🚦 Advanced Trading
What it is: A limit order allows you to buy or sell a token at a specific price or better. Unlike market orders that execute immediately at current price, limit orders wait for your target price.
How it works technically:
You create an order with target price
Order is stored in a smart contract or off-chain database
Monitoring service watches market prices
When price matches, order automatically executes
Swap transaction is submitted on your behalf
Use cases:
Buy Limit Order:
Current ETH price: $2000
You believe it will drop to $1800
Set buy limit at $1800
Order executes automatically if price reaches $1800
Sell Limit Order:
You own ETH bought at $2000
You want to take profit at $2500
Set sell limit at $2500
Order executes when price rises to $2500
How to create a limit order:
Navigate to Trading page
Select "Limit & Stop Loss" tab
Configure order:
Order Type: Select "Limit Order"
Side: Choose "Buy" or "Sell"
From Token: Token you're trading
To Token: Token you want to receive
Amount: Quantity to trade
Target Price: Your desired execution price
Review:
Total value
Expected receive amount
Order expiration (if any)
Create order: Click button
Monitor: Order appears in "Active Orders" section
Advanced strategies:
Scaling in/out:
Instead of one large order, create multiple smaller orders at different prices
Example buying strategy:
Order 1: Buy 1 ETH at $1900
Order 2: Buy 1 ETH at $1800
Order 3: Buy 1 ETH at $1700
This averages your entry price
Support/Resistance trading:
Place buy limits at known support levels
Place sell limits at resistance levels
Based on technical analysis
Real-world implementation:
Protocols like 1inch Limit Order and Cowswap offer this
Orders can be gasless (meta-transactions)
May require keeper networks to execute
Some charge execution fees
Stop Loss Orders
What it is: A stop loss automatically sells your position when price falls to a certain level, limiting your losses.
The critical difference from limit orders:
Limit order: "Buy/sell AT or BETTER than X price"
Stop loss: "Sell WHEN price drops TO X price"
Psychology and discipline: Stop losses remove emotion from trading:
Fear makes you hold losing positions
Hope prevents you from cutting losses
Stop loss enforces discipline
How to set a stop loss:
Trading page → Limit & Stop Loss
Order Type: "Stop Loss"
Configure:
Token to sell: Your current holding
Trigger Price: Price that activates the order
Amount: How much to sell
Create order
Stop loss strategies:
Fixed percentage:
Buy ETH at $2000
Set stop loss at 10% below: $1800
If price drops to $1800, auto-sell
Maximum loss: 10%
Support-based:
Identify key support level (e.g., $1850)
Set stop loss slightly below ($1840)
If support breaks, you exit
Trailing stop loss:
Stop loss moves up with price
Example: 10% trailing stop
Buy at $2000, stop at $1800
Price rises to $2500, stop moves to $2250
Price rises to $3000, stop moves to $2700
If price drops 10% from peak, you exit with profit
Real-world considerations:
Flash crashes can trigger stops prematurely
Slippage can make exit price worse than trigger price
Gas fees eat into small positions
Stop hunting: Large players trigger stops to buy cheaper
Margin Trading
What is margin trading: Margin trading allows you to borrow funds to increase your position size, amplifying both potential gains and losses.
The core concept - Leverage:
With 5x leverage, you can control $5000 worth of assets with $1000
Your $1000 is collateral
You borrow $4000 from a lending pool
Total position: $5000
How it works in DeFi:
Opening a position:
You deposit collateral (e.g., $1000 USDC)
You select leverage (e.g., 5x)
Protocol borrows 4000 USDC from lending pool
Protocol swaps 5000 USDC for ETH at current price
You now have $5000 worth of ETH
You owe $4000 + accruing interest
Liquidation mechanism:
If ETH price drops, your collateral value decreases
System monitors your Health Factor = Collateral Value / Borrowed Amount
If health factor drops below threshold (e.g., 1.1), position is liquidated
Liquidation: Protocol sells your ETH to repay borrowed amount
You lose your collateral
How to margin trade in the platform:
Navigate to Trading → Margin Trading
Open position:
Collateral Token: Token to use as collateral (e.g., USDC)
Trading Pair: What you want to trade (e.g., ETH/USDC)
Collateral Amount: How much you're depositing ($1000)
Leverage: Select multiplier (2x, 3x, 5x, 10x)
Review critical metrics:
Position Size: Collateral × Leverage
Liquidation Price: Price at which you get liquidated
Borrow Rate: Interest on borrowed funds (APR)
Initial Health Factor: Starting safety ratio
Open position
Monitor continuously:
Current PnL: Profit/Loss in real-time
Health Factor: Must stay above 1.0
Liquidation Price: Changes as price moves
Position management:
Adding collateral:
If position moves against you
Increases health factor
Prevents liquidation
Reduces effective leverage
Closing position:
Manual close anytime
Protocol sells your assets
Repays borrowed amount + interest
Returns remaining collateral
