How To Trade Crypto With Leverage

To trade crypto with leverage you need a crypto margin exchange that offers leveraged contracts such as derivatives, futures, or options. These are the most common ways of getting leverage and probably the easiest ways for a beginner.

In this guide, we’ll explore the topic of how to leverage your coins for increased profits.

Always keep in mind, using borrowed money increases the risk of loss.

This style of trading is mostly done by day traders that spend a very short time in the market and relies on heavy volume to profit from their trades.

Here are a couple of guides I recommend that you read as well if this fits your style of trading.

• Crypto day trading strategies
• Best platform to day trade crypto
• Crypto day trading basics

Below you will find a list of reviewed platforms that offer leverage. After reviewing hundreds of exchanges and operators, our team at Trading Browser is confident that these platforms will serve you in the best way when it comes to both utility and safety.

What is leverage in crypto trading?

Cryptocurrency leverage trading is a way of investing in financial markets with borrowed money.

It is a way to trade with more capital than you currently have.

You do this by using capital from the exchange, almost like a loan, but without repayment.

For example, if you have 1000$ in your trading account and you trade this money with a ratio of 1:100.

You can take 100 times larger positions than normal.

So with your 1000$, you would be able to trade:

• 1000$ x 100 = 100,000$

You can now open a position of 100,000$ with your 1000$ account.

Many traders get confused with the idea of cryptocurrency and leverage.

It’s almost as if it would be impossible to do.

Remember that the exchanges providing margin are centralized and they don’t operate on the blockchain like other DEX’s (Decentralized Exchanges).

So they have the same trading infrastructure as normal exchanges.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me give you a very simple explanation of how margin works on exchanges in crypto.

Crypto exchanges have cooperated with liquidity providers that lend them money, A LOT of money.

When you trade cryptocurrency with leverage, you are partly using your own capital and the exchange’s capital.

Think of it like the exchange is lending you money so you can trade larger sizes, on their trading platform.

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Don’t worry, they will not be mad if you lose their money, because that’s impossible.

You can’t lose any money the exchange lends to you.

You will only lose your part of the capital.

This is why it can be risky to trade with leverage since larger market moves can wipe out your small portion of capital in the position.

Also, remember that only the capital you enter the position with is lost, not your account capital.

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The reason why trading crypto with margin can be so profitable is that when you lose, you only lose your part of the capital.

But when you win, you get to keep all the profits.

Exchanges make money from this by charging you a fee, which is very normal for any exchange.

So if you keep making profits while you trade on the exchange, it’s a win-win situation.

So the next time anyone asks you what leverage is in crypto investing, you have the answer!

Can you trade crypto with leverage?

Yes, you can trade cryptocurrency with leverage on several platforms.

All of the trading platforms in this article will offer you high leverage in crypto trading with ratios up to 1:125.

Some platforms will offer crypto futures for even more advanced trading where you can short sell altcoins and hedge your bitcoin positions.

If you are going to trade with high levels of leverage I would recommend that you try Prime XBT first.

The reason for this is that they have the lowest trading fees out of all these exchanges.

Remember that with more leverage comes bigger position sizes and the fee is a direct % of the position size.

So, having a broker that supports low fees is a must if you are a heavy trader or if you trade very actively.

I know a lot of people who trade in and out of the markets, several hundred times per day, and they really enjoy the low fees on Prime XBT.

I would recommend KuCoin or Binance since they have the most developed charting packages out of all these brokers.

How does leverage trading work?

Leverage works the same way in cryptocurrency as it does with traditional brokers.

The way it works is that the platform you are using will provide you with extra liquidity.

Meaning, they will lend you money for your positions.

They can do this because they have contracts with liquidity providers with very deep pockets.

It’s an automatic system that will lend you as much money as you decide.

Most often you get to choose your own level of margin.

For example, 10x margin or leverage.

When you choose a 10x margin, it means that you will borrow up to 10 times more money than you currently have.

So, let’s say that you have an account with 1000$.

If you borrow margin up to 10x, you will be able to trade with 10 x 1000$.

Got it?

Let’s make a more clear example.

Your Account	10x leverage	100x leverage
1000$	10,000$	100,000$

These are the maximum position sizes you will be able to use.

Don’t get too caught up trying to understand the automation behind this.

