#bitmex api

Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed on a blockchain without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. The project is developed by the Ethereum Foundation. The Ethereum currency is denominated by the currency code ETH and is commonly referred to as Ether. Further information about ETH and the Ethereum Project can be found here. BitMEX currently offers two types of ETH derivative products for traders. The first is in the form of an Ether / Bitcoin (ETH/XBT) Futures Contract and the second is in the form of an Ether / USD (ETH/USD) Perpetual Contract. Futures Contracts How Are ETHXBT Futures Quoted? Margin and Leverage Settlement ETHXBT Futures Contract Example Perpetual Contracts How Is The ETHUSD Perpetual Contract Quoted Margin and Leverage Settlement ETHUSD Perpetual Contract Example Trade Inception Trade Expiry Futures Contracts On BitMEX, the ETH Futures Contract allows traders to speculate on the future value of the Ether / Bitcoin (ETH/XBT) exchange rate. Traders need not have Ether to trade the futures contract as it only requires Bitcoin as margin. How Are ETHXBT Futures Quoted? The ETH futures’ underlying is the ETH/XBT exchange rate on Poloniex, Kraken and Binance as recorded in the .BETHXBT Index. The futures are quoted in Bitcoin and all margin and PNL calculations are denominated in Bitcoin. Contract Calculations Multiplier 1 XBT Contract Value Multiplier * Futures Price * 1 ETH USD Contract Value XBT Contract Value * XBTUSD PnL Calculation # Contracts * Multiplier * (Exit Price - Entry Price) Traders who think that the price of ETH will rise will buy the futures contract. Conversely, traders who believe the price will drop will sell the futures contract. Margin and Leverage All margin is posted in Bitcoin, that means traders can go long or short this contract using only Bitcoin. The ETH futures contracts feature a leverage of up to 50x. For example, to buy 50 Bitcoin worth of contracts, you will only require 1 Bitcoin of Initial Margin. Settlement The ETH futures contracts settle on the .BETHXBT30M Index Price. Settlement will occur on the last Friday of the Settlement Month. ETHXBT Futures Contract Example A trader wants to goes long 10 XBT of ETH futures contracts. ETHU18 (the ETH futures contract expiring in September 2018) trades at 0.0500 XBT. As the leverage is 50x, the trader only needs 0.2 XBT of margin for this trade. The trader must buy 200 contracts: 10 XBT / (0.0500 XBT * 1). A few days later, the price rises to 0.0550 XBT and the trader sells all their contracts. The trader’s profit will be: 200 * 1 * (0.0550 - 0.0500) = 1 XBT Perpetual Contracts Currently BitMEX only accepts Bitcoin as collateral. That that means margin, profit, and loss must be paid or received in Bitcoin. However, through the use of financial engineering, BitMEX can give users exposure to any underlying price using a derivative called a Quanto. A Bitcoin Quanto ETH/USD contract has a fixed Bitcoin multiplier regardless of the USD price of ETH. This allows the trader to go long or short the ETH/USD exchange rate without ever touching ETH or USD. The trader will post margin in Bitcoin, and make or lose Bitcoin as the ETH/USD exchange rate changes. How Is The ETHUSD Perpetual Contract Quoted Contract Calculations Bitcoin Multiplier per 1 USD 0.000001 XBT XBT Value ETHUSD Price * Bitcoin Multiplier USD Value XBT Value * .BXBT Spot Price ETH Value XBT Value / .ETHXBT Spot Price Bitcoin PNL Calculation (ETHUSD Exit Price - ETHUSD Entry Price) * Bitcoin Multiplier * # Contracts Margin and Leverage All margin is posted in Bitcoin, that means traders can go long or short this contract using only Bitcoin. The ETHUSD Perpetual Contract feature a leverage of up to 50x. For example, to buy 50 Bitcoin worth of contracts, you will only require 1 Bitcoin of Initial Margin. Settlement As the ETHUSD contract is perpetual, there is no settlement. Marking for Unrealised PNL and Liquidation purposes are done according to the Fair Price Marking system. Note also: since this product is a perpetual contract, funding occurs every 8 hours. Please see the Funding Section in the Perpetual Contracts Guide for information, and for the current