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Learn Crypto Derivatives: Plain-English Guides
Education only. Not financial advice. Trading derivatives carries a high risk of loss.
These guides explain crypto derivatives in plain English: how perpetual futures, options and margin work, what the main risks are, and how traders use them to hedge, earn yield and read the market. They are written by practitioners, they use real examples, and they give no trading signals.
Start here
- What are crypto derivatives? The plain-English basics, and how to learn them safely.
- Margin, liquidation and risk management. The guide every other guide links to. Read it before you use leverage.
- Perpetual futures and funding rates. The instrument you will meet most often.
The basics and the risks
What Are Crypto Derivatives?
A plain-English guide for beginners to futures, perpetuals and options, and how to learn them safely.
Margin, Liquidation and Risk Management
How margin, leverage and your liquidation price work, plus position sizing and the risk controls that help you avoid forced liquidation.
Perpetual Futures and Funding Rates
How perpetual futures work, what a crypto funding rate is, who pays whom, and how to short Bitcoin.
Strategies, yield and borrowing
Crypto Trading Strategies
Which strategy fits which market, and how futures, options, spot and spread trading compare.
Earn Yield on Bitcoin
Carry, basis and funding trades: how traders earn yield on Bitcoin without lending it out.
Borrow Against Crypto
How borrowing against crypto works, the liquidation buffer to keep, and borrow versus sell.
Options, hedging and real world assets
Crypto Options Trading
How Bitcoin and ETH options work: calls, puts, the Greeks, implied volatility and strategies.
Hedge Your Crypto Portfolio
How to hedge Bitcoin with protective puts, spreads and futures, with worked numbers.
RWA Perpetual Futures
How gold, oil and stock perpetual futures trade on crypto exchanges, and what to watch.
Reading the market
How Macro Affects Crypto
How the Fed, interest rates, inflation, the dollar and ETF flows move crypto.
Open Interest and Squeezes
What open interest is, how squeezes and liquidations work, and how to read them.
Crypto Prediction Markets
How binary contracts and odds work, and how to read the odds as sentiment data.
Weekly Crypto Market Brief
The free weekly brief and the derivatives podcast, with every issue from Monday and Friday.
The glossary
If a term is new, the Plain English Glossary explains 177 of them, from the briefs, the lessons and the curriculum.
Go deeper in Harmonic Academy
The community at Harmonic Academy has the weekly briefs, the core curriculum, the lessons and the live lesson tools.
Join Harmonic Academy. The community has the weekly briefs, and the core curriculum, the lessons and the live lesson tools are there too.
Join Harmonic AcademyEducation only. Not financial advice. Trading derivatives carries a high risk of loss. Harmonic does not give trading signals.