Lesson 04 · 5 min
Up bets and down bets
Long gains when price rises. Short gains when price falls. You do not need to own the coin to take either side.
Everyday life only trains one direction: you buy something, and you hope it is worth more later. A perpetual lets you take the other side without first borrowing a coin from a friend. The contract pays the winner out of the loser's margin.
Same $100, same leverage. Flip the side and the identical price move changes sign.
Entry
$100.00
Now
$108.00
Liquidation
$90.40
+$80.00 on a $1,000 long. This move helps a long. Liquidation is the other way, near $90.40.
- Long and price up: gain. Long and price down: loss.
- Short and price down: gain. Short and price up: loss.
- The liquidation line sits below entry for a long, and above entry for a short. A short can be liquidated by a rally.
In one sentence. Pick the side first, then ask where the price has to go to hurt you. That place is the liquidation side.
You are short and the coin's price falls. The position…