This article addresses our Global Derivatives offering, which is currently only available to eligible customers in supported regions outside of the U.S. Learn more about Coinbase's Derivatives products
Terms and definitions
Collateral value
The market value of assets held as collateral.
Cross margin
Allows margin balances to be shared across different positions.
Dated Futures
Dated futures are futures contracts with a specified expiration date. At expiration, the contract is settled, typically by cash settlement or delivery, unlike perpetual futures, which have no fixed expiry and use periodic funding payments to track the spot price.
Funding fee
Payments exchanged between long and short perpetual futures positions to help keep the contract price near its underlying index price. Depending on the funding rate and position direction, you may pay or receive funding. Funding does not apply to dated futures or options.
Initial margin requirements
Amount of funds required to open a futures position.
Isolated margin
Margin balances assigned to single positions only.
Leverage
Ability to open orders with partial notional value investment.
Liquidity
Ease of buying/selling contracts without significant price impact.
Locked collateral
Collateral occupied to open positions and held for open orders.
Mark price
A reference price used to calculate unrealized P&L and assess margin and liquidation risk. It is not necessarily the last traded price. See Mark Prices for details.
Mark to market
Updating the value of open positions using current mark prices to calculate unrealized profit or loss.
Open interest
Total outstanding unsettled derivative contracts.
Perpetual Futures
Perpetual futures are futures contracts with no expiry date that seek to replicate the performance of an underlying spot asset.
Reduce-only
Risk management tool limiting orders to position decrease only.
Settlements
Daily realization of session profit and loss into the contract’s settlement currency. Final settlement at a contract’s expiry is a separate event. See Settlement for details.
Slippage
Difference between expected and actual execution price.
Spread
Difference between best ask and best bid.
Support
A price level where buying interest may slow or stop a price decline. Support is not guaranteed to hold.
Tick
Smallest possible price movement.
Unrealized PnL
Profit or loss on open positions based on current mark prices. Its effect on available margin depends on the product and margin mode. Unrealized profit is not necessarily available to transfer or withdraw.