You keep profit or absorb loss
Mathematics of leverage:
Example - Profitable trade:
Collateral: $1000
Leverage: 5x
Position size: $5000
Entry price: ETH = $2000
Position: 2.5 ETH
Price rises to $2200 (+10%):
Position value: 2.5 ETH × $2200 = $5500
Borrowed amount: $4000
Your equity: $1500
Profit: $500 (50% return on your $1000)
Without leverage:
Investment: $1000
Buy: 0.5 ETH
Price rises to $2200
Value: $1100
Profit: $100 (10% return)
Leverage amplified your 10% gain to 50%
Example - Losing trade:
Same setup as above
Price drops to $1800 (-10%)
Position value: 2.5 ETH × $1800 = $4500
Borrowed: $4000
Your equity: $500
Loss: $500 (50% loss on your $1000)
Without leverage:
Investment: $1000
Value drops to $900
Loss: $100 (10% loss)
Leverage amplified your 10% loss to 50%
Liquidation example:
Collateral: $1000
Leverage: 5x
Position: $5000 in ETH at $2000 = 2.5 ETH
Borrowed: $4000
Liquidation threshold: 110% (health factor 1.1)
Liquidation triggers when:
Position value = $4000 × 1.1 = $4400
2.5 ETH = $4400
ETH price = $1760
This is a 12% drop from entry
Your entire $1000 collateral is lost
Liquidation price formula:
Liquidation Price = Entry Price × (Borrowed Amount × Liquidation Ratio) / Position SizeRisk management strategies:
Position sizing:
Never risk more than 1-2% of capital per trade
With 5x leverage, use smaller position sizes
Calculate max loss before entering
Use lower leverage:
2-3x leverage gives more room for error
10x leverage liquidates on 10% move
2x leverage liquidates on 50% move
Set stop losses:
Don't rely on liquidation as exit
Set stop loss at acceptable loss level
Example: 5% stop loss with 5x leverage = 25% of collateral
Monitor constantly:
Margin positions require active management
Set price alerts
Have plan to add collateral if needed
Real-world protocols:
dYdX: Perpetual contracts with up to 20x leverage
GMX: Decentralized perpetual exchange
Aave: Borrow against collateral for leveraged positions
Compound: Similar lending/borrowing mechanics
Funding rates: In perpetual contracts:
Long positions pay shorts when market is bullish
Shorts pay longs when market is bearish
Typically 0.01% every 8 hours
Can add up to significant cost
Portfolio Tracker
What it is: A comprehensive tool for monitoring your holdings, performance, and trading history.
Features and how to use:
Total Value Overview:
Aggregates all token balances
Converts to USD equivalent
Shows 24h change
Historical performance graph
Asset Distribution:
Pie chart showing allocation percentages
Identifies concentration risk
Helps with rebalancing decisions
Shows which assets are over/underweighted
Transaction History:
Complete record of all swaps, deposits, withdrawals
Timestamp, type, amounts, prices
Calculate cost basis
Track realized gains/losses
Performance Metrics:
Total return (%)
Time-weighted return
Money-weighted return
Best/worst performing assets
Win rate on trades
How to use for better trading:
Identify patterns:
Which trades were profitable?
Which strategies worked?
Common mistakes?
Tax preparation:
Export transaction history
Calculate capital gains
Track holding periods
Rebalancing:
Set target allocation (e.g., 50% ETH, 30% BTC, 20% stables)
When allocation drifts, rebalance
Helps take profits from winners, buy dips in losers
Real-world tools:
Zapper.fi: Portfolio tracker across all DeFi positions
DeBank: Net worth tracking and protocol interaction
Zerion: Mobile and web portfolio management
Price Alerts
What it is: Automated notifications when tokens reach target prices.
Why it's essential:
Can't watch charts 24/7
Crypto markets never sleep
Opportunities come and go quickly
Reduces stress and screen time
How to set up:
Navigate to Trading → Price Alerts
Configure alert:
Token: Asset to monitor (e.g., ETH)
Target Price: Price that triggers alert ($2500)
Condition:
"Price Above": Alert when price rises to target
"Price Below": Alert when price drops to target
Create alert
Receive notifications: When price is hit
Strategic use cases:
Buy the dip:
Set alert for support levels
Get notified when price reaches attractive entry
Execute planned purchases
Take profit:
Set alerts at resistance levels
Exit positions at predetermined targets
Remove emotion from decision
Breakout trading:
Set alert above current consolidation range
If price breaks out, get in trend
Works for both directions
Portfolio monitoring:
Set alerts for all holdings
Know when positions move significantly
React to market changes quickly
Alert strategies:
Ladder alerts:
Set multiple alerts at different levels
Example for ETH:
Alert at $2200 (first resistance)
Alert at $2500 (second resistance)
Alert at $3000 (major resistance)
Helps identify trend strength
News-based alerts:
After major news, set alerts
If announcement says "partnership next week"
Set alerts to catch price movement
Real-world implementations:
TradingView: Advanced charting with alerts
Coingecko: Simple price alerts
Exchange apps: Built-in alert systems
Telegram bots: Custom alert notifications
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