How to start trading on Arcus

1. Create an account

1. You need a supported wallet and must be eligible in your region. New users can create a wallet in the app with email or social sign-in; existing self-custody wallets connect directly. source ↗
2. After connecting, the app may ask you to enable trading; the app's release notes say disabled buttons explain why, for example asking you to enable trading or reconnect your wallet. source ↗

2. Deposit collateral

1. Arcus settles in USDG, a Paxos-issued stablecoin. Whatever you deposit is converted to USDG and credited to your account; choose USDG (Perps) as the destination to trade perps. source ↗
2. Deposits run through the third-party Fun flow: transfer crypto from a wallet on a major chain (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Base, Arbitrum and others), pull from a Coinbase balance, or pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, card or AstroPay. source ↗
3. Arcus charges no deposit fee of its own, and USDG deposits and withdrawals have zero fees. Card payments carry a processing fee, and any third-party conversion cost is shown before you confirm. source ↗

3. Open your first position

1. Arcus runs a central limit order book. Order types are Limit and Market; a market order carries a protective price bound so it cannot fill at a runaway price. source ↗
2. Take-profit and stop-loss orders are reduce-only trigger orders: they can only shrink a position, never flip or grow it. source ↗
3. Leverage goes up to 50x and is set per market; riskier markets have lower caps. Positions are cross margin by default, and isolated margin can be enabled per market, but only while you have no open position in that market. source ↗

4. Know how liquidation works

1. A position becomes eligible for liquidation when account equity (collateral plus unrealized PnL) falls to or below its maintenance margin. You keep any equity left after the position is wound down. source ↗
2. The mark price is the only reference for margin, unrealized PnL and liquidations. It blends order-book prices with an oracle-anchored price, clamped to at most ±1% of the oracle price. source ↗
3. Off-hours price bands slow down moves in stock and ETF perps but do not prevent liquidation; a large or sustained move can still push a position past maintenance margin. source ↗
4. The docs suggest keeping a free-collateral buffer, using reduce-only stop-losses, and using isolated margin to contain one position's risk. source ↗

5. Withdraw

1. Withdrawals are part of the app flow. In the current version a withdrawal always goes to the wallet that owns the account; you cannot send it to another address. source ↗
2. A withdrawal is queued first and confirmed afterwards; it can still be rejected if you lack free collateral. Check your transfer history for the result. source ↗

6. Common mistakes

1. All perps trade 24/7, but for stocks and commodity or index ETFs Arcus raises initial margin by 50% while the underlying market is closed (currently 1.5x). A 10x market tops out near 6.7x off-hours, and your free collateral drops without any trade. source ↗
2. While the underlying is closed, price bands limit how far the market can move and funding switches to a fixed off-hours rate. source ↗
3. Perps trading access can be gated: the docs describe a single-use invite code that grants trading access and also binds you as a referee of the code's owner. source ↗

Before you trade

Perpetual futures use leverage: a small price move against you can liquidate your collateral. Start with a small amount and low leverage, and read the venue’s current fee and margin pages, which can change after this guide was checked.