Perps for beginners

What are perps, in 60 seconds?

A perp is a bet that a coin goes up or down, paid in dollars, that stays open until you close it. The multiplier makes the move bigger, both ways. Your amount is the most you can lose. That is the whole idea. The rest of this page is detail, in order.

• Up or down. Long (▲ Up in the app) wins when the price rises. Short (▼ Down) wins when it falls.
• The multiplier. At x5, a 1% move counts 5% for your money, up or down.
• The worst case. With isolated margin, a trade can lose its own amount and nothing more. If the price goes too far against you, the trade closes by itself. That is a liquidation.
• The costs. A small fee when you open and close, and a small hourly payment between longs and shorts called funding.
• No end date. Hold for a minute or a month.

New words? Keep the perps glossary open in another tab. Every term on this page is defined there in one or two sentences. Other topics have their own guides: copy trading, Hyperliquid, prediction markets and Telegram trading bots.

Where should I start?

With the three basics: what a perp is, long vs short, and the multiplier. Read these first, in this order.

1. What are perpetual futures? Perps explained like you're ten. The whole idea with small dollar examples. Then see how perps differ from futures and spot.
2. Long vs short: how to bet a coin goes up or down. How shorting works without owning the coin.
3. Leverage explained: what x5, x10 and x50 really do to your money. The table to keep: how far price can move before liquidation at each multiplier.

How do I avoid losing everything?

By understanding liquidation, using isolated margin, and setting a stop loss before you enter. These four pages are the survival kit.

4. Leverage and liquidation on Hyperliquid, explained for copiers. When and why a trade closes by itself. To work it out by hand, use the liquidation price formula.
5. Isolated vs cross margin: which one protects your money?. The setting that decides whether one bad trade can drain your account.
6. Take profit and stop loss: how to make a perps trade close itself. Where to put them, with a simple recipe.
7. 12 perps mistakes beginners make, and how to avoid each one. The ways almost everyone loses money at first.

What does a perps trade cost?

Two things: trading fees on the full position, and hourly funding between longs and shorts. Both are small per trade and add up over many.

8. Funding rate explained: the small hourly payment between longs and shorts. Who pays whom, and what it costs in cents.
9. Hyperliquid fees explained: every cost of a trade, in cents. Maker, taker, tiers, builder fees and the $1 withdrawal.

What is Hyperliquid, and how do I use it?

Hyperliquid is an onchain perps exchange where your money stays in your wallet and every trade is public. These pages take you from what it is to your first deposit.

10. What is Hyperliquid? The perps exchange where every trade is public. How it works, HYPE, HLP and HIP-3.
11. Hyperliquid for beginners: your first perps trade, step by step. The exact settings to pick.
12. How to deposit USDC to Hyperliquid without losing it. The 5 USDC minimum and the network traps. All the small rules are in Hyperliquid minimums.
13. Is Hyperliquid safe? An honest look at what can go wrong. The JELLY incident, HLP and what you can do.
14. Stocks, gold and oil on Hyperliquid: how these perps work. Trading Tesla or gold on a Sunday, and the weekend gap. PEPE, WIF and POPCAT have their own guide: meme coin perps on Hyperliquid.
15. What is HIP-3? Hyperliquid's builder-deployed perps, explained. Who runs those markets and what they control.

How do I copy the best traders?

Pick a whale with a checked record, tap Copy, and their next trades happen for you at your amount. They exit, you exit. These pages show how to choose and what to expect.

16. How to copy trade on Hyperliquid, step by step. The four ways, and the setup in Telegram. Or trade from chat with a Hyperliquid Telegram bot.
17. How to find the best Hyperliquid traders to copy. What makes a trader copyable.
18. How to read a whale's PnL before you copy them. What each number on a whale means.
19. Let it ride: how a winning perps trade can pay for a second one. Using a win without selling it, and the honest catch.
20. Copy trading vs Hyperliquid vaults. Pooled money or your own trades. Every copy trading guide is in the copy trading guide.

Where else could I trade perps?

On big company-run exchanges, or on other onchain exchanges. Two honest comparisons.

21. Hyperliquid vs Binance vs Bybit for a perps beginner. Custody, fees, sign-up and copy trading.
22. Hyperliquid vs dYdX vs GMX. Order book vs pool, fees and markets.

What is the fastest safe way to try perps?

Practice money. On CopyHype you get $1,000 of practice money on live Hyperliquid prices, copy a top trader in one tap, and learn how perps feel before any real money moves. Same rules and same trading fees as real money.

1. Open @copyhypefamilybot. Tap Start. $1,000 of practice money lands in your account, free for 24 hours, plus 24 hours for each friend you invite whose first trade opens.
2. Open the app and pick a whale. Each whale shows their profit and ROI over 24h, 7 days or 30 days.
3. Tap Copy. Their next trades happen for you, from $5 a trade. Same coin, same side, same multiplier.
4. Watch them close. They exit, you exit. Every result is shown in dollars, after fees.

When you are ready, switch to Real at the top of the app. Your own wallet is created in one tap and secured by Privy. Only you can withdraw.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best way to learn perps?

Read the basics on this page in order, then practice with free money on live prices until the buttons feel boring. Copying a trader with a checked record in practice shows you how real trades open and close.

How much money do I need to start perps?

On Hyperliquid, the minimum deposit is 5 USDC and the minimum order is $10 of position. On CopyHype you can start from $5 a trade, and practice is a free 24-hour trial.

Are perps good for beginners?

They are simple to understand and easy to misuse. With isolated margin, a low multiplier and small amounts, a beginner can learn safely. With high multipliers, most beginners lose quickly.

What multiplier should I use as a beginner?

x2 to x5. It gives a trade room to move before liquidation and keeps fees small.

Can I lose more than I put in?

Not with isolated margin. Each trade can lose its own amount and nothing else. CopyHype uses isolated margin on every trade.