Just remember that you are borrowing money from the platform and you can trade bigger position sizes.

And don’t worry, you are not going to have to pay back any of their money because you can only lose your own account capital.

How To Trade Crypto with Leverage on Binance

Binance is one of the largest and most secure cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the world.

They offer a range of different products for cryptocurrency for both long-term and short-term investors.

On Binance you can trade with up to 125x margin in Bitcoin and a little bit lower in many of their altcoins.

Before you start using the margin on Binance you have to activate your margin wallet.

This is a very quick step.

Simply go to your wallets and click Margin wallet and then activate.

After that, transfer your funds and start using their margin.

Number of cryptocurrencies on Binance

Binance has one of the biggest selections of cryptocurrencies in the world.

At the moment you can trade 25 coins and the list will keep growing.

Here is a list of all the cryptocurrencies available:

• BTC
• ADA
• ATOM
• BAT
• BCH
• BNB
• EOS
• ETC
• ETH
• IOST
• IOTA
• LINK
• LTC
• MATIC
• NEO
• ONT
• QTUM
• RVN
• TRX
• VET
• XLM
• XMR
• XRP
• XTZ
• ZEC

To be able to trade crypto with margin on Binance you first have to activate your margin wallet.

You will find your margin wallet at the top right corner of your screen.

Once you click the Wallet button, choose Margin Wallet in the drop-down menu.

This will take you to your wallet and here you have to activate it before you transfer any funds.

To transfer funds, all you have to do is to click the Transfer button and select the amount you want to transfer.

On the left side of the screen, you will find all your other wallets so it’s easy to switch wallets to see the currently available cryptocurrencies.

Binance has made it very easy to trade cryptocurrency and once you have transferred selected cryptocurrency, you are ready to go.

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When you go to your trade interface you have to the M button for margin wallet before you start.

Once you click this button you will see which crypto you can trade with margin in the list below.

If you came this far you are good to go.

It only takes a few steps to first activate the cryptocurrency margin wallet before you start.

Deposit methods on Binance

Binance is one of the easiest cryptocurrency platforms to deposit funds with.

You can either buy crypto with a credit card, use a bank transfer, or deposit your own cryptocurrencies onto the platform.

Binance deposit methods:

• Credit Card
• Cryptocurrency
• Bank Transfer

It doesn’t matter which one you choose, all three are equally simple to use.

If you want to buy large amounts of bitcoin and cryptocurrency with a credit card, all you have to do is click Buy Crypto in the top left corner of your screen and select Credit / Debit card.

Now, simply choose the crypto you want to buy with your credit card and click Buy.

Piece of cake.

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If you would rather deposit cryptocurrencies to the platform.

Hover over your Wallet button again and select Spot Wallet.

The spot wallet is your deposit and withdrawal wallet on the exchange.

Inside your spot wallet, you will see all the available cryptocurrencies for deposit.

Click the deposit button and this will open a new window where you will be able to copy the wallet address of the cryptocurrency.

If you have ever sent cryptocurrencies before, it’s the same thing.

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Now if you would like to deposit with your bank account you can do that as well.

Navigate to the Buy Crypto button again.

This time choose From Local vendors and this will take you to the Bank Transfer page.

Here you will be able to choose which cryptocurrency you want to buy in the menu at the top of the page.

As you can see, the selection of cryptocurrencies available to buy with bank transfer is not as big as with the other deposit methods.

But feel free to try it out if you prefer that.

Now, in my opinion.

I think Binance makes it very easy for anyone to trade cryptocurrency with margin thanks to the deposit methods they offer.

It makes everything very easy and my preferred choice is to buy crypto with a credit card.

Trading interface on Binance

On Binance you have two different interfaces to choose from.

To find the interfaces you have to hover over the Spot market button.

Here you will find both the Classic interface and the Advanced interface.

I will go through both of them to let you see the difference.

First, let me press the importance of a good interface for a beginner trader.

So choosing a crypto exchange with a robust interface is a must.

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As I said there are two different interfaces.

This is the Classic interface and it’s a little bit more basic.

It has fewer functions but it works perfectly for beginner traders.

In the top right corner, you have all the available markets.

Up top to the left, you have different time frames depending if you are a crypto day trader or more of a cryptocurrency swing trader.