rates please see Funding Calculation in the ETHUSD Contract Specifications. ETHUSD Perpetual Contract Example BitMEX Derivative: ETHUSD Perpetual Swap Contracts: 10,000 Bitcoin Multiplier per 1 USD: 0.000001 XBT .BXBT Spot Price: $10,000 ETHUSD Swap Price: $500 .ETHXBT Spot Price: 0.05 XBT Trade Inception Jaewon and Wang trade the ETHUSD Perpetual Swap against each other for 10,000 contracts. Jaewon goes long, and Wang goes short. For each 1 USD move, the contract pays out 0.000001 XBT; this is called the Bitcoin multiplier. They agree that each side can use 50x leverage, which means they post 2% initial margin to BitMEX to initiate the trade. To calculate the Bitcoin margin, they first calculate the Bitcoin value of their ETHUSD Quanto Swap. XBT Value = ETHUSD Price * Bitcoin Multiplier * # Contracts 5 XBT = $500 * 0.000001 XBT * 10,000 Initial Bitcoin Margin = 5 XBT * 2% = 0.1 XBT They both like to think in ETH terms at any given ETHUSD price. On the BitMEX Position Table, they are able to view the current value of their position in ETH terms. ETH Value = XBT Value / .ETHXBT Spot Price 100 ETH = 5 XBT / 0.05 XBT They notice that the ETH value can change either when the ETHUSD price changes, or when the .ETHXBT spot price changes. The only fixed number in a Quanto derivative is the multiplier. The ETH and USD value will change as the ETHUSD, .BXBT, and .ETHXBT prices change. Trade Expiry The ETHUSD swap price rises to $505, let’s compute Jaewon and Wang’s Bitcoin PNL. Bitcoin PNL = (ETHUSD Exit Price – ETHUSD Entry Price) * Bitcoin Multiplier * # Contracts Jaewon Bitcoin PNL = ($505 - $500) * 0.000001 XBT * +10,000 = 0.05 XBT Profit Wang Bitcoin PNL = ($505 - $500) * 0.000001 XBT * -10,000 = 0.05 XBT Loss Notice that the only variable that affects the PNL is the movement of the ETHUSD price. Neither the .BXBT, nor the .ETHXBT exchange rate affect either trader’s PNL.

You can trade Bitcoin (XBT) on BitMEX through a new, innovative type of contract called a Perpetual Contract which is aimed at replicating the underlying spot market but with enhanced leverage. This product does not have an expiry date and is able to closely track the underlying reference Price Index through various mechanisms, the main of which is known as the Funding Rate. To view the current rates and calculations to determine the current Funding, please see the Funding Calculations in the XBTUSD Contract Specifications and more generally in the Perpetual Contracts Guide. The product suits traders who prefer to hold positions for a long time and do not want their positions to fluctuate in value due to large swings in basis. How is the XBTUSD Perpetual Contract Quoted? Margin and Leverage Price Index Marking and Settlement How is the XBTUSD Perpetual Contract Quoted? The XBTUSD contract’s underlying price is the BitMEX Index. It is an equally weighted index using the Bitstamp, Kraken, and GDAX USD XBT/USD prices. Both the underlying and the swap contract are quoted in USD. Margin and PNL are denominated in Bitcoin. Contract Calculations Multiplier 1 USD XBT Contract Value Multiplier / XBTUSD Price USD Contract Value 1 USD PnL Calculation # Contracts * Multiplier * (1/Entry Price - 1/Exit Price) Traders who want to profit from an increase in the Bitcoin / USD price, will buy the XBTUSD contract. Conversely, if they believe the price will go down they will sell the contract. Margin and Leverage All margin is posted in Bitcoin, which means traders can go long or short this contract using only Bitcoin. The XBTUSD contract features a high leverage of up to 100x. For example, to buy 100 Bitcoin worth of contracts, you will only require 1 Bitcoin of Initial Margin. Price Index The BitMEX .BXBT Index is currently being used for the XBTUSD Perpetual Contract and XBT Futures Contracts. The constituents are as below: Exchange Weight Bitstamp 50% GDAX 50% At this time, weightings are equal weighted. In the future, we may adjust this index. Any adjustments will be made with ample notification. Marking and Settlement As the XBTUSD contract is perpetual, there is no settlement. Marking for Unrealised PNL and Liquidation purposes are done according to the Fair Price Marking system. Note also: since this