Top 10 Tips for Trading on Bitmex

Bitmex Tips for Maximizing Gains

1. Cut your losses early and let your winners run. It’s really important to not put yourself in a position where you can sustain a big loss. This is basic money management. Stop losses are key, see the next tip.

2. Every single trade must have a stop loss set. $400 candles or sudden 10% moves are the norm with something like bitcoin. I usually do a 1–2% stop loss but it depends on the situation. Whales running stops before a big pump is also extremely common. Just always make sure you have one set.

3. NEVER. EVER. FOMO. Don’t chase a trade. This means do not go long without a dip, or short without a pump. If the move has already happened, you’re too late. Be patient, you’ll always get another entry.

4. LIMIT IT, LIMIT OUT. Place limit orders rather than market orders as it will save you a TON in fees. Bitmex actually pays you 0.025% (maker) to place limit orders vs charging you 0.075% (taker) to place market orders. To ensure you always get the market maker fee, choose the “post-only” option when placing a trade, and you will only place an order if it doesn’t execute immediately against the order book. Provide liquidity and you get paid to trade!

5. Dollar cost average your entries and exits. This means you should scale in your orders and spread them out. I usually use 3–4 orders to build a position ensuring me the best possible entry if the price moves against me. Check out this amazing Bitmex scaler chrome addon in the video below to make it easier.

6. Use isolated vs cross margin to avoid liquidating your entire account. If the margin falls below the Maintenance Margin level, the position is liquidated. However, you can add and remove margin at will using this method.

7. Fees suck! When you’re trading on the perpetual swaps you will incur a fee (or possibly get paid) every 8 hours. This makes a multi-day trade difficult so consider using the quarterly contracts for swing trading.

8. When you setup a trade you MUST choose the price area for entry, price for exit, and price for stop loss. Bitmex has been known to go down in times of volatility so it is critical that you setup these orders beforehand for every trade.

9. If you’re going to use leverage, I would start at no more than 3-5x. Keep an eye on your liquidation price and remember that you will get liquidated if the mark price (purple) reaches your liquidation price. You can move your liquidation by either adding margin to the position or adjusting the margin slider down.

10. Learn to TA (Technical Analysis) asap. This is out of the scope of this article but start with this Baby Pips course and get yourself a TradingView Proaccount. The BabyPips course was developed for teaching Forex trading, but the same principles can be also applied to crypto trading.

BONUS because you read this far: Open this tool and turn on audio to get a good feel for when large buys/sells are moving in. LOVE this open during trading!

I hope this helps. Trading on Bitmex can be incredibly profitable and tons of fun but always remember it’s also a high risk casino. For more crypto related content check out L33T GUY on youtube, or watch this video below for a beginner’s guide to trading on Bitmex.