Updated Rules checked 2026-10-17
You don’t need to apply for a separate futures account on OKX, and there’s no test to pass. Once you’ve completed identity verification, switch your account mode to “Futures mode”, transfer USDT from your funding account to your trading account, and you can place orders on USDT perpetual futures. OKX’s official comparison table states that Futures mode has no minimum asset requirement and no knowledge quiz; the 10,000 USD in assets plus a one-time quiz apply to the more advanced Multi-currency margin mode.
Before you open a position, you choose cross or isolated margin, a leverage multiple, and an order type. Futures fees for regular users are Maker 0.02% and Taker 0.05%, charged once when you open and again when you close. Leverage magnifies losses: if the price moves against you, your position may be forcibly liquidated and you lose your margin.
Key points: OKX’s Futures mode has no minimum asset requirement and no knowledge quiz; you switch to it under “Trading settings” → “Account mode” on the trading page. According to OKX’s public API, read on 2026-10-17, only 5 of the 494 live USDT perpetual contracts allow up to 100x (BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, XAU), and the most common cap is 20x, which applies to 253 contracts. On BTCUSDT perpetual, 100x applies only to positions of up to 1,000 contracts (10 BTC), with a tier-1 maintenance margin rate of 0.4%. With 1,000 USDT of margin at 10x, the position is 10,000 USDT, and paying Taker fees to both open and close costs 10 USDT, or 1% of your margin. An isolated 10x long is liquidated roughly 9.59% below the entry price, not 10%, because OKX’s liquidation threshold includes the maintenance margin and the closing fee.
The information below was checked against official pages on 2026-10-17 (fact-check date) and is provided for reference.
How do you enable futures trading on OKX?
Check two things first. One: your account needs to have completed identity verification. OKX individual accounts can only trade and withdraw after passing KYC; see the OKX KYC guide for the steps. Two: OKX’s derivatives services need to be available where you live. OKX’s risk and compliance disclosure (marked as updated 2026-07-08) lists places such as Australia, Brazil, South Korea and the United Kingdom as restricting derivatives-related services, and states that derivatives are not supported in Singapore. For the full list of restricted regions, see exchange restricted countries.
The referral code has to be entered at sign-up; once an OKX account is created, a code can’t be added or changed. OKX’s affiliate FAQ also warns that if you open an invitation link and then go download the app before finishing sign-up, the referral may not be linked (OKX Affiliate FAQ).
If you don’t have an account yet, this site’s OKX referral code is KEVINWU; see OKX referral code for the sign-up steps.
Enabling futures and placing an order in the app
- Switch to Futures mode: tap “Trade” at the bottom, then on the trading page tap “···” in the top-right corner → “Trading settings” → “Trading mode”, and under “Account mode” choose “Futures mode”. Spot mode only lets you trade spot and margin; you need Futures mode to trade perpetual futures, expiry futures and options.
- Transfer funds: tap the transfer button on the trading page, choose USDT, transfer it from the “Funding account” to the “Trading account”, enter the amount and tap “Confirm”. For coin-margined futures, transfer the matching coin instead.
- Pick a contract: tap the trading pair in the top-left corner, switch to “Perpetual” → “USDT-margined”, and choose “BTCUSDT Perpetual”.
- Set the position mode: “···” → “Trading settings” → “Trading mode” → “Position mode”, and choose one-way mode or hedge mode (the difference is explained in the next section).
- Fill in the order: choose “Cross” or “Isolated”, the leverage and the order type, enter the price and amount, tick “TP/SL” if you want it, then tap “Open long” or “Open short” → “Confirm”. You can enter the amount in coins or in contracts; one BTCUSDT perpetual contract is 0.01 BTC, and the minimum order is 0.01 contracts.
- Check the position: after opening, the “Positions” tab shows the estimated liquidation price and the maintenance margin ratio, and lets you set TP/SL, close part of the position, or close the whole position at market price.
Steps on the website
- Log in at okx.com and click “Trade” → “Futures” at the top (some help center articles call it “leveraged futures trading”).
- On the right side of the trading page, go to “Trading settings” → “Account mode” and choose “Futures mode”.