Further down in the middle you have your order selection.

Here you can choose between market orders, limit orders and stop limits.

These orders also work as stop-loss orders and it’s not difficult to use.

The Classic interface comes with Volume and MACD indicators and also three moving averages on the chart.

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If you don’t like to trade crypto with margin in the dark, Binance has a very cool function at the top right side of their screen.

Here you can switch to bright mode if you prefer to trade this way instead.

Pretty cool.

Just click the Sun or the Moon buttons to switch between night and day.

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The Advanced interface is a little more developed.

It comes with more functionality and is more suited for crypto traders who have more experience in trading crypto with margin.

The difference here is that you have more indicators to choose from.

So to have the possibility to combine indicators is a huge plus.

To the right, you can see that Binance has put the order selection box and the order book next to each other.

This is not by chance.

They’ve put them together to make it easier for you to trade with order flow and see larger orders coming in from the order book.

Very practical.

Lastly, they’ve put your Open Orders section in a clear vision for you to easily keep track of your Profits and Losses.

Related: Read crypto charts guide

Crypto Trading fees on Binance

This is one of the reasons I prefer to trade crypto with margin on Binance.

They have got very competitive fees.

The basic trading fee for market takers is 0.10%.

This is also when you are at a VIP level 0.

To reduce your fees all you need to do is trade bigger.

This is a huge advantage for large cryptocurrency traders with bigger positions, especially if you are a day trader.

So the more you trade, the cheaper it gets.

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Something else to know about Binance is that you can reduce your fees instantly by transacting with their native cryptocurrency Binance Coin, or BNB for short.

When you trade on the BNB market all your trading fees are cut by 25%.

That’s huge.

To be able to reduce the fees by 25% is another bonus when you trade on Binance.

How to get started on Binance

Now I’ve reviewed the different deposit methods, the number of cryptocurrencies available, the interfaces, and the fees on Binance.

Follow these steps and nothing can go wrong.

1. Register with Binance.
2. Deposit funds.
3. Open Margin wallet.
4. Send funds to Margin wallet.
5. Click the “Spot” button and choose an interface.
6. Click the “M” button inside the interface.
7. You are now ready to trade!

Piece of cake.

If you get lost on your way you can always return to this review and check these steps again.

If you feel like you want to get more information about the platform, visit our Binance review.

How to Trade Cryptocurrency with leverage on Bitmex

Number of cryptocurrencies on Bitmex

On Bitmex you have 8 cryptocurrencies to trade with margin.

Here is a visual representation of all the cryptocurrencies available.

You can trade Bitcoin with a 100x margin and Ethereum with a 50x margin.

That is really something.

They might not offer most of the cryptocurrencies out there, but if you are looking to trade the major ones you will enjoy a lot of margin on Bitmex.

You don’t need to activate any wallet or do anything special before you start.

Simply deposit your funds and choose your preferred margin to the left on the platform.

This is why I really like to trade on Bitmex.

There is nothing in the way, you simply deposit your funds and you are good to go.

Deposit methods on Bitmex

Bitmex has made it very simple to deposit funds onto the platform.

Instead of credit cards or bank transfers, you are simply transferring Bitcoin to your wallet.

All trading on Bitmex is done with Bitcoin contracts, very simple.

No activation as I said, just transfer an amount of Bitcoin and you are ready to trade.

To deposit Bitcoin on Bitmex, click the Account button to get to your wallet.

When you are on the wallet page it’s the same as transferring Bitcoin to any wallet.

Just copy the Bitcoin address and then go to your other wallet and paste it.

The wallet page looks like this.

The same goes for if you would like to withdraw Bitcoin from the platform.

Go to the wallet page again and click withdraw.

Trading interface on Bitmex

I really like the interface on Bitmex.

They only have one but it’s more than enough.

You will find anything from indicators, plenty of drawing tools, all time frames, and different candle selections.

At the top of the screen in the middle, you have all the indicators to choose from as well as the time frames.

Here you can go as deep as 1min if you are a crypto scalper.

In the top left corner, you will find the order selection.

Here they have the standard market order, limit order, and many different stop orders.

Pretty much all order functions you might need.

As I said before, below the order selection is the margin bar and here you can easily adjust your leverage when trading.

