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Should you be trading futures or options? Learn the difference and start profiting based on the trading instrument that suits you best. 

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Trading in the financial markets can be an exciting and rewarding experience. With many available options, deciding which route to take can be challenging. Futures and options contracts are investment options with the potential to generate leveraged returns. Both are derivatives — financial instruments that derive their value from an underlying asset such as a stock, commodity or cryptocurrency. However, these two financial tools differ significantly and cater to different types of investors. So, which of them is the best for your investment goals?

In this article, we'll break down the differences between futures and options contracts to help you determine which is right for you. So buckle up and get ready to unlock the potential of these powerful financial instruments.

 are agreements between two parties to buy or sell an underlying asset at a predetermined price and specific date in the future. Futures contracts allow investors to trade cryptocurrency without actually owning them. 

Crypto futures contracts share similarities to traditional futures contracts but use cryptocurrency as the underlying asset. But unlike their conventional counterparts, crypto futures are characterized by high volatility, leverage and 24/7 trading.

Crypto futures offer investors the potential to profit from rising and falling markets, making them an attractive investment opportunity for those who have a good understanding of the crypto market and are comfortable with the added risk.

Traders can take a long or short position, depending on their outlook. Long positions are a common practice for traders who predict a price increase; however, traders short a position in the hope of benefiting from the price declines.

If the position is held until maturity, the trader will gain or lose depending on the settlement price at maturity. At maturity, the settlement price is determined by the spot price of the underlying cryptocurrency. If the trader closes the futures position before maturity, the profit or loss depends on futures market prices at the time of unwinding.

Unlike spot or cash assets, futures typically operate "on margin," allowing traders to gain exposure to larger gains with relatively small capital.

Futures are typically (but not always) contracts based on the price of an asset at a specified future date (forward contract).

Like traditional futures contracts, standard crypto futures contracts govern trades in cryptocurrency at an agreed-upon price and predetermined date. They're similar to standard futures contracts in conventional markets with similar expiry and settlement mechanisms. 

Traditionally, expiration dates occur monthly (serial) or every three months (quarterly). At the time of expiration, the position is closed via a settlement process (more on that below). For example, the CME Group launched Bitcoin futures contracts that are cash-settled every three months in USD.

When trading standard futures, you should remember this: 

To do this, you must close your position in the active contract (front month) and open a corresponding position in a further forward futures contract (back month) 

Another thing to consider is that asset prices usually change over time. For this reason, futures contracts are priced using a forward curve.

For assets that are expected to rally over time, the price of forward contracts rises as they move further into the future (contango). 

Whereas for assets expected to plunge, the price of forward contracts falls as they move further into the future (backwardation). Because of this, the prices of different maturities (expiration dates) can fluctuate dramatically, making it challenging to manage a long-term position — especially when the contract is close to expiry (run-off).

Physical delivery futures are futures contracts where the underlying cryptocurrency is physically delivered to the buyer at the end of the contract. This type of contract is designed for those who want to take actual ownership of the cryptocurrency rather than just speculating on its price movements. 

In crypto, perpetual futures contracts are linear contracts with no expiration date. Like standard futures contracts in crypto, they allow traders to take a long or short position on the price of a cryptocurrency and profit from price changes without owning the underlying asset physically. However, unlike traditional futures, perpetual futures have no expiration date. 

Trading perpetual futures have two main advantages over traditional futures contracts:

For instance, the funding rates are regular payments (every 8 hours for Bybit products) provided to or by long or short traders, depending on the difference between perpetual contract markets and spot prices.

The perpetual futures funding mechanism incentivizes traders to buy futures when the price is low relative to the underlying spot market. By contrast, high funding rates incentivize traders to sell futures — this works by creating a risk-free arbitrage if the futures price deviates too far from the underlying.

For example, if the BTC funding rate is positive (longs pay to shorts), in theory, you could sell futures contracts in BTC and buy an equivalent amount of BTC in the spot market to hedge your position, at the same time collecting the funding fees. This arbitrage window ensures the futures price remains anchored to the underlying asset.

 allow traders to use BTC and other coins as the base currency. Since different coins can be used as collateral and the payoff, margin and P&L are calculated differently from linear perpetual futures.

Futures contracts are usually settled in one of two ways:

Note: Bybit's Perpetual Futures Contracts are cash-settled in USDT or USDC.

, like crypto futures, are financial contracts tied to the value of any underlying digital asset that gives traders an option to buy or sell the asset at a set price on a future date. However, unlike crypto futures, options contract holders have the right but are not obligated, to buy or sell the underlying asset at maturity. 

Crypto options contracts offer holders a way to reduce the risk of loss and avoid forced liquidations associated with futures contracts. For this feature, buyers must pay the option's writer a non-refundable initial fee or premium.

While various types of options contracts are available in the crypto market, the two common types are call and put options.

 (Calls) allow the trader to buy an underlying asset at a predetermined date and price (strike price). On the contrary, 

 (Puts) benefit the buyers if the price of the underlying assets falls. Both puts and calls have a specified price (strike price) at which the holder may activate the option either before or at the contract's predetermined expiration date.

The option buyer pays a fee known as an "option premium" to the seller. The premium represents the maximum potential loss for the buyer. Whereas for the seller, the premium is the maximum potential profit.

Say, as an experienced trader, you're convinced the price of BTC will be on the uptrend and buy a call option with a strike price of $50,000. If the price of BTC goes up and reaches $60,000, you can exercise the option to buy BTC at $50,000 and then sell it at $60,000 for a profit. 

Conversely, if BTC price plunges to $30,000 at the call option maturity, you can decide not to exercise your options right. But you'll have to forgo the premium.

In contrast, a put option allows the buyer to sell the asset at a predetermined price before the contract expiration.

Fearing a market downturn, you buy a put option on ETH, with a strike price of $3,000 as a 

. If the price of ETH drops to $2,000, you can exercise your option to sell ETH at $3,000 to cut your losses.

Here are the steps needed to execute the above trade using Bybit’s USDC-settled BTC-Options.

Deselect the expiration dates you don’t want to view. Or you can choose to display several expiration dates at the same time

Next to the expiration dates, select the number of available strike prices you wish to view from the drop-down list.

Futures vs. Options: Which One Suits You Best?

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