- Transfer USDT from the “Funding account” to the “Trading account”, enter the amount and click “Confirm”.
- Choose the contract type and trading pair, for example BTCUSDT perpetual.
- In the order options, choose cross or isolated and the leverage, fill in the order details, then click “Buy/Long” or “Sell/Short”.
- Go to “Positions” or “Open positions” to check the maintenance margin ratio, set TP/SL or close the position.
These steps are based on OKX’s how to trade futures on OKX (updated 2026-10-12), what is Futures mode, trading settings tutorial (updated 2026-10-15) and how to open and close futures positions. The asset requirement and quiz rules come from OKX’s comparison of Futures mode and Multi-currency margin mode. Button names may differ; go by what the app shows.
Cross vs isolated margin: what’s the difference, and which should you pick?
The difference is which money counts as margin. OKX defines it this way: in cross margin, futures and margin positions that settle in the same currency share margin and their profits and losses offset each other; in isolated margin, each position’s margin and P&L are calculated separately, and the margin locked when you place the order is that position’s maximum loss (advantages of cross and isolated margin in Futures mode).
| Item | Isolated | Cross (Futures mode) |
|---|---|---|
| Source of margin | The amount allocated to this position when you open it | The available balance of the same settlement currency in your trading account, for example all of your USDT |
| Loss if liquidated | All of that position’s margin | All assets in that margin currency in your trading account |
| Effect on other positions | Positions are independent of each other | Positions in the same currency offset each other’s P&L, so one big loss drags down the others |
| Unrealized profit | Stays within that position | Can be used to add to positions, but can’t be transferred or used for other trades |
| Assets in the funding account | Not affected | Not affected |
The table is based on the article above and the OKX liquidation FAQ (updated 2026-08-27), which states that liquidation does not affect assets in the funding account.
Here’s the difference on the same order. Say BTC is at 100,000 USDT and you open a 0.1 BTC (10 contracts) long, a position worth 10,000 USDT, with 3,000 USDT in your trading account:
- Isolated at 10x with 1,000 USDT of margin: the estimated liquidation price is about 90,406.83 USDT. If the price falls there, you lose at most 1,000 USDT, and the other 2,000 USDT is not affected.
- Cross, with all 3,000 USDT counted as margin: the estimated liquidation price is about 70,316.43 USDT. Liquidation is further away, but if it does happen, all 3,000 USDT is lost.
Neither mode is better in absolute terms; they put the risk in different places. Isolated caps each order’s maximum loss at the margin you allocated. Cross lets positions in the same currency support each other and uses capital more efficiently, at the cost that one extreme move can hit all of that currency’s assets in your trading account.
One-way mode vs hedge mode
Position mode is a separate setting and has nothing to do with cross or isolated. In one-way mode you can only hold one direction at a time: if you already hold a BTCUSDT long and open a short, the long gets closed first. In hedge mode you can hold a long and a short on the same contract at the same time; it applies only to perpetual and expiry futures. OKX also states that futures orders in the same coin, direction and margin type are automatically merged into one position (trading settings tutorial).
How do you set leverage, and what’s the maximum?
You set leverage next to the cross/isolated choice in the order panel. The cap depends on the contract and drops as the position grows. OKX controls this with position tiers: at a given leverage you can only open up to that tier’s limit, and to open more you have to lower the leverage (how to trade futures on OKX). The first three tiers for BTCUSDT perpetual:
| Tier | Position (contracts) | Approx. BTC | Max leverage | Maintenance margin rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0–1,000 | Up to 10 BTC | 100x | 0.4% |
| 2 | 1,000–5,000 | 10–50 BTC | 66.66x | 0.5% |
| 3 | 5,000–20,000 | 50–200 BTC | 50x | 0.75% |
Data from the OKX position tiers API (read 2026-10-17; the same for cross and isolated). There are 99 tiers in total; the larger the position, the higher the maintenance margin rate and the lower the available leverage.
