions and may differ from the price shown when the order was placed. |
| Order price | The price specified when placing a limit order; it is not necessarily the final execution price. |
| Execution price | The price at which an order is actually filled. If an order is filled in multiple executions, the execution prices may differ. |
| Average entry price | The average price at which the existing position was established; it may change after the position is increased. |
| Average exit price | The average of the actual execution prices of closing orders. |
| Partial fill | Only part of an order is filled; the handling of the remaining portion depends on the order settings and applicable rules. |
| Best bid / best ask | The highest current buy quote / lowest current sell quote in the order book. The difference between them is called the bid-ask spread. |
| Market depth | The quantity of orders available for execution at different price levels. When depth is insufficient, a larger market order may be filled across multiple price levels. |
| Slippage | The difference between the expected price and the actual execution price, which may be more significant during rapid market movements or when liquidity is insufficient. |
Take-profit, stop-loss, conditional orders, and other additional options are subject to the functions and triggering rules actually available on the current trading page; a triggered order does not guarantee execution.
3. Margin and Leverage
| Term | Meaning |
| Margin | The asset required to open and maintain a position. |
| Initial margin | The margin requirement needed to establish a position. It is related to leverage, position size, and contract rules. |
| Maintenance margin | The minimum margin requirement that must be met to maintain an existing position. Failure to meet the requirement may trigger liquidation. |
| Maintenance margin rate | The rate used to calculate the maintenance margin requirement, which may vary depending on the contract and risk-limit tier. |
| Leverage multiple | The ratio between position value and the margin invested. Higher leverage amplifies changes in P&L relative to margin and also increases liquidation risk. |
| Position value | The value of a holding calculated based on the contract specifications and price. It is not the margin invested and is not realized profit. |
| Risk limit | The risk tier or limit set by the platform based on position size; different tiers may have different applicable leverage and maintenance margin requirements. |
| Cross margin mode | Available margin within the applicable scope jointly supports positions; position losses may also consume more of the account’s available funds. |
| Isolated margin mode | Independent margin is allocated to a position; if margin is added manually, the funds bearing the risk of that position also increase. |
| Available balance | The balance currently available in the account for the relevant trading or margin purposes; it is not equivalent to the account’s total assets. |
For example, investing 1,000 USDT in margin to establish a position worth 10,000 USDT can generally be understood as using approximately 10x leverage. This is a simplified example intended to help explain the relationship between the two; actual opening costs may also include fees or other reserved amounts.
4. Prices, P&L, and Fees
| Term | Meaning |
| Last traded price | The execution price of the most recent transaction for the contract. It may differ from the index price and mark price. |
| Index price | A price formed based on price data from reference markets and used to reflect the market price level of the underlying asset. |
| Mark price | The reference price used to assess a position’s unrealized P&L and liquidation risk; it does not necessarily equal the last traded price. |
| Unrealized P&L | The floating profit or loss generated by price movements in the portion that has not yet been closed. The value changes as the price continues to move. |
| Realized P&L | Profit or loss that has already been settled to the account. Whether its displayed calculation includes trading fees and funding fees is subject to the field description on the page. |
| Rate of return / return rate | The ratio of P&L to a particular calculation basis. Different pages may use margin or other values as the basis, so confirm the calculation method before reviewing the percentage. |
| Trading fee | A fee charged at the applicable rate when an order is filled. |
| Funding rate | The rate used to calculate funding fees for perpetual contracts, which may change with market conditions. |
| Funding fee | The amount that a position meeting the settlement conditions may pay or receive, calculated based on factors such as the position and the current funding rate; it differs from trading fees. |
Unrealized P&L is not equal to the final amount received. The actual result after closing a position may also be affected by the execution price, trading fees, and funding fees.
5. Liquidation and Risk Management
| Term | Meaning |
| Forced liquidation / liquidation | When the margin status reaches the platform’s liquidation conditions, the system handles the relevant position according to the applicable rules. |
| Estimated liquidation price | The reference price estimated based on the current position and margin status at which liquidation may be triggered when the mark price reaches that level; it may also change when the conditions change. |
| Bankruptcy price | The price level corresponding to the exhaustion of the position’s margin. It is not the liquidation trigger price and is not necessarily the actual execution price. |
| Auto-deleveraging (ADL) | A mechanism under which, in specific risk situations, the system may reduce the positions of traders on the opposite side according to the applicable rules; the actual activation conditions are subject to the platform rules. |
AstralX’s current liquidation explanation assesses position risk using the mark price and describes the trigger condition as: “the actual margin ratio at a certain price ≤ the maintenance margin ratio under the current tier.” Therefore, you cannot determine whether liquidation will occur based solely on the last traded price, nor can you treat the estimated liquidation price as a guaranteed execution price.
Disclaimer
This article is provided for product explanation and educational reference only. It does not constitute investment, trading, financial, or legal advice, nor does it constitute an offer to buy or sell any digital assets. The examples in this article are for illustrative purposes only and do not include factors such as trading fees or funding fees; actual results may differ.
Product features, trading rules, fees, and page information may be adjusted. If this article differs from AstralX’s latest announcements or the information displayed on the trading page, the applicable latest rules and actual page information shall prevail.
Digital asset contract trading involves a high level of risk. Leverage amplifies the impact of price fluctuations on margin, and you may lose all of the margin invested. Before trading, fully understand the product rules and make prudent decisions based on your financial situation and risk tolerance.