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1. The four settings at a glance
2. Setting one: whether to use the Unified Trading Account
3. Setting two: isolated, cross or portfolio margin
4. Setting three: one-way or hedge position mode
5. Setting four: risk limits and dynamic leverage
6. The market is closed but your position keeps moving
7. A checklist before your first order
8. FAQ
9. Risk reminder
10. Summary

The four settings at a glance

Start with the overview. None of these settings is just an extra row in the order ticket — each one changes where a loss comes out of, how much it takes, and how long the position survives.

Setting one: whether to use the Unified Trading Account

The Unified Trading Account pools spot, spot margin, perpetuals, futures, inverse and options into one account with one equity calculation. Two practical benefits stand out:

• No constant transferring. TradFi perpetuals use your existing UTA, so there is no separate account to open and no USDT to shuffle around.
• Unrealised profit can serve as margin. Money earned in an open position can back a new position without waiting for it to settle.

But this is also the item to be most careful with, because cross-collateralisation ties different assets into one risk pool. Consider a concrete sequence:

Two smaller UTA details worth knowing: once the initial margin rate reaches 100% you can no longer transfer funds out, and unrealised profit can be used for trading but not withdrawn.

Setting two: isolated, cross or portfolio margin

The three modes differ in how margin is calculated and where a loss stops.

The trade-off beginners should focus on: under isolated margin the loss is capped at the amount you allocate to that position, so a wrong call does not spread to your other positions. Cross and portfolio expose the whole account to the same wave, which is more capital-efficient but means one mistake hits everything. Put plainly, cross saves capital, not risk.

Two more traps to keep in mind: switching margin mode requires meeting certain conditions rather than being freely available at any moment, and in some modes collateral is counted after applying a collateral value ratio, so the balance you see is not the margin you can use.

Setting three: one-way or hedge position mode

In one-way mode a position can only be long or short at a given time; in hedge mode you can hold both sides on the same instrument at once. This setting determines whether you can build a structure that is long one thing and short another on the same underlying, and how your resting orders behave.

For a beginner the practical advice is simple: stay in one-way mode. Hedge mode is more capable, but the order logic differs and it becomes easy to confuse which side is the hedge and which is a new position when both are open. Switch only when you genuinely need a hedging structure or need to manage both sides with resting orders.

Setting four: risk limits and dynamic leverage

A common assumption is that leverage is a number you pick freely. In practice it is also constrained by position size: the larger the position, the lower the leverage you may use. This is what the tiered risk limit and dynamic leverage exist for — to stop a large position from carrying maximum leverage.

In practice this means two things:

1. The high leverage you see is a ceiling, not a constant. Available leverage is calculated from your current position size and tier conditions; always check inside your account.
2. Limits can be upgraded, but there are thresholds and review time. Meeting the criteria is usually required, and the review takes time; you can move only between permitted tiers.

That leads to a counter-intuitive but genuinely useful tip: beginners should tier up using low leverage. Limits are computed on position size, so building with small leverage lets you support a larger notional position without hitting the tier boundary and being downgraded. That is far safer than reaching for high leverage from the start.

The market is closed but your position keeps moving

TradFi perpetuals trade 24/7 while the underlying market closes. How pricing works during a closure directly affects the quality of your position, so it deserves its own section.

The most valuable of these is the mark price deviation cap: ±5% for single-stock contracts and ±3% for ETF and commodity contracts. The mark price used is clamped inside the permitted band around the index, which exists to reduce manipulation and unnecessary liquidations.

Now the other side of that coin: during a closure, while prices may not be updating, funding still accrues and margin is still being checked. Your position is not frozen. Spreads also tend to widen outside market hours, so execution quality is worse.

A checklist before your first order

The settings above compress into a list you can actually follow. The order matters: the account type comes first, because it determines whether the margin mode discussion even applies.

1. Confirm the account type. Decide whether coins you intend to hold long-term stay in the same UTA. If they will, arrange a separate sub-account first.
2. Choose a margin mode. Start isolated while new; consider cross or portfolio once you are deliberately running several positions.
3. Confirm the position mode. Begin in one-way, switch to hedge when a hedging structure is genuinely needed, and verify stops can be placed.
4. Set leverage and check your tier. Build with small leverage and raise your limit tier gradually.
5. Run one full cycle at minimum size. Confirm the order, stop, exit and settlement all behave as expected before scaling.
6. Cost out your holding period. Beyond fees, remember funding keeps accruing during closed-market periods.

FAQ

Summary

What a TradFi beginner actually needs to learn is not where the buttons are, but how the four settings work. Account type decides whether your assets can drag each other down; margin mode decides how far one mistake spreads; position mode decides whether you can build a hedging structure; leverage and risk limits decide how large a position you can carry and whether it gets downgraded. None of these appear on the order screen — all four show up the first time the market turns against you.

A sensible sequence for a newcomer: decide first whether long-term holdings belong in the same account, start with isolated margin and one-way mode, use low leverage to build your limit tier gradually, then run one complete cycle at minimum size. If you have no account yet, register through https://partner.bybit.com/b/BTC9149 and the referral code fills in automatically. Enter referral code BTC9149 and enable MNT fee deduction and trading fees reach an up to 58% discount — but that discount applies to trading fees only. It does not offset funding costs, and it does not change how any of the four settings behave.