Why Are Crypto-Derivative Markets Essential?
Main Takeaways:
Derivatives allow investors to diversify their portfolios and expose themselves to various cryptocurrencies.
These financial instruments are useful in safeguarding a portfolio from extreme price volatility and unexpected risks.
Futures contracts promote price discovery and improve price dependability.
Crypto derivatives is a fast-growing market that attracts trillions in volume every month. Much like traditional derivative markets, crypto derivatives have an essential role in the industry. Hence, it is no surprise that many exchanges have incorporated futures contracts to help traders enter this market.
In this article, we will look at what a crypto derivative market is and explain why it is essential to the crypto economy.
What Are Crypto Derivatives?
Unlike a spot trade, a derivatives trade does not directly involve the asset. Instead, a derivatives trade is a financial contract based on the speculated future value of the underlying asset.
The perceived difference between the value of an asset’s current and future is what provides the market with liquidity, hedging, and arbitrage opportunities. This means there can be substantial opportunities for financial gains as much as it is for potential losses. As such, it’s crucial to understand how these trades work and why they’re important.
Learning how to trade a crypto derivative will lead you to understand how and when it’s best to short or long an asset. A trade that ‘shorts’ an futures contract like BTCBUSD involves speculation or belief that the instrument is going to fail in the short term or at least fall by some amount. Longing is the opposite, in that there is a belief the asset will perform positively in the long term.
These two options allow investors to make decisions in the derivatives market that are unavailable to a spot trader.
For example, crypto derivatives enable traders to make profits even when the underlying asset is performing poorly. As such, derivative markets are not only a tool for speculating the future direction of an asset, they are also instruments that help protect from capitulations and volatile market movements.
Another key feature of derivatives is leverage, which is an essential tool across traditional and cryptocurrency markets. It allows for better capital efficiency as traders do not have to lock up entire amounts of capital. As the use of leverage increases both potential returns and risks, users must always exercise caution. Therefore, traders should use a leverage amount that suits them.
For example, if you're conservative or new to cryptocurrency trading, a 5x or 2x leverage would be appropriate. These aspects combine to make derivatives a sophisticated trading tool for investors that allows them to speculate and even protect their portfolios.
Why Are Derivatives Important in the Crypto Economy?
Crypto derivatives are a pivotal component of the crypto economy for a few reasons. Firstly, derivatives allow investors to diversify their portfolios and expose themselves to various cryptocurrencies. With derivatives, investors can create sophisticated strategies such as pairing or arbitrage trading.
Secondly, derivatives are useful in safeguarding a portfolio from extreme price volatility and unexpected risks. Derivatives such as futures and options allow a trader to ‘short’ an asset, which means to bet on prices to fall. Without a derivatives market, a long-term investor who owns a portfolio of crypto assets cannot protect it in bear markets.
The third reason why derivatives are important is that they promote price discovery, which is the process of determining the value of an asset. It is determined by a number of variables, ranging from market liquidity to information flow.
By allowing investors to go long and short, price discovery may become more efficient, resulting in smoother market adjustments. With optimal price discovery, market participants know that all relevant information has been incorporated into the asset's current price, improving price dependability.
Applications of Derivatives
Utilizing derivative trades allows for financially strategic actions that can help a trader realize larger profits, protect a portfolio or compensate for other assets within a portfolio, and assist miners in hedging against various risks.
Hedgers
One of the most common uses for a derivatives trade is to hedge against volatility, down-trending markets, or any other movement in price action that would otherwise harm a portfolio. If ETHBUSD were to drop in price, a derivatives trade that shorts the crypto (expects it to decrease in price in the short term) would be successful. This is because the trade does not hinge on an actual asset’s performance but is a contract based on speculation of an underlying asset.
Speculators
Speculation, therefore, is another accepted use for a derivatives trade. As a market, the amount of short and long positions can be tracked. When coupled with price action and industry developments, this information can become useful insight into the prevailing market sentiments. Thus, speculative trading positions can assist traders in forecasting the future movements of the market and expressing what they think the market value should be. From a professional derivatives trader’s perspective, they are managing speculative opportunity and risk as a portfolio.
Miners
Crypto derivatives can also be used by those working directly in the industry as well. For example, Bitcoin miners might want to participate in the derivatives market to protect the portfolio of their mining operations. As more miners set up operations, and as time goes on, the available hash rate and Bitcoin’s mining difficulty will automatically adjust to fit everyone in. This means the value in mining will slowly dissipate over time. Technological improvements in mining computers can also give advantages to a minority of miners and cost the majority till they can catch up. A derivatives trade can act as a hedging device for miners, just as it can protect the average trader.
How Does the Derivatives Market Affect the Crypto Economy Overall?
The derivatives market can have a strong effect on the overall crypto economy, evidenced by the aforementioned players that generally participate in these markets. Beyond portfolio management, derivatives are a driving force in helping the crypto industry become a legitimate asset class. As more traders join the crypto derivatives market, liquidity in crypto markets increases, allowing traders to transact in the market in the most cost-efficient manner.
To learn how to start trading in a derivatives market and how to do so responsibly, Binance Academy offers several articles and guides on responsible trading. Register at Binance Futures and get started with trading today!
Read the following helpful articles for more information about Binance Futures:
(Blog) Crypto Futures Trading: Things You Need to Know Before You Begin
(Blog) Crypto Futures Risk and Money Management: 5 Things You Can Do to Better Manage Trading Risk
(Academy)The Psychology of Market Cycles
And many more Binance Futures FAQ topics…
Disclaimer: Crypto assets are volatile products with a high risk of losing money quickly. Prices can fluctuate significantly on any given day. Due to these price fluctuations, your holdings may significantly increase or decrease in value at any given moment, which can result in a loss of all the capital you have invested in a transaction.
Therefore, you should not trade or invest money you cannot afford to lose. It is crucial that you fully understand the risks involved before deciding to trade with us in light of your financial resources, level of experience, and risk appetite. If required, you should seek advice from an independent financial advisor. The actual returns and losses experienced by you will vary depending on many factors, including, but not limited to, market behavior, market movement, and your trade size. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of your investments may go up or down. Learn more here.