You can even change your cryptocurrency leverage when you are in a position, that’s neat.

And at the bottom, you will find the Open Positions and Closed Positions.

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One thing to mention is that the interface is completely customizable on Bitmex.

This means that you can pretty much drag and move everything as you want it.

Change size on anything and make it exactly as you want it.

The customization button is in the top right corner of the screen.

Crypto Trading fees on Bitmex

One of the reasons I prefer Bitmex is thanks to their low trading fees.

I don’t think I could trade as actively as I do on other platforms with the same level of margin.

The basic fee on Bitmex is 0.25%

Here is the fee table.

The highlight is for traders who are market takers.

If you are a market maker you will follow the Maker Fee section.

Most day traders and swing traders are market Takers because they usually trade crypto with market orders.

By trading cryptocurrency with market orders you are taking orders from the market and this is where the fee comes in.

The Bitcoin fee is a little lower.

The Bitcoin trading fee is 0.075%.

How to get started on Bitmex

As you can see Bitmex likes to keep things simple and versatile.

It’s very easy to deposit funds on the platform and their interface is very customizable.

Here comes a step by step list for you to follow:

1. Register with Bitmex
2. Deposit Bitcoin
3. Choose cryptocurrency
4. Choose leverage ratio
5. Start trading!

I’ve been testing all cryptocurrencies on Bitmex for a while and I’m very happy with the result and the exchange.

Trade Crypto with leverage on Prime XBT

Number of cryptocurrencies on Prime XBT

On Prime XBT you can trade these coins:

• BTC
• ETH
• EOS
• LTC
• XRP

The maximum leverage on Prime XBT is 100x and this is as high as it gets out there among crypto exchanges offering margin.

So if you are looking to maximize your purchasing power you have come to the right place.

On Prime XBT everything is very straight forward and this exchange truly believes in simplicity.

All you have to do to trade cryptocurrency with margin is to deposit funds and head of to the trading interface to start.

I will go through all of this and more, in a minute.

Deposit methods on Prime XBT

You can either deposit Bitcoin onto the platform or use your Credit card to buy crypto.

You will find both of these options in the Account section at the top left corner of the screen.

Once you are here you will see a big blue button that says Deposit to the wallet, you can’t miss it.

Incredibly easy to find and I really like how Prime XBT has laid out the user interface on their platform.

This makes everything very smooth and nothing can go wrong.

Click this button and you will come to the wallet section on the platform.

Here you can choose to either deposit Bitcoin from another wallet or buy crypto with your credit card.

So just copy your Bitcoin address or choose the amount of crypto you would like to buy with your credit card.

Prime XBT has this function thanks to Changelly which is another cryptocurrency exchange.

As you can see, both VISA and Master card works here.

If you choose to pay with your credit card, you will be redirected to the Changelly crypto exchange.

They work as an intermediate exchange between all cryptocurrency exchanges to find the best prices out there.

They have an algorithm that scans all crypto exchanges and then selects the best prices for you.

It looks like this when you arrive and just follows the steps on Changelly.

When you finish on Changelly you will see your cryptocurrencies on Prime XBT.

Trading interface on Prime XBT

Prime XBT has a very seamless interface and I really like it.

You can choose to have only one chart on your screen or four charts together.

This is what it looks like with one chart.

And here are four charts.

The way you activate the four charts mode is by clicking on the Charts button in the top left corner.

If you like to trade crypto with margin and can multitask at the same time.

This is a dream for you.

The functions are the same in One chart mode and Four charts mode.

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You control pretty much everything on the charts from the tool section at the top of the chart.

Here you are free to change time frames, add indicators, use plenty of drawing tools and change the size.

You also have the buy and sell buttons in this section.

One cool thing about the Prime XBT interface is the one-click trade function.

This enables you to trade in and out of the market with one click.

You activate this function by clicking the Regular Trading button at the top of the screen.

Crypto Trading fees on Prime XBT

If you want to trade with low fees I highly recommend Prime XBT.

The basic fee for cryptocurrency is 0.05%.

If you are not familiar with transaction fees I can tell you that this is as good as it gets.

The overnight fee only applies to traders who keep their positions overnight.

If you close out all your open positions before 00:00 you will not be affected.