100x is actually rare on OKX. Using the OKX instruments API, I counted the USDT perpetual contracts live on 2026-10-17. Here’s how their maximum leverage breaks down:
| Max leverage | Contracts | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 100x | 5 | BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, XAU (gold) |
| 75x | 2 | — |
| 50x | 83 | e.g. DOGE |
| 25x | 23 | — |
| 20x | 253 | The most common cap |
| 10x | 126 | — |
| 5x, 3x | 1 each | — |
| Total | 494 |
Leverage doesn’t change the fee rate, but it changes how large the fees are relative to your margin, and it decides how close the liquidation price sits to your entry. The next two sections work through both. OKX also warns that in cross margin, adding to a position with unrealized profit moves the estimated liquidation price closer to the average entry price.
How are futures fees calculated?
For regular users, OKX charges Maker 0.02% and Taker 0.05% on USDT-margined perpetual and expiry futures (OKX fee page, notice on VIP tier and futures fee adjustments). The official formula is: fee = fee rate × (number of contracts × contract multiplier × contract face value × fill price), where the part in parentheses is the value of the filled position. OKX states that the fee “has no direct relationship with your leverage”; leverage only affects how large a position you can open, and the fee is charged once on opening and once on closing (OKX trading fee FAQ, updated 2026-09-08). For how Maker and Taker are determined, see Maker vs Taker fees.
Example: 1,000 USDT of margin at 10x gives a position worth 10,000 USDT (0.1 BTC, or 10 contracts, with BTC at 100,000 USDT). Opening as Taker costs 10,000 × 0.05% = 5 USDT, and closing as Taker costs another 5 USDT (assuming the price doesn’t change), so the round trip is 10 USDT, or 1% of your margin. Using Maker on both sides costs 10,000 × 0.02% × 2 = 4 USDT. Hold the position for 3 days with a funding rate of 0.01% every 8 hours and you pay 1 USDT each time, 9 times, for 9 USDT. The Taker round trip plus funding comes to 19 USDT in total, so the price has to move at least 0.19% in your favor just to break even.
Switch to 20x and the position becomes 20,000 USDT, so the Taker round trip is 20 USDT, or 2% of your margin. You can estimate fees as a share of margin with “fee rate × leverage × 2”; the derivation is in how futures fees are calculated. Two more rules: expiry futures charge a 0.01% delivery fee when they settle at expiry, and if you’re liquidated, the fee is charged at the Taker rate for your current tier.
How often is the funding rate charged?
Funding on perpetual futures is paid between longs and shorts; OKX neither collects nor keeps it. It usually settles every 8 hours, at 08:00, 16:00 and 24:00 (UTC+8, Taiwan time) each day, while some contracts settle every 1, 2 or 4 hours. If the funding rate hits its upper or lower limit at settlement, the settlement interval is shortened step by step. You only pay or receive funding if you still hold the position at settlement; close before then and you don’t (OKX perpetual funding fee rules, updated 2026-08-27).
According to the OKX funding rate API, read on 2026-10-17, BTCUSDT perpetual settles every 8 hours, with a current rate of 0.01% and limits of ±0.375%. Each contract’s settlement frequency appears on the trading page in the “Funding rate (X hours)” label. If your available balance isn’t enough to pay funding, it’s deducted from the position margin, and the liquidation price moves closer. For a comparison of settlement intervals across exchanges, see what the funding rate is and how it’s calculated.
Does the referral code rebate apply to futures?
Yes. The OKX Affiliate Program rules (updated 2026-09-29) state that rebates apply to spot, futures and options trading and are calculated on the net trading fees actually incurred. The invitee’s rebate rate is 0%–20%, and you can check it in the app under the menu → User center → “My rewards” (OKX Affiliate FAQ). Fees paid with futures trial funds, futures trial vouchers or rebate cards earn no rebate, and funding fees aren’t trading fees, so they earn no rebate either.
