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Your first trade

1

Open a market

Tap any asset from the Trade tab, the leaderboard, or a friend’s profile.
2

Choose a direction

Long if you think the price will rise. Short if you think it will fall.
3

Set your size and leverage

Enter how much USDC to put up as margin and choose your leverage, from 1x up to the market’s maximum (50x on most markets). Your position size is margin multiplied by leverage.
4

Add a take profit or stop loss (optional)

Set the price at which you want to lock in gains or cap losses. You can also add these after the position is open.
5

Review and confirm

The confirmation screen shows your fees and your liquidation price. Check both, then confirm.
Your position appears immediately in Portfolio and on your public profile. The position screen charts your entry, the current price, your stop loss and take profit if set, and your liquidation price as lines on the chart, and shows your live profit, position value, distance to liquidation, the current hourly leverage fee, and trader sentiment for the market.

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Types of order

Take profit and stop loss can be attached when you open the position or added later from the position screen. See Editing an order.
A stop loss is the single most useful habit on a leveraged platform. It exits the trade on your terms, before the market does it for you. See Liquidations.

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Understanding the confirmation screen

The margin, size, and entry price are estimates because the market can move in the moment between confirming and filling. The final numbers are shown on the position once it is open.

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How leverage changes the trade

With $100 of margin on a stock trading at $100: At 50x, a 2% move against you uses up your whole margin. Choose leverage with that in mind.

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Margin on Alpha is isolated

Each position has its own margin. If one position is liquidated, your other positions and your remaining balance are untouched. This keeps a bad trade from taking your whole account with it.

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Why did my order not fill?

  • Limit order: the market has not reached your price yet. It stays open until it fills or you cancel it.
  • Market order: very rare, but during extreme volatility there may not be enough liquidity at that instant. Try again.
  • Not enough balance: you need enough available USDC to cover the margin plus fees. Deposit more or reduce the size.