1.USDT Perpetuals Overview

 

USDT-margined perpetual futures are cryptocurrency derivatives settled in USDT. Each futures contract represents a certain quantity of the underlying cryptocurrency (for example, in a BTCUSDT futures contract, each contract represents 0.001 BTC). All USDT-margined futures contracts use USDT as the collateral asset, meaning users only need to hold USDT to trade various contract pairs.

 

Investors can go long (buy) or short (sell) contracts to profit from price increases or decreases in cryptocurrencies. Leverage ranges from 1x to 125x.

 

Taking BTCUSDT as an example, the futures contract details are as follows:

 

 

2. Product Features

 

1. Settlement in USDT:
   USDT-margined futures contracts use USDT as the settlement currency. They are particularly suitable for users accustomed to fiat-based accounting, offering low transaction costs and simple calculations.
   
   
2. No Expiration:
   Perpetual futures contracts do not have an expiration or delivery date — they never expire.
   
   
3. Index Pricing Mechanism:
   USDT-margined futures contracts use a USDT-based index price for each underlying asset. To ensure the spot index reflects a fair market value, BTCC selects trading pairs from at least three mainstream exchanges for each contract and assigns them as index components. Anomalies are handled through a built-in logic that ensures index stability when a single exchange price deviates significantly.
   
   
4. Price Limit Mechanism:
   BTCC dynamically adjusts the allowable order price range based on the spot price and the previous minute’s contract price. This helps prevent malicious manipulation (e.g., intentional price crashes to trigger liquidations) without affecting normal trading activity.
   
   
5. Mark Price System:
   BTCC applies a mark price mechanism to its liquidation system. During extreme price volatility, the system uses the mark price — not the last traded price — to determine liquidation, reducing the risk of forced liquidations caused by abnormal trades and protecting users from manipulation.
   
   
6. Tiered Maintenance Margin System:
   The maintenance margin rate is the minimum margin required to keep a position open. If a user’s margin rate falls below the maintenance margin rate plus the closing fee rate, forced liquidation or partial reduction of the position is triggered. BTCC implements a tiered system: the larger the position, the higher the required maintenance margin and the lower the maximum available leverage.
   
   
7. Funding Fee Mechanism:
   Since perpetual contracts have no expiry, a funding fee mechanism keeps the contract price aligned with the spot price. Funding is exchanged every 8 hours — at 00:00, 08:00, and 16:00 (UTC). Users only pay or receive the funding fee if they hold positions at these times. No funding fee is charged if the position is closed before the funding time.
   
   
8. One-Way Mode vs. Hedge Mode:
   
   • In One-Way Mode, a user can only hold a single position direction (long or short) per contract under one margin mode.
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   • Example: If a user holds 10 BTCUSDT long contracts and sells 5, the position becomes 5 long contracts.
     
     
   • In Hedge Mode, users can hold both long and short positions for the same contract under one margin mode.
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   • Example: If a user holds 10 BTCUSDT long contracts and sells 5, they will then hold 10 long and 5 short contracts simultaneously.