For OKX accounts registered with this site’s referral code, the exchange’s automatic fee rebate is 20%, refunded directly by OKX. The table below uses Taker 0.05%: 20,000 USDT is one round trip (open plus close) from the example above, and 200,000 and 1,000,000 USDT are 10 and 50 round trips. The figures update with the current rebate rate.
| Monthly volume | Fees (0.05%) | Auto rebate (20%) | Net fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20,000 USDT | 10 USDT | 2 USDT | 8 USDT |
| 200,000 USDT | 100 USDT | 20 USDT | 80 USDT |
| 1,000,000 USDT | 500 USDT | 100 USDT | 400 USDT |
Example at a futures fee rate of 0.05% and the current 20% automatic rebate (rate updated 2026-10-23). Your exchange statement prevails.
To compare with other exchanges, here are regular-user fees at four major futures exchanges:
| Exchange | Maker | Taker | Taker round trip on a 10,000 USDT position | This site’s rebate | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OKX | 0.02% | 0.05% | 10 USDT | Automatic fee rebate from the exchange; invitees get 0%–20% | Fee page |
| Binance | 0.02% | 0.05% | 10 USDT | Futures rebate lasts 12 months from opening a futures account and stops once you reach VIP 3 or above | Futures fee explainer |
| Bybit | 0.02% | 0.055% | 11 USDT | This site has no automatic fee rebate on Bybit; for rebate options, see Bybit fee rebate | Fee structure |
| Bitget | 0.02% | 0.06% | 12 USDT | Automatic fee rebate from the exchange, valid long-term with no expiry date | Futures API |
Fees were checked on 2026-10-17; Bitget’s figures are the API values for the BTCUSDT contract. The Binance futures rebate period is based on the Binance Referral Pro FAQ, and Bitget’s on the Bitget affiliates FAQ. For each exchange’s effective fees after the rebate, see actual fees after referral rebates.
How is the liquidation price calculated?
On OKX, liquidation triggers when the maintenance margin ratio is ≤ 100%, and once that ratio falls below 300%, the system first sends a reduction warning. The ratio’s denominator is “maintenance margin + liquidation fee”, so the liquidation threshold sits a little higher than the maintenance margin alone. Liquidation doesn’t close everything at once, either: OKX uses tiered liquidation. It first cancels some open orders, then reduces the position in stages, and keeps going only if the position still doesn’t meet the new tier’s requirements after each reduction, until the whole position is closed. Liquidation is based on the mark price, not the last traded price (how OKX calculates the futures liquidation price, updated 2026-08-11).
With a single USDT position, you can estimate the liquidation price of a USDT-margined long with this formula: liquidation price = (entry price − margin ÷ quantity) ÷ (1 − maintenance margin rate − Taker fee rate). For a short it’s (entry price + margin ÷ quantity) ÷ (1 + maintenance margin rate + Taker fee rate). I checked it against the example in OKX’s help center: BTCUSDT perpetual, cross at 3x, average entry price 60,996, 50 contracts (0.5 BTC), 5,000 USDT available. Plugging in 0.4% and 0.05% gives (60,996 − 5,000 ÷ 0.5) ÷ 0.9955 = 51,226.5, which matches the 51,226.5 USDT shown by the official calculator.
Applied to an isolated long (BTCUSDT tier 1, maintenance margin rate 0.4%, Taker 0.05%), the distance to liquidation depends only on leverage, not on the entry price:
| Isolated leverage | Liquidation price with entry at 100,000 | Distance to liquidation | Taker round-trip fees as share of margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5x | 80,361.63 | 19.64% | 0.5% |
| 10x | 90,406.83 | 9.59% | 1% |
| 20x | 95,429.43 | 4.57% | 2% |
| 50x | 98,442.99 | 1.56% | 5% |
| 100x | 99,447.51 | 0.55% | 10% |
Under the same conditions, a 10x short is liquidated at about 109,507.22, 9.51% above the entry price. These estimates leave out funding and other positions; the real figure is the “Est. liquidation price” on the positions page and OKX’s built-in calculator. In the app, on the futures trading page, tap “···” → “Tools” → “Calculator” → “Liquidation price”. You can also use this site’s liquidation price calculator and enter your own leverage and maintenance margin rate.
What fees do you pay when liquidated?
- Liquidation fee: charged at the Taker rate for your current fee tier, on the position value, not on the margin.
- Reduction fee (liquidation penalty): once liquidation is triggered, OKX charges the maintenance margin for the tier matching the reduced amount. It covers losses from the liquidation engine closing the position, and whatever is left goes into the insurance fund.
