LESSON 2Trading Foundations11 min
Spot vs Perpetual, Exchanges, Orders | What Every New Trader MUST Know on Day 1
The three technical things you must understand before risking a single dollar: spot vs perpetual futures, centralized vs decentralized exchanges, and the order types you will actually use (with a live Bybit demo).
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Systematic vs Discretionary Trading
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How to Trade on a Crypto Exchange
Coming soon
Key Takeaways
- →Spot = you own the asset. Perpetual futures = a contract on the price, with leverage and the ability to go short.
- →CEX (Bybit, Binance) gives liquidity and ease. DEX (Hyperliquid, GMX) gives self-custody. Spread your funds -- never trust one exchange with everything.
- →Always use stop MARKET orders, never stop limit. Always tick Reduce Only on your stops. These two habits prevent most account blow-ups.
- →Practice on a testnet before risking real money. Bybit gives you $100K of fake capital to learn the interface risk-free.