product is a perpetual contract, funding occurs every 8 hours. Please see the Funding Section in the Perpetual Contracts Guide for information, and for the current rates please see Funding Calculation in the XBTUSD Contract Specifications. XBTUSD Trade Example A trader goes long 100 XBT of XBTUSD at a price of 600 USD. He is long 100 XBT * 600 USD = 60,000 contracts. A few days later the price of the contract increases to 700 USD. The trader’s profit will be: 60,000 * 1 * (1/600 - 1/700) = 14.286 XBT If the price had in fact dropped to 500 USD, the trader’s loss would have been: 60,000 * 1 * (1/600 - 1/500) = -20 XBT. The loss is greater because of the inverse and non-linear nature of the contract. Conversely, if the trader was short then the trader’s profit would be greater if the price moved down than the loss if it moved up.

Overview Calculation of Fair Price for Perpetual Contracts Calculation of Fair Price for Futures Contracts Impact Bid, Ask, and Mid Price Fair Price Derivation Exceptions Last Price Protected Marking Overview BitMEX employs a unique system called Fair Price Marking to avoid unnecessary liquidations in its highly leveraged products. Without this system, unnecessary liquidations may occur if the market is being manipulated, is illiquid, or the Mark Price swings unnecessarily relative to its Index Price. The system is able to achieve this by setting the Mark Price of the contract to the Fair Price instead of the Last Price. For Perpetual Contracts, the Fair Price is equal to the underlying Index Price plus a decaying Funding basis rate. For Futures Contracts, the Fair Price is equal to the underlying Index Price plus an annualised Fair Value basis rate, known as the % Fair Basis. All ADL contracts are subject to Fair Price Marking. Also note that Fair Price Marking only affects the Liquidation Price and Unrealised PNL, it does not affect Realised PNL. Note: This means that you may see a positive or negative Unrealised PNL immediately after an order executes. This happens when the Fair Price is slightly different from the Last Price. This is normal and does not mean you have lost money, but be sure to keep an eye on your Liquidation Price to avoid a premature liquidation. Calculation of Fair Price for Perpetual Contracts The Fair Price for a Perpetual Contract is calculated using only the Funding Basis rate: Funding Basis = Funding Rate * (Time Until Funding / Funding Interval) Fair Price = Index Price * (1 + Funding Basis) For further information on perpetual contract funding calculations and examples please see the Funding Section in the Perpetual Contracts Guide. Calculation of Fair Price for Futures Contracts The Fair Price marking calculation for Futures Contracts is slightly different to a Perpetual Contract, and is done by comparing the Impact Mid Price of a contract to its underlying Index Price. This is used to then calculate the % Fair Basis which is then used in the derivation of the Fair Price. Impact Bid, Ask, and Mid Price Impact Mid Price = Average (Impact Bid Price, Impact Ask Price) where; Impact Bid Price = The average fill price to execute the Impact Margin Notional on the Bid side Impact Ask Price = The average fill price to execute the Impact Margin Notional on the Ask side The Impact Margin Notional is the notional available to trade with 0.1 XBT worth of margin (i.e. 0.1 XBT / Initial Margin) and is used to determine how deep in the order book to measure either the Impact Bid or Ask Price. For Example: Contract Initial Margin Impact Margin Notional XBT Quarterly 1% 0.1 XBT / 0.01 = 10 XBT XBJ Quarterly 4% 0.1 XBT / 0.04 = 2.5 XBT ETC Weekly 10% 0.1 XBT / 0.10 = 1 XBT Fair Price Derivation Once BitMEX has calculated the Impact Mid Price, it can use this number to calculate the % Fair Basis. The % Fair Basis will then be used to calculate the Fair Value of the futures contract which is added to the Index Price to finally create the Fair Price which is used for marking purposes. % Fair Basis = (Impact Mid Price / Index Price - 1) / (Time To Expiry / 365) Fair Value = Index Price * % Fair Basis * (Time to Expiry / 365) Fair Price = Index Price + Fair Value For Example Impact Mid Price = $105 Underlying Index = $100 