How to get started on Prime XBT

As you can see, Prime XBT likes to keep things easy and this is the new generation of crypto platforms.

Easy to use, has a lot of functionality, and fast deposit methods.

You have seen most of the steps it takes to start on Prime XBT and how to use their platform.

Now let’s go over the simple steps you need to take before you start again to repeat and clear all confusion.

1. Register with Prime XBT.
2. Deposit funds
3. Click the Trade button
4. Choose Cryptocurrency
5. Start trading!

Nothing can go wrong here that’s how I like it.

I’ve been trading for a while now on Prime XBT and will definitely keep doing it in the future.

If you want to learn more about the platform you can also visit our Prime XBT review.

How to leverage trade crypto in Bybit

Number of coins on Bybit

On Bybit you can choose from 4 different cryptocurrencies to trade.

• BTC
• ETH
• EOS
• XRP

There are no tricks you need to know about before you start trading on Bybit.

First, deposit funds onto the platform.

Then hover over the Trade button at the top left corner of the first page.

Hover over the Trade button and click Inverse Perpetual to access the margin trading platform.

Very straightforward. The other platform is for non-leverage trading.

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The maximum leverage for Bitcoin is 100x.

The maximum leverage for other cryptocurrencies is 50x.

You can easily change the margin ratio while you are trading by dragging the dot on the bar in the top right corner of the interface.

Super easy and very useful if you need to lower or increase the ratio.

Sometimes the market conditions don’t allow for maximum margin and then you need a fast way of changing it to control your risk.

When the market conditions are more stable and you can change it back in an instant.

Deposit methods on Bybit

On Bybit you can only deposit cryptocurrencies, but it’s very easy as you’ll see in this example.

First, click your account email address in the top right corner and then click My Assets.

This will take you to your wallet page and here you are free to deposit any of the cryptocurrencies available.

Choose cryptocurrency and click Deposit on the right side of the page.

Once you’ve chosen your cryptocurrency and clicked deposit a new window will pop up with the cryptocurrency address.

Copy this and paste it into your other wallet.

Once you have done that, click Confirm.

Trading interface on Bybit

This is how the trading interface looks on Bybit.

I definitely like this interface because of the layout.

At the top left corner, you have different time frames to choose from.

1min is available here if you are a cryptocurrency scalper.

At the bottom of the page, you have your open orders and trade history. Very nice to keep track of during trading and good to analyze after the day is over.

And as you’ve seen before in the top right corner you’ve your leverage bar, but you also have the order selection in this box.

They’ve put the order selection together with the margin and the order book to make it easier for active crypto traders.

This is very handy if you are reading order flow and need to adapt to the market by changing leverage.

Not much more can be said, you have all your standard indicators since Bybit is importing the charts from Tradingview.

This way you know its quality.

Crypto Trading fees on Bybit

Like all the other cryptocurrency exchanges we’ve seen, Bybit is also very competitive when it comes to trading fees.

Here is a fee table for the basic fee.

The basic trading fee for market takers is 0.075%.

Also incredibly low compared to many other exchanges.

When you trade with margin, your position sizes tend to be larger than normal, and the same goes for the fees.

The fees are based on the size of the executed position.

How to get started on Bybit

Bybit is another platform that is a firm believer in simplicity and functionality.

They mix these to concepts really well and make it easy and robust.

We’ve seen how to deposit funds and also how the trading interface works.

Now to summarize this I’m going to give you a step-by-step list of how to trade on Bybit.

1. Register with Bybit.
2. Deposit funds.
3. Hover over the Trade button.
4. Click Inverse Perpetual.
5. Choose cryptocurrency.
6. Start trading!

Should you need to go through any of the steps in more depth just go through the review one more time.

Investing in Bybit has been very good to me thanks to the easy-to-use interface and very low fees.

If you want to learn even more about the platform you can visit our Bybit review.

Conclusion

This guide is a complete tutorial with illustrations on how to trade cryptocurrencies with leverage. You will learn how to get started, what exchange to choose and learn some great tips to avoid early mistakes.

My recommendation would be to start out slow and increase your ratio as you build confidence and when you see that you can generate a steady income by using your current strategies.

At the top of the article, I’ve listed some of the most reputable sites that offer margin-traded accounts and leveraged contracts that have a great reputation and high security.