For newcomers to the crypto world, it is strongly recommended to start learning with spot trading and only consider contracts after mastering it.
1. Why is spot trading more suitable for newcomers?
1. Risk Level
Spot: Maximum loss = Principal going to zero (e.g., with 1000 yuan, the maximum loss is 1000 yuan)
Contract: Possible liquidation and owing money (the higher the leverage, the greater the risk; a 10x leverage drop of 10% results in a 100% loss)
2. Learning Curve
Spot requires mastering:
Buy and sell operations
Basic market analysis
Wallet transfers
Contracts require additional mastery:
Choosing leverage multiples
Margin calculation
Liquidation price alerts
Funding rate arbitrage
3. Psychological Impact
Spot fluctuations are relatively mild, suitable for developing market perception.
The dramatic fluctuations in contracts can easily lead to emotional trading (a common fatal flaw for newcomers).
2. Hidden Thresholds of Contracts (often overlooked by newcomers)
1. Exchange Mechanism Differences
Differences between full margin and isolated margin modes
Differences between USDT-margin and coin-margin contracts
Differences between mark price and last price
2. Hidden Costs
Funding rate (charged every 8 hours, long-term holding may accumulate high costs)
Slippage issues (small price differences can trigger liquidation at high leverage)
3. Strategy Complexity
Simple spot strategies: dollar-cost averaging, partial profit-taking
Contracts require pairing: hedging, grid trading, swing trading, etc.
3. Learning Path Recommendations (staged approach)
Stage 1: Basic Spot Trading (1-3 months)
Mandatory Learning Content
Buy BTC/ETH on exchanges (recommended: Binance/OKX)
Learn to view the top 50 tokens on CoinMarketCap
Understand basic indicators such as market cap, circulating supply, trading volume, etc.
Practical Objectives
Complete more than 10 spot trades
Attempt to transfer tokens from the exchange to a wallet
Practical Objectives
Stage 2: Contract Experimentation (after 6 months)
Prerequisites
Continuous profitability in spot trading for more than 3 months
Able to accurately explain concepts like 'funding rate' and 'liquidation price'
Safety Strategies
Initially use leverage below 5x
Single trade should not exceed 2% of the principal
Must set stop-loss
Establish your own trading discipline (such as profit-taking and stop-loss rules)
Participate in one bull market cycle to observe market sentiment
4. Key Recommendations
1. Beware of 'Get Rich Quick Traps'
Those flaunting contract profits on social media usually do not show their liquidation records.
2. Remember Two Formulas
Spot loss rate: Principal × Price decline of the coin
Contract loss rate: Principal × Leverage multiple × Price decline of the coin
5. Common Questions from Newcomers
Q: What should I do if I'm tempted when I see others making tens of thousands a day in contracts?
A: Statistics show that 98% of contract newcomers lose money within 6 months; survivor bias means you only see the winners.
Q: When can I start learning contracts?
A: When you can answer the following questions:
Why does BTC halving affect the price?
What is Ethereum's Gas fee mechanism?
How to determine if a project's TVL is genuine?
Continuously monitor MAGIC IDEX A2Z FUN RPL