New futures traders tend to fixate on headline numbers like "up to 500x leverage". What actually decides whether you get liquidated, and how much you pay every month, is something else: the leverage you really use, cross or isolated margin, the smallest order you can place, whether you can practise on a demo account first, and the fee charged on every single trade. This guide lines up the rules that matter to beginners for the BTC/USDT perpetual on 11 exchanges, using each exchange's own public API and help pages. All figures were checked on 2026-09-27.
Start with the number that matters most: with 100 USDT of margin at 10x long BTC, a move of about 9.6% against you gets you liquidated; at 100x, about 0.6% is enough. The maximum leverage an exchange offers is a ceiling, not a recommendation.
Quick answers
- Maximum leverage: from 100x on OKX to 500x on MEXC and Ourbit for BTC/USDT perpetuals. The maximum only applies to the smallest position tier and drops automatically as your position grows. New Binance futures accounts are capped at 20x for their first 30 days. Higher leverage means a shorter distance to liquidation; the maximum is not a recommendation.
- Minimum order: most exchanges accept 0.0001 BTC (about 8.5 USDT notional at a BTC price of roughly 85,000 USDT on the check date). Bybit requires 0.001 BTC; Binance requires 0.001 BTC and at least 50 USDT notional; XT.COM needs at least 10 USDT notional, about 2 contracts at the check-date price; HTX trades in whole contracts, 1 contract = 0.001 BTC.
- KYC: Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate, Bitget and Pionex state that identity verification is required before trading; see the table for the others.
- Demo trading: Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate, Bitget and WEEX all have an official demo account or testnet.
- Fees: fees are charged on position notional, on every trade: opening and closing a 1,000 USDT position as a taker costs 1 USDT on Binance, or 0.7 USDT after a Lv.1 30% rebate; on Gate and Ourbit, Lv.1 brings it down to 0.4 and 0.32 USDT.
BTC/USDT perpetual rules on 11 exchanges
The table below comes from each exchange's official public API and API documentation. The contract is always the USDT-margined BTC perpetual; checked 2026-09-27. "Not published" means we found no official source to verify it, not that the feature is missing. Apart from Binance, we found no official new-account leverage limits on the other exchanges.
| Exchange | Max leverage | Default / beginner leverage | Cross / isolated | One-way / hedge mode | Minimum order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | 20x for the first 30 days of a new futures account; after that up to 150x under risk limits (up to 300,000 USDT notional) | Chosen at account opening: Beginner 2x, Experienced 5x, Advanced 20x | Both | Both | 0.001 BTC and notional ≥ 50 USDT |
| OKX | 100x | Not published | Both | Both | 0.01 contract (1 contract = 0.01 BTC), i.e. 0.0001 BTC |
| Bybit | 150x | Not published | Both (cross by default) | Both | 0.001 BTC, notional ≥ 5 USDT |
| Gate | 200x | Cross default 10x | Both | Both | 1 contract = 0.0001 BTC |
| Bitget | 150x | Not published | Not published | Not published | 0.0001 BTC, notional ≥ 5 USDT |
| MEXC | 500x (up to 50,000 contracts) | Not published | Both | Both | 1 contract = 0.0001 BTC |
| Pionex | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | 0.0001 BTC |
| WEEX | 400x | Not published | Not published | Not published | 0.0001 BTC |
| XT.COM | 150x (up to 300,000 USDT notional) | Default 20x, cross | Both | Not published | 1 contract = 0.0001 BTC, notional ≥ 10 USDT |
| HTX | 200x | Not published | Both | Both | Whole contracts, 1 contract = 0.001 BTC |
| Ourbit | 500x | Not published | Not published | Not published | 1 contract = 0.0001 BTC |
Checked 2026-09-27. Leverage caps and minimum order sizes change and can differ by region; always go by what the exchange shows before you trade. · Data sources and methodology
Note: Ourbit is registered in the British Virgin Islands and is not supervised by a major financial regulator, so avoid keeping long-term or large balances there; see the risk notes in the Ourbit fee rebate guide.
