> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ascend.market/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Ascend Perps

Trade BTC and ADA perpetual futures with USDC collateral. Go long when you think the market will rise or short if you think it will fall. Unlike traditional futures, perpetuals have no expiry date. Your position stays open until you choose to close it or you're liquidated.

This guide will take you through account setup, account funding, placing your first trade and withdrawing your funds.

## At a glance

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Markets" icon="chart-candlestick">
    **BTC** and **ADA**, quoted in USDC.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Max leverage" icon="gauge-high">
    **50x** on BTC · **10x** on ADA
  </Card>

  <Card title="Direction" icon="arrows-up-down">
    Long or short, same two clicks.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Settled in" icon="dollar-sign">
    All P\&L clears in **USDC**.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Taker fee" icon="receipt">
    **0.04%**. Maker orders are free.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Deposits / Withdrawals" icon="arrow-right-arrow-left">
    Min **15 USDC** in · **10 USDC** out
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What you're actually trading

When you trade BTC or ADA perps, you don't buy or own the underlying asset. You're trading a contract that tracks its price. If the market moves in your favor, your position gains value. If it moves against you, your position loses value. When you close the trade, your profit or loss is settled in USDC.

Three things you should know before you trade:

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Perps don't expire" icon="infinity">
    Unlike traditional futures contracts, perpetuals have no expiry date. Your position remains open until you close it or it is liquidated.
  </Card>

  <Card title="You can go long or short" icon="arrows-up-down">
    Go long if you think the price will rise, short if you think it will fall. This allows you to trade the market in either direction without owning the underlying BTC or ADA.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Leverage increases both gains and losses" icon="bolt">
    Leverage lets you open a position larger than the collateral you put up. This increases your exposure, meaning both profits and losses can happen faster. If the market moves far enough against your position, it can be liquidated.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Account setup

This is a four-step process that should take about 15 minutes (incl. deposit transfer time).

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create your account" icon="key">
    You'll be shown 24 words. This is your **Recovery Phrase**. Write this down on paper. We do not recommend that you screenshot, copy or e-mail your Recovery Phrase.

    Next set your **password**. This encrypts the account on your device so that you're not typing 24 words to log in.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save a backup file" icon="floppy-disk">
    We recommend you do this now as part of your account setup.

    A backup file is your account, encrypted, saved as a file that you keep. This file is what will allow you to log in to your account from another browser or device.

    Open the backup dialogue, enter your password and click **Save a backup file**.

    Two things you should be aware of:

    <CardGroup cols={2}>
      <Card title="The file" icon="file-shield">
        Store this file somewhere you can actually access it. You can use a drive, USB or cloud storage.
      </Card>

      <Card title="Your password" icon="lock">
        This file is encrypted with your password, without it the file is unusable. Protect your password!
      </Card>
    </CardGroup>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Fund your account" icon="wallet">
    Send USDC from a SOL or ETH wallet.

    | Chain    | Arrives in   | Minimum |
    | -------- | ------------ | ------- |
    | Solana   | \~11 minutes | 15 USDC |
    | Ethereum | \~1 hour     | 15 USDC |

    Once you choose your chain, you'll be given a wallet address to send the USDC to, from your wallet. Once you do this, you can leave the tab open or close it and return later. Your account will tell you the status of your deposit.

    <Warning>
      Ensure you send USDC on the correct network. If you select ETH, send USDC on ETH. Sending USDC on SOL to an ETH address won't work. Sending another token won't work.
    </Warning>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Turn on trading" icon="toggle-on">
    Once your deposit is confirmed, go to the **Markets** page and click **Set up trading**. You'll be prompted to enter your password and once you do, the trading panel is live.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Placing your first trade

<Steps>
  <Step title="Select a market" icon="chart-line">
    Choose from BTC or ADA. You'll be shown current price and recent movement.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick a direction" icon="arrows-up-down">
    **Long** if you think the price is going up. **Short** if you think it's going down.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set your position size" icon="sliders">
    Type in the amount of USDC you want to commit to the position. This is your **margin**, or, the money you are putting at risk with the trade.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Understanding leverage" icon="gauge">
    Leverage allows you to control a larger position size with less of your own money put up.

    For example, with $100 of margin (your funds), 5x leverage allows you to open a $500 position. 10x leverage allows you to open a \$1000 position.

    <Warning>
      The higher your leverage, the more your position gains or loses when the market moves. Example: at 10x leverage, a 1% move in the market is roughly a 10% gain or loss relative to your margin.
    </Warning>

    Higher leverage means you can be liquidated much sooner if the market moves against you.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review the numbers before you confirm the trade" icon="magnifying-glass">
    Before you confirm, review your position size, the fee, and your **liquidation price**.