Time To Expiry = 30 Days % Fair Basis = ($105 / $100 - 1) / (30 / 365) = 60.8% Fair Value = $100 * 60.8% * (30/365) = $5 Fair Price = $100 + $5 = $105 Note on Calculation: The % Fair Basis is updated each minute but only if the difference between the Impact Ask Price and Impact Bid Price is less than the maintenance margin of the futures contract. After it has been updated the Fair Price will be equal to the Impact Mid Price, and then the Fair Price will float with regard to the Index Price and the time-to-expiry decay on the contract until the next update. Exceptions Occasionally, due to index instability, a contract may need to be moved to an alternative mode, LastPriceProtected. Historically this has happened on the XBJ contracts due to pricing anomalies. In the case of such anomalies, notice will be sent as the marking method is changed. Last Price Protected Marking Last Price Protected is a marking mode that functions similarly to simple Last Price marking, but with some protections for our users as not to cause unnecessary liquidations. A price band is created equal to 1 maintenance margin (0.5x each way) around the previously-calculated Mark Price (also known as the Fair Price, calculated above). The Mark Price is equal to the Last Price, but only within this band created by the Fair Price. If the band moves, the Mark Price will stay. It is allowed to move toward the band but not away from it. For API consumers, this field is available on the instrument feed as lastPriceProtected.

Placing Orders Margin and Profit & Loss (PNL) Perpetual and Futures Contracts UPs (Upside Profit Contracts) & DOWNs (Downside Profit Contracts) Funding and Settlement Market Disruption Event (MDE) Placing Orders You may place buy and sell orders of various types in the Place Order tab of the Trading Dashboard. When a trader places a buy or sell order, before they are allowed to submit the order the system will check that they have enough Available Balance to reserve the Initial Margin. If the trader has an existing position in that instrument, it will also check that they have enough available balance to cover the change in Maintenance Margin and PNL, should the position be priced at the order price. If they have enough funds then they are allowed to place the order. Note: Net open orders that have not been filled or canceled will reduce the available balance by the initial margin of those net orders. Margin and Profit & Loss (PNL) Before you are able to trade you first must deposit Bitcoin to fund your margin account. All margin and PNL are denominated in Bitcoin on BitMEX. You should first review the terminology behind the Margin Terms. Perpetual and Futures Contracts The following are important rules regarding Initial Margin (IM): For Buy orders the Initial Margin required = (IM * Contracts * Limit Bid Price * Multiplier). Commission is reserved using the limit bid price; however, the actual commission paid will be calculated based on the final execution price. For Sell orders the Initial Margin required = (IM * Contracts * Max (Limit Offer Price, Best Bid) * Multiplier). Commission is reserved using the limit offer price or the best bid for that contract, whichever is higher. The actual commission paid will be calculated based on the final execution price. Traders are not charged Initial Margin if their order will reduce their position size. If a trader has both Bids and Offers in the market, initial margin will only be charged on the Net amount of Bids (Bid orders - Sell orders). The Sell orders will still be charged initial margin unless they reduce the current position size. For example, if a trader bids 20 contracts for $100 and offers 15 contracts for $150, he will only be charged initial margin on his net bids of 5 contracts (20 - 15) and on his offers of 15 contracts. If a contract uses Fair Price Marking initial margin will be calculated differently. If a buy order is placed above the mark price, or if a sell order is placed below the mark price then the trader must fully fund the difference between the order price and the mark price. For example, if the mark price is $100 and the trader submits a bid order for 10 contracts at $110, then the initial margin