Account requirements and demo trading
| Exchange | KYC before trading futures? (official wording) | Demo trading |
|---|---|---|
| Binance | Yes; opening the futures account also asks for your trading experience and a risk acknowledgment | Yes (official API testnet) |
| OKX | Yes, trading opens after advanced identity verification | Yes (Demo Trading) |
| Bybit | Yes, at least Standard level | Yes (Demo Trading) |
| Gate | Yes, KYC before trading | Yes (official API testnet) |
| Bitget | Yes, verification required for trading since 2024-01-01 | Yes (SUSDT demo contracts in the official API) |
| MEXC | MEXC says not completing KYC may affect trading and other services | No official information found |
| Pionex | Yes (official blog: unverified accounts cannot trade) | No official information found |
| WEEX | Not stated officially | Yes (demo futures) |
| XT.COM | Not stated officially | No official information found |
| HTX | Not stated officially | No official information found |
| Ourbit | Not stated officially | No official information found |
For KYC levels and limits on every exchange, see Crypto exchange KYC compared.
Five rules beginners should check
Maximum leverage only applies to the smallest tier
The maximum is the cap for small positions, and new accounts may not get it at all. Binance states that from 2025-12-07, leverage above 20x is not available to futures accounts within the first 30 days of opening, with limits lifted gradually afterwards (Binance leverage and margin FAQ). After that, BTCUSDT allows 150x up to 300,000 USDT notional, 100x from 300,000 to 800,000, and 75x from 800,000 to 3 million. XT.COM also gives 150x up to 300,000 USDT and 125x up to 1 million. MEXC allows 500x up to 50,000 contracts (5 BTC), then steps down to 200x and 100x. For a beginner, the exchange's maximum leverage barely matters; what matters is the leverage you choose.
Default leverage: check it before you open a position
Many people place their first order without looking at the leverage field. When you open a Binance futures account you pick your trading experience; Binance states the defaults are 2x for Beginner, 5x for Experienced and 20x for Advanced, and only Advanced lets you set your own leverage at account opening (Binance help article). Gate's BTC_USDT cross default is 10x, and XT.COM's BTC contract defaults to 20x cross. Other exchanges do not publish their defaults, so check before every first trade.
Cross vs isolated: how much you can lose
- Isolated: the position only uses the margin you assign to it; liquidation costs at most that margin.
- Cross: your available balance backs the position, so liquidation comes later, but when it happens it can take the whole available balance.
Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate, MEXC, XT.COM and HTX support both modes on the BTC perpetual; Bybit's documentation says cross (regular margin) is the default. Beginners are better off starting in isolated mode with money they can afford to lose entirely.
One-way vs hedge mode
One-way mode allows one direction per contract; hedge mode lets you hold a long and a short at the same time. The official API documentation of Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate, MEXC and HTX confirms you can switch between the two (for example Bybit position mode). One-way mode is enough for beginners; hedge mode makes it easy to hold both sides and pay fees and funding on each.
Minimum order: where small live practice starts
On OKX, Gate, Bitget, MEXC, Pionex, WEEX and Ourbit the BTC perpetual minimum is 0.0001 BTC, about 8.5 USDT notional at the check-date price. XT.COM's contract is also 0.0001 BTC, but the minimum notional is 10 USDT, so you need about 2 contracts (about 17 USDT) at the check-date price. Bybit's is 0.001 BTC. Binance needs 0.001 BTC and at least 50 USDT notional. HTX trades in whole contracts of 0.001 BTC. If you want to practise with real but small money, a smaller minimum gives you more room.
Demo trading: learn the interface with play money
- Bybit: Demo Trading is a module separate from your live account, and you can request up to 100,000 USDT of demo funds per request (Bybit Demo Trading).
- OKX: OKX offers a Demo Trading service (OKX API documentation).
- WEEX: the futures page can switch to demo futures; new users get 50,000 USDT of demo funds each on the BTC and ETH contracts, and can claim another 5,000 USDT when the available balance is below 5,000 USDT, with a 72-hour wait between claims (WEEX demo trading notice).
- Binance, Gate, Bitget: official futures testnets or demo contracts (Bitget's SUSDT demo contracts) exist, mainly for API users; for the app entry point, go by what the official app shows.
A demo account has no real slippage, no emotional pressure and no real fees. Once you can place orders, set stop-losses and read the liquidation price, the real second step is a live trade at the minimum order size.