    Liquidation price is the price at which your position will be closed out and you will lose your margin. If the liquidation price is close to the current price, your size or leverage amount may be too high.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Manage your trade with Stop Loss and Take Profit settings" icon="shield">
    You can set a **Stop Loss** to automatically close your position if the market moves against you, or a **Take Profit** to automatically close it when the market reaches your profit target.

    Both are optional and further explained in the next section of this document.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Stop Loss and Take Profit

Set your position to automatically close when it reaches a specific loss or profit target. Both are optional.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Stop Loss" icon="shield-halved">
    Automatically closes your position at a price level you set to limit your loss if the market moves against you.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Take Profit" icon="flag-checkered">
    Automatically closes your position at a price level you set to lock in gains when the market reaches your target.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

Once placed, they appear under your open orders. Whichever one doesn't fire cancels itself when the position closes. You can still close manually at any time.

## Leverage and liquidation

Leverage increases the size of your position without requiring you to put up the full amount as margin.

For example, 100 USDC at 5x leverage controls a 500 USDC position. A 1% move in the market would therefore result in roughly a 5 USDC gain or loss, rather than 1 USDC.

But leverage works both ways. The higher your leverage, the less room the market has to move against you before your position can be liquidated.

| Leverage      | Move against you that liquidates the position |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| 1x            | \~50%                                         |
| 5x            | \~20%                                         |
| 10x (ADA cap) | \~10%                                         |
| 25x           | \~4%                                          |
| 50x (BTC cap) | \~2%                                          |

Read that last line carefully. At 50x leverage, even a relatively small move against your position can result in liquidation. Higher leverage leaves significantly less room for the market to move against you, so it also carries substantially greater risk.

Ascend currently supports up to 50x leverage on BTC and 10x on ADA. Maximum leverage differs by market based on factors such as liquidity and volatility.

If you're new to perpetuals, consider starting with lower leverage while you become familiar with how leveraged positions behave.

Liquidation happens when your position no longer has enough margin to support its losses. When that point is reached, the position is automatically closed.

<Warning>
  **What liquidation means**

  If the market reaches your liquidation price, your position will be automatically closed and the margin allocated to that position is lost.

  Your estimated liquidation price is shown before you open a position and remains visible while the position is open.

  Always check your liquidation price before placing a trade or increasing your leverage.
</Warning>

## Withdrawing funds from Ascend

You can withdraw USDC to any Ethereum or Solana wallet address. You must withdraw a minimum of **10 USDC**. From your Ascend account page, click **Withdraw** and then select your chain.

Select the wallet you want to receive the funds in, and then sign the transaction. This does not actually initiate the withdrawal, it simply proves that you own the wallet.

You will then complete a second transaction **"Send it to"**, this is the actual withdrawal.

You'll need to sign both transactions, and then wait for the withdrawal to process. It should take **10 to 20 minutes**.

<Warning>
  **Keep the tab open**

  Both steps are signed on your device. Close the page halfway through and your USDC parks at your own address. It's safe and nobody else can reach it, but it stays there until you come back and finish.
</Warning>

**One at a time.** Withdrawing to both chains? Wait for Ethereum to say Done before starting Solana.

The network fee comes out of the amount you're sending. You'll see it before you confirm.

## Your keys, not ours

The keys that move your funds are generated on your device and never leave it. We don't hold anything that can spend on your behalf.

<Warning>
  The flip side is just as real. Lose your 24 words and the account is gone, for you and for us. No reset link, no support ticket, no exception.

  Write them down, save a backup file, and do both before you fund anything.
</Warning>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can I lose more than I put in?" icon="circle-question">
    No. The position closes before it can eat past the margin behind it. Worst case is losing what you committed to that trade.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I have more than one position open?" icon="layer-group">
    Yes. Each one has its own margin, its own profit and loss, and its own liquidation price.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What if I close the tab with a position open?" icon="window-restore">
    It stays open and keeps running. Your stops and takes stay armed too. Nothing about your position depends on your browser being open.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I log in on my laptop when I signed up on my phone?" icon="mobile-screen">
    Restore from your backup file on the new device, using the same password. If you don't have the file, your 24 words will do it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is the backup file safe to keep in cloud storage?" icon="cloud">
    It's encrypted with your password, so the file alone isn't enough to get in. That does mean your password is now doing real work, so make it a decent one and don't store it next to the file.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I lost my phone." icon="triangle-exclamation">
    Restore from a backup, or type your 24 words into another device. With neither, nobody can help, and that includes us.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can you freeze my account or take my funds?" icon="lock">
    No. We don't hold a key that can move your money.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why is my deposit stuck on 'checking'?" icon="hourglass-half">
    Transfers take as long as the network takes. Roughly 11 minutes on Solana, an hour on Ethereum. The screen names the stage it's on instead of spinning at you.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why only two markets?" icon="chart-simple">
    Starting with BTC and ADA. More follow.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

*Trade with money you can afford to lose. With leverage, that stops being a formality.*