Crypto Derivatives: What Are They And How To Make Money With Them?

There are various ways utilized to make money through cryptocurrencies in recent times. One of the most commonly used methods is earning through crypto derivatives. Crypto derivatives are now frequently used as a secondary means of earning profit in crypto trading. The derivatives are driven by the value of a primary asset. The primary asset may be any cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or Etherum.

Crypto derivatives simply let you make money through estimate-able agreements of whether the value of an asset will rise or drop. Crypto derivatives are mostly preferred over the primary currency when investors want to protect themselves from price fluctuations. When one signs a contract at a fixed price they save themselves from the greater damage that seems imminent in the future.

What are crypto derivatives?

Crypto derivatives are tools or contracts that derive their value from a primary asset. Earning through derivatives is one of the oldest forms of financial contracts that exist in the financial markets. Therefore, its concept in the crypto market might be new but the term itself is basic and has been practiced a lot. Crypto derivatives have now successfully become the most popular financial tool of the market.

Crypto derivatives are basically a security that is based on an underlying asset or benchmark taken as a standard. The value of the primary asset is the current value of the cryptocurrency taken as a standard. The contract is signed between two parties which may decide on whether to fix a price for buying or selling an asset in the future or speculate on it and earn through the difference.

What are they used for?

As discussed earlier, crypto derivatives are used to curtail the risk factor involved in crypto trading due to their volatility. They are also used to speculate on the prices and earn through the difference in decided values. When traders are estimating the future trends of an asset some may assess that the price may go down and others may predict that it will rise. After the specified time, the benefiter will be the one who predicted or speculated the trend accurately. The other party will be liable to pay the differential amount by which the currency has risen or fallen to the benefiter. The derivatives have been so much in use lately that they have been referred to as the financial weapons of mass destruction.

How traders make money from crypto derivatives?

As cryptocurrencies have volatile rates that keep fluctuating vigorously in the blink of an eye. The use of derivatives provides a safe means of trading crypto. Crypto traders earn through derivatives in essentially the same way as traditional traders do. Crypto traders mitigate the risk by signing contracts or deals to earn either through estimating the right future trends or fixing a price of an asset.

Crypto derivatives is a huge milestone for the whole market as it plays a key role in bringing down the risk and attracting more people in the business. It helps in reducing the fear of the unknown by keeping the variables in check. Various exchanges now allow trading derivatives along with the primary assets.

Types of crypto derivatives

There are mainly four types of crypto derivatives, which are practically used in the industry. But we broadly classify them as future, forwards, options, perpetual contracts, and swaps for a better understanding of the users.

Future

As the name indicates the future is an agreement between two groups of people in which they decide upon a certain price. The agreement includes a specified period of time along with the price. The groups may be two traders on the exchange. The fixed price means that after the specified time one user has to buy and the other has to sell an underlying asset at the specified rate. The rate may vary from exchange to exchange but the procedure and the general terms remain the same.

Forwards

Forwards are normally traded on over-the-counter exchanges. It is similar to the future but has slight differences. It is a non-standardized contract between two users. Unlike the future, it is not traded on normal exchanges. It can be customized, however, it involves fixation of the price like future, for buying or selling an asset in the future.

Perpetual contracts

The major difference between forwards, future, and perpetual is that a perpetual contract does not have an expiry date. Both parties can continue with their agreement as long as they want to, depending upon the conditions of the market. The contract can be closed when both parties find it suitable. There are two things an individual needs to take care of. One is maintaining the accounts margin and the other is the funding rate.

Options

The options differ from the future as in options the buyer is not obliged to buy the asset at the end of the term. The buyer can either decide to buy or not buy. Like the other contracts, both the parties do agree on a date and price but the deal contains an option about buying or selling the asset. Options are a bit more flexible than the future or forwards, as they are not followed by many obligations.

Swaps

Swaps are also one of the types of derivatives in which two parties agree on a contract. The contract involves the exchange of cash flow or liabilities from different financial institutions. The liabilities are often in the form of a notational principal amount such as a loan or a bond. Swaps do not operate essentially on exchanges. Traditional crypto investors do not prefer swap much. They are often dealt with over the counter. The most popular types of swaps are interest rates.

Conclusion

Crypto derivatives are a tested way of bringing down the risk factor in the crypto market and are therefore a vital way of taking a step towards crypto trading. However, it must be noted that trading through derivatives has its own risks in case of wrong estimations of the future trends or not speculating the prices accurately. These risks can result in hefty losses for the traders and investors.