Three common beginner traps, worked out with 100 USDT
Trap 1: too much leverage puts liquidation right next to your entry
The table is an approximation using Binance BTCUSDT's first-tier maintenance margin rate of 0.4%, isolated long, excluding fees, funding and liquidation charges (the exchange's displayed liquidation price is what counts). Note that new Binance accounts are capped at 20x for 30 days; the 50x and 100x rows only illustrate how leverage relates to risk:
| Margin | Leverage | Notional | Adverse move to liquidation | Round-trip taker fee (0.05%) | Fee as share of margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 USDT | 3x | 300 USDT | about 33.1% | 0.3 USDT | 0.3% |
| 100 USDT | 5x | 500 USDT | about 19.7% | 0.5 USDT | 0.5% |
| 100 USDT | 10x | 1,000 USDT | about 9.6% | 1 USDT | 1% |
| 100 USDT | 20x | 2,000 USDT | about 4.6% | 2 USDT | 2% |
| 100 USDT | 50x | 5,000 USDT | about 1.6% | 5 USDT | 5% |
| 100 USDT | 100x | 10,000 USDT | about 0.6% | 10 USDT | 10% |
The maths (approximate): liquidation price ≈ entry price × (1 − 1 / leverage) ÷ (1 − 0.4%). At 10x that is 0.9 ÷ 0.996 ≈ 0.904, a drop of about 9.6%. A 5% daily move in BTC is not unusual, and the higher the leverage, the more likely a single candle wipes you out, while fees eat a growing share of your margin.
When a position is liquidated you usually lose all of its margin, and the exchange also charges a liquidation fee; in fast markets the actual fill can be worse than the expected liquidation price. Only trade futures with money you can afford to lose entirely.
Trap 2: funding is charged every 8 hours
Perpetuals have no expiry and use funding to keep the price close to spot. The official BTC perpetual API data of Bybit, Gate, Bitget and HTX all show an 8-hour funding interval (it can differ by exchange and contract). Assume a 0.01% funding rate on the paying side: a 1,000 USDT notional pays 0.1 USDT each time, 0.3 USDT a day, about 9 USDT over 30 days. The same 100 USDT at 100x (10,000 notional) pays 3 USDT a day. Funding changes and can also be paid to you; the point is that a larger notional means a larger cost.
Trap 3: fees look tiny but are charged on notional
Fees are based on position notional, not margin. With 100 USDT at 10x, opening and closing twice a day for 30 days costs 1,000 × 0.05% × 2 × 60 = 60 USDT in taker fees on Binance, or 60% of your margin. You pay it whether you win or lose, and it is the easiest cost for a beginner to cut.
The cost beginners can cut most easily: fees and rebates
Leverage and funding are up to you; fees can be lowered at sign-up. A rebate returns part of the fees you pay. Through Quant Nova:
- New users, Lv.1 (no threshold): Binance and Bybit 30%; Bitget, Pionex and HTX 40%; MEXC 50%; Gate and Ourbit 60%; WEEX and XT.COM 61%. OKX is a 20% auto-rebate, plus exclusive rewards and promotions.
- SVIP (reachable through trading volume): Binance and Bybit 35%; Bitget, Pionex and HTX 45%; MEXC 55%; Gate and Ourbit 65%; WEEX and XT.COM 68%.
- Supernova (invitation only): up to 40% to 70%, depending on the exchange.
Typical influencer referral codes give 20%. At Lv.1, Gate and Ourbit's 60% is 3 times a typical 20% code, MEXC's 50% is 2.5 times and Bitget's 40% is 2 times. Rebates are settled daily and traceable trade by trade; rates are set by the exchanges and may change.
| Exchange | VIP0 futures maker / taker | Lv.1 rebate | Taker after rebate | 1,000 USDT round trip (taker) after rebate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | 0.02% / 0.05% | 30% | 0.035% | 0.7 USDT |
| OKX | 0.02% / 0.05% | 20% (auto) | 0.04% | 0.8 USDT |
| Bybit | 0.02% / 0.055% | 30% | 0.0385% | 0.77 USDT |
| Gate | 0.02% / 0.05% | 60% | 0.02% | 0.4 USDT |
| Bitget | 0.02% / 0.06% | 40% | 0.036% | 0.72 USDT |
| MEXC | 0.01% / 0.04% (BTC_USDT: 0% / 0.02%) | 50% | 0.02% (BTC_USDT 0.01%) | 0.4 USDT (BTC_USDT 0.2 USDT) |
| Pionex | 0.02% / 0.05% | 40% | 0.03% | 0.6 USDT |
| WEEX | 0.02% / 0.08% | 61% | 0.0312% | 0.62 USDT |
| XT.COM | 0.04% / 0.06% | 61% | 0.0234% | 0.47 USDT |
| HTX | 0.02% / 0.06% | 40% | 0.036% | 0.72 USDT |
| Ourbit | 0.02% / 0.04% | 60% | 0.016% | 0.32 USDT |
Back to the example of 100 USDT at 10x, twice a day for 30 days: Binance fees are 60 USDT and a Lv.1 rebate returns 18 USDT; on Gate you also pay 60 USDT and a Lv.1 rebate returns 36 USDT. Fee schedules differ by only a few hundredths of a percent, but over a month of notional volume that becomes tens of USDT. See Perpetual fees after rebate for the effective-rate maths, Maker vs taker fees explained for the difference between the two, and Crypto exchange VIP fees compared for when VIP tiers start to matter.