- Negative balance: if the closing price is worse than the bankruptcy price and the account balance turns negative, OKX states that the user does not have to cover it; the insurance fund pays.
Source: the OKX liquidation FAQ. So being liquidated usually costs you an extra reduction fee compared with closing the position yourself.
How do you set take profit and stop loss?
Take profit and stop loss (TP/SL) are conditional orders with a preset trigger price and order price; the order is only sent once the price reaches the trigger. OKX gives you two points at which to set them (how to set TP/SL on futures trades, updated 2026-08-26):
- When opening: in both the app and on the website, enter the amount on the futures trading page, tick “TP/SL”, fill in the take-profit and stop-loss prices, then tap “Open long” or “Open short”. Tap “Advanced” to set a trailing stop instead.
- After opening: in the app, tap “Positions” → choose the position → “TP/SL”; on the website, choose the position under “Open positions” and click “Add”, then click “Confirm” when you’re done.
The trigger can be the last price, the mark price or the index price. OKX’s mark price = spot index price + moving average of the basis, and liquidation uses the mark price, so if your stop loss triggers on the last price, the two prices can diverge in fast markets. OKX also states that the position and margin are not frozen before the trigger; TP/SL orders can fail because of price limits, position limits, insufficient margin or system issues; and a limit order placed after the trigger behaves like any other limit order and may not fill.
Take the earlier 10x isolated long: entry at 100,000, estimated liquidation price about 90,406.83. If the stop loss triggers at 95,000 and fills at market, the loss is 0.1 × 5,000 = 500 USDT, and the closing fee is 0.1 × 95,000 × 0.05% = 4.75 USDT. If the same order waits until liquidation, you lose the full 1,000 USDT of margin. Where you put your stop loss is your call; this only shows how the numbers work.
Other common order types:
- Post Only: guarantees the order goes onto the order book first and won’t fill immediately, so you pay the Maker rate. It sits under “Advanced limit order”, alongside FOK and IOC.
- Chase limit order: updates the order price every second to the best bid or best ask, and is always submitted as a maker order.
- Trigger order: you preset a trigger price and an order price, and the order is placed automatically when the market reaches the trigger.
- Trailing stop: the trigger price follows the market and fills as a market order when the price pulls back by the amount you set; you can set an activation price.
Order type descriptions are based on the OKX order types guide (updated 2026-09-09).
The most common beginner mistakes
- Thinking 10x needs a 10% drop to get liquidated: OKX’s liquidation threshold includes the maintenance margin and the closing fee, so a 10x isolated BTCUSDT long hits its liquidation price after a drop of about 9.59%. If funding is deducted from the margin, it’s even closer.
- Using cross margin while leaving idle USDT in the trading account: a cross liquidation wipes out all of that margin currency in your trading account, though the funding account isn’t affected. Which account you park unused USDT in decides whether it counts as margin.
- Using market orders to enter and exit: the futures Taker fee of 0.05% is 2.5 times the Maker fee of 0.02%, and at 10x leverage a single Taker round trip costs 1% of your margin.
- Not checking the funding settlement frequency: not every contract settles every 8 hours; a contract that settles every 4 hours charges 6 times a day. With a positive rate and a long holding period, the funding a long pays can exceed the trading fees.
- Treating a stop loss as a guarantee: TP/SL can fail to trigger, and the limit order placed after a trigger may not fill. In fast markets you still need to watch the maintenance margin ratio on the positions page.
- Mixing up one-way and hedge mode: in one-way mode, opening an order in the opposite direction closes your existing position; only hedge mode keeps both a long and a short.
- Downloading the app before signing up: if you click an invitation link but install the app before finishing sign-up, the referral code may not be linked, and it can’t be added after the OKX account is created.
What are the risks of OKX futures?