required = (IM * 10 contracts * $110 * Multiplier) + (100% * 10 contracts * ($110 - $100) * Multiplier). Maintenance Margin (MM) calculated based on the Mark Price of that contract. For all positions the Maintenance Margin required = (MM * Contracts * Mark Price * Multiplier). The amount of commission applicable to close out all your positions will also be added onto your maintenance margin requirement. This is the minimum amount of margin you must maintain to avoid liquidation on your position . UPs (Upside Profit Contracts) & DOWNs (Downside Profit Contracts) Investors can only be net long BitMEX UPs & DOWNs, they cannot short sell. BitMEX UPs & DOWNs are fully margined products. For Buy orders the Margin required = (Contracts * Limit Bid Price). Sell orders can only be input for reducing an existing long position size and are not charged margin. If a trader has both Bids and Offers in the market, margin will be charged on the total amount of Bids since the Sell orders can only be input for reducing an existing long position size. BitMEX reserves the right to change any margin policies. BitMEX will notify traders of any change via email announcements. Funding and Settlement Perpetual contracts on BitMEX are subject to Funding. Examples of Funding Calculations are found under each perpetual Contract Specification. Funding History is also available on all perpetual contracts. Perpetual contracts do not settle, and therefore do not incur a settlement fee. At the Settlement of a contract, the position will close out at the Settlement Price. Once a contract has expired, the lifetime profit and loss of that contract will be added to the traders Bitcoin balance. This contract will no longer appear on the Positions section. All calculations done by BitMEX are final. Market Disruption Event (MDE) In the event that an exchange that contributes to the Index Price experiences an outage, BitMEX may declare an MDE and will inform traders how the settlement or expiry date of affected contracts will be altered. Traders will be notified via an email announcement and the declaration of an MDE will be predominently displayed on the trading dashboard. The declaration of a MDE is at the full discretion of BitMEX, and all decisions are final.

Overview of Auto-Deleveraging (ADL) ADL Priority Deleveraging Ranking Priority Ranking Calculation More Information Overview of Auto-Deleveraging (ADL) When a trader’s position is liquidated, the position is taken over by the BitMEX liquidation engine. If the liquidation cannot be filled by the time the mark price reaches the bankruptcy price, the ADL system automatically deleverages opposing traders’ positions by profit and leverage priority. The price at which a traders’ positions are closed out is the bankruptcy price of the initial liquidated order. ADL Priority Deleveraging Ranking At all times, your position in the queue is shown by an indicator. This indicator represents your priority in the queue in 20% increments: In the above example, all “lights” are lit, which would mean your position is in the top percentile. In the case of a liquidation that is not able to be caught in the market, you may be deleveraged. The Insurance Fund is used to prevent ADL. If it is depleted for a given contract, ADL will occur. If you are deleveraged, you will be sent a notification. Open orders will be cancelled and you are free to re-enter. Priority Ranking Calculation Deleveraging priority is calculated by profit and leverage. More profitable and higher leveraged traders are deleveraged first. The ranking calculation is as follows: Ranking = PNL Percentage * Effective Leverage (if PNL percentage > 0) = PNL Percentage / Effective Leverage (if PNL percentage < 0) where Effective Leverage = abs(Mark Value) / (Mark Value - Bankrupt Value) PNL percentage = (Mark Value - Avg Entry Value) / abs(Avg Entry Value) Mark Value = Position Value at Mark Price Bankrupt Value = Position Value at Bankruptcy Price Avg Entry Value = Position Value at Average Entry Price The system splits these positions by longs and shorts and ranks the positions from highest to lowest. More Information Further information and examples of the Auto-Deleveraging process are available.