Rebates depend on using the right referral code at sign-up: NOVA888 for Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget, XT.COM and Ourbit; mexc-NOVA888 for MEXC; QUANTXXX for Gate and Pionex; lowercase quantxxx for WEEX; lowercase quant for HTX. After signing up, submit your UID on Quant Nova; it is reviewed automatically the next day at 16:00 (UTC+8).
Already registered? Adding a code later or re-binding
Some exchanges let you add a referral code after sign-up, with deadlines and conditions. Where that is not possible, the operator-verified order is: the official add-later window, then a KYC identity transfer, then closing the old account and registering again; opening a new account with a new phone number or email also works. See Exchange re-binding rules and KYC identity transfer and rebates.
Which exchange suits which beginner?
- You want to practise on demo first: OKX, Bybit and WEEX have the clearest official demo information; once comfortable, trade small on the same exchange so you do not have to relearn the interface.
- You want the smallest live trade: OKX, Gate, Bitget, MEXC, WEEX and Ourbit all have a 0.0001 BTC minimum with no separate minimum notional.
- Fees matter most: comparing the BTC/USDT perpetual, VIP0 taker, with a Lv.1 rebate, the lowest is MEXC at 0.01% (the current pair-specific BTC_USDT rate of 0.02% less 50%; MEXC sets fees per pair and may change them with promotions, and rebates on this pair follow actual settlement), followed by Ourbit 0.016%, Gate 0.02% and XT.COM 0.0234%. Most other MEXC contracts charge 0.04% taker, 0.02% after the rebate. See Gate rebate, Ourbit rebate, MEXC rebate and XT.COM rebate.
- You want a large platform with full documentation: Binance, OKX and Bybit have the most complete futures rules and API docs. See Binance rebate, OKX rebate and Bybit rebate.
FAQ
What leverage is safe for a futures beginner?
No leverage is truly safe, but liquidation distance helps. With 100 USDT on Binance BTCUSDT's first tier (approximate), 3x is liquidated after a move of about 33.1%, 5x about 19.7%, 10x about 9.6% and 20x about 4.6%. Lower leverage leaves more room for volatility and keeps fees a smaller share of your margin.
Is an exchange with higher maximum leverage better?
Not necessarily. Maximum leverage only applies to the smallest position tier, new accounts may not get it (Binance caps new futures accounts at 20x for 30 days), and beginners do not need it. Minimum order size, demo trading, margin modes and fees are more useful to compare.
How do I practise on an exchange without demo trading?
Trade live at the minimum size. Most exchanges accept 0.0001 BTC on the BTC perpetual, about 8.5 USDT notional at the check-date price; at 1x to 2x you can learn orders, stop-losses and the liquidation display with very little money.
Do I need KYC to trade futures?
Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate, Bitget and Pionex state that verification is required before trading. MEXC says not completing KYC may affect trading. WEEX, XT.COM, HTX and Ourbit do not state officially whether futures require KYC; follow the prompts after sign-up.
Does a rebate change my liquidation price?
No. Fees are charged at the listed rate when you trade, and the rebate is settled daily afterwards, so it does not change your margin or liquidation price when you open.
What is the OKX rebate?
OKX is a 20% auto-rebate, so all OKX examples here use 20%; for our exclusive OKX rewards and promotions, contact support.
Further reading
- Fee rebates for beginners
- Perpetual fees after rebate
- Crypto exchange VIP fees compared
- Rebate rates on 11 exchanges
Sources and verification
Maximum leverage, minimum order size, default leverage and margin modes come from each exchange's official public API and API documentation; KYC and demo trading come from official help pages; checked 2026-09-27. Listed fees and rebate rates come from the Quant Nova rebate rates page. Exchanges change leverage, order rules and fees from time to time, and they can differ by region; the official pages always prevail.
These are estimates based on official parameters; actual liquidation prices, fees and rebates follow what each exchange and Quant Nova display. Futures trading is high risk. This article is for information only and is not investment advice.
Data verified: 2026-09-27