How to start trading on Orderly

1. Create an account

1. Orderly has no front end of its own. Traders use one of the DEX interfaces ("builders") listed in the Orderly docs, and all of them share the same order book. source ↗
2. Each wallet gets a separate account on each front end. If you use the same wallet on two DEXs, you have two independent accounts with separate trades, fees, volume and fee tiers. source ↗

2. Deposit collateral

1. You can deposit from Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Mantle, Polygon, Ethereum, SEI, Avalanche, Sonic, Berachain, Mode, BNB Smart Chain, ADI, X Layer, Robinhood Chain and Solana. source ↗
2. Contracts are denominated and settled in USDC. USDT, ETH, SOL, BNB, WBTC, YUSD, USD1 and USDG are also accepted as collateral, at a discounted weight (for example 0.8 for ETH, SOL, BNB and WBTC) and with per-user and global deposit caps. source ↗

3. Open your first position

1. Order types are Limit, Market, IOC, FOK, Post Only and Reduce Only. A market order that is larger than the book or hits the price limit has its remainder cancelled. source ↗
2. Cross margin is the default; isolated margin can be chosen per order, and each symbol can have separate leverage in each mode. Some markets, such as Perp Anything markets, are isolated-only. source ↗
3. The fee you pay is set by the front end you use; it must be at least Orderly's base fee, and the builder keeps the difference. Fees are charged in USDC after each trade and included in your average entry price. source ↗

4. Know how liquidation works

1. Maximum leverage per market is 1 divided by its base initial margin, up to 100x on BTC, ETH and SOL. Required margin grows with position size, so effective leverage falls as the position grows. source ↗
2. Below the initial margin ratio you can no longer open positions or withdraw. Below the maintenance margin ratio, measured with the mark price, the account is liquidated. source ↗
3. On liquidation all open orders are cancelled and withdrawals and transfers are frozen. Positions are transferred to liquidators at a discount, only as much as needed to restore the initial margin ratio, and a liquidation fee is charged. source ↗

5. Withdraw

1. Realized profit must be settled (Settle PnL) before it becomes withdrawable; otherwise the withdrawal can fail. source ↗
2. If the target chain lacks enough liquidity of the asset you withdraw, an extra cross-chain transaction fee is deducted from your account. source ↗
3. If the DEX you used shuts down, the Emergency Exit tool at offboarding.orderly.network closes positions, settles PnL and withdraws funds to your wallet. You need gas funds in your wallet. source ↗

6. Common mistakes

1. With non-USDC collateral, part of your collateral is automatically converted to USDC if your loan-to-value ratio reaches 95% or your negative USDC value reaches about -11,000. The conversion fee is 3.5% for ETH, SOL, BNB and WBTC. source ↗
2. Because accounts are per front end, a balance or position opened on one Orderly DEX does not show up on another, even with the same wallet. 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.