At first, our documentation section may seem daunting as derivatives trading has a lot of depth. While it’s easy to get started and make your first trades, there is much to learn. Overview of BitMEX Where To Start? Trading Overview BitMEX Contracts Margin Trading What's Next? Overview of BitMEX BitMEX is a Peer-to-Peer Trading Platform that offers leveraged contracts that are bought and sold in Bitcoin. BitMEX only handles Bitcoin. All profit and loss is in Bitcoin, even if you’re buying and selling altcoin contracts. BitMEX does not handle fiat currency. BitMEX allows trading with a high amount of leverage. There are 5 main navigation tabs of BitMEX: Trade: The trading dashboard of BitMEX. Here you can select the instrument you wish to trade, select leverage, place and cancel orders, view important information in the contract details and see your position information. Account: This tab displays all your account information such as current Bitcoin Available Margin Balances, Deposit and Withdrawal information, Trade History and Affiliate information. Contracts: This is an important tab for information related to the instruments such as the Funding History, minimum contract sizes, leverage offered, expiry, Funding, underlying reference Price Index data, Settlement History and a few other pages relevant for a trader. References: This is the education corner of BitMEX. Here you can learn about Futures, Perpetual Contracts, how positions are Marked, when and how Liquidation occurs, BitMEX Fees, Support and other informative material to help you understand the Exchange. API: Here you will be able to find out information pertaining to developing and maintaining an API connection with BitMEX. We offer a fully featured REST API and a powerful streaming WebSocket API. Where To Start? The first step is to read through the References Tab and go through the terms and pages on the left. The Exchange Guide is also a good introduction to placing orders and PNL calculation. We recommend the following should be read through in detail: Perpetual Contracts Guide: XBTUSD is our most popular product and is a Perpetual Contract. We encourage all new users to read over the Perpetual Contracts Guide to understand key concepts such as the mechanics of Perpetual Contracts markets and funding. Futures Guide: Some of our other products are in the form of a Futures Contract. This guide will help explain the mechanics of futures markets such as basis. Auto Deleveraging: This page is important as it determines what happens to an opposite trader’s position if another trader’s position cannot be liquidated in the current market. Fair Price Marking: This page explains how your positions are marked and is important for all users, especially if you are using leverage as this determines your liquidation prices. Liquidation: This page explains how a position is liquidated and all traders should understand this page. Risk Limits: This page describes how much leverage can you use at particular position sizes. Trading Overview Trading on BitMEX may be a new experience for some users given the products offered and product types. To see the main differences between BitMEX and other competitors please click here. Traders should be aware of the Margin Terminology used on BitMEX. For the type of orders you can place on BitMEX please see our Order Type FAQ. BitMEX Contracts BitMEX offers Perpetual Contracts and Futures. As opposed to futures, perpetual contracts do not have an expiry date and thus do not have a settlement. Perpetual Contracts have a Funding Rate that occurs every 8 hours. Users who hold a position over the funding timestamp either pay or receive funding. When a futures contract settles, all users who hold a position are settled at the contract’s settlement price. You can go long or short on these contracts by simply buying or selling them. You can sell even if you don’t hold any contracts, making BitMEX a valuable tool for “naked” shorting purposes. Margin Trading BitMEX offers up to 100x leverage on some of its products. This means that you can buy as much as 100 Bitcoin of contracts with only 1 Bitcoin to back it. But be careful - with high leverage comes accelerated profit, but also the potential for accelerated loss. BitMEX employs Auto Deleveraging which means that in some rare cases, leveraged positions in profit may be reduced during certain time periods if a liquidated order cannot be executed in the market. What’s Next? We encourage new users who are unfamiliar with trading to practice placing, executing and cancelling orders of various order types and sizes on our sandbox testing exchange, testnet.BitMEX.com. You can sign up with a new account, deposit some testnet Bitcoin and interact with a test market that looks and feels exactly like the real thing. Take a look over the FAQ for more basic information. If you need more help, come back here to check the references or contact us directly via the chatbox below right. Someone from BitMEX is almost always online, and if not, there are many helpful users.