Futures don’t protect your principal. If the price moves against you, your position may be forcibly liquidated: in isolated margin you lose that position’s margin, and in cross margin you lose all margin in that currency in your trading account. OKX’s product description also states that leveraged trading magnifies both potential gains and potential losses, and you may lose all of the funds you put in. Beyond price risk, there are a few mechanisms you should know:
- Auto-deleveraging (ADL): when the insurance fund is completely used up, or falls 30% from its peak within 8 hours, OKX directly picks the top-ranked opposing positions and force-closes them at the mark price. The users whose positions are reduced may be ones in profit. ADL charges no fee (introduction to OKX auto-deleveraging).
- The Security Fund is not insurance: OKX states that its Security Fund is the platform’s own risk management tool, not an insurance product, and does not guarantee compensation for any particular user’s losses (understanding the OKX Security Fund, updated 2026-08-05).
- Orders may not fill in fast markets: OKX warns in both its closing and its TP/SL guides that orders may fail to fill when the market moves sharply.
If you want to limit your own futures trading, OKX has two tools. On the website, click your profile picture in the top-right corner → “Security center” → “Trading permissions”, where you can turn off trading types such as perpetual futures. The other is the “futures cooling-off period”, which you turn on from “···” on the trading page or from “Trading settings” on the right. You can choose 1, 3, 7, 14 or 30 days. Once it’s on, you can’t end it early, and customer support can’t lift it either; during that time you can’t open new positions or add to existing ones, but you can reduce or close positions and adjust margin (trading settings tutorial).
FAQ
How do I enable futures on OKX?
Once you’ve completed identity verification, switch your account mode to “Futures mode” and transfer USDT from your funding account to your trading account, and you can trade USDT perpetual futures. In the app, the path is “···” in the top-right corner of the trading page → “Trading settings” → “Trading mode” → “Account mode”.
Do OKX futures require a test or questionnaire?
Not for Futures mode. OKX’s official comparison table states that Futures mode has no minimum asset requirement and no one-time knowledge quiz; you only need account equity of 10,000 USD or more and a knowledge quiz the first time you switch to Multi-currency margin mode.
What’s the maximum leverage on OKX futures?
USDT perpetual futures on BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP and gold (XAU) go up to 100x; most other contracts cap at 20x or 10x (OKX API, 2026-10-17). The maximum applies only to the first position tier: once a BTCUSDT position exceeds 1,000 contracts (10 BTC), maximum leverage drops to 66.66x.
What are OKX futures fees?
For regular users, Maker 0.02% and Taker 0.05%, calculated on the position value and charged once on opening and once on closing. A Taker round trip on a 10,000 USDT position is 10 USDT; for VIP tiers, see OKX fees.
How often is OKX funding charged?
Usually every 8 hours, at 08:00, 16:00 and 24:00 Taiwan time; some contracts settle every 1, 2 or 4 hours. You only pay or receive funding if you hold the position at settlement. Funding is exchanged between longs and shorts, and OKX doesn’t collect it.
Can I lose more than my margin if I’m liquidated on OKX?
Generally you lose at most your margin: in isolated margin, that position’s margin; in cross margin, all margin in that currency in your trading account. The funding account isn’t affected. For a negative balance caused by a loss beyond the bankruptcy price, OKX’s liquidation FAQ states that the insurance fund covers it and the user doesn’t have to.
Can I get a rebate on OKX futures with a referral code?
Yes. OKX rebates apply to spot, futures and options; the invitee’s rate is 0%–20%, calculated on the net fees you actually pay. The referral code can only be entered at sign-up; if you already have an account, see switching your OKX referral code.
How do I turn off futures trading on OKX?
On the website, go to “Security center” → “Trading permissions” and turn off perpetual futures; you can turn them back on later. You can also turn on the “futures cooling-off period” (1 to 30 days), which can’t be ended early once it starts.
For more on futures costs, see how futures fees are calculated and what the funding rate is and how it’s calculated, or plug your own margin and number of trades into the perpetual futures cost calculator. OKX’s full fee schedule is in OKX fees, identity verification in the OKX KYC guide, an overview of the platform in the OKX review, and sign-up and rebate rules in OKX referral code. Futures guides for other exchanges: Binance futures guide, Bybit futures guide, Bitget futures guide. For head-to-head comparisons, see Binance vs OKX and OKX vs Bybit.