Glossary of perpetual futures
Each term in one sentence here, then on its own page: the full definition, an example, its formula and the terms around it.
- Agent wallet
- An agent wallet is a second key an account approves to sign on its behalf on Hyperliquid, where the documentation also calls it an API wallet.
- Agentic AI
- Agentic AI is a model that acts: it calls a tool, reads what comes back and decides the next step, instead of only answering.
- Average true range (ATR)
- The average true range is the average size of a market's recent moves, measured in the price's own units.
- Cross margin
- Cross margin is the mode in which one balance stands behind every position held in it, which is Hyperliquid's default.
- Funding rate
- The funding rate is the periodic fee one side of a perpetual contract pays the other to hold its price near the spot price of the asset, paid every hour on Hyperliquid.
- Isolated margin
- Isolated margin ties a chosen amount of collateral to one position, so that a liquidation there reaches nothing else in the account.
- Leverage
- Leverage is the ratio between the size of a position and the margin standing behind it.
- Limit order
- A limit order is an order to trade at a chosen price or better, which rests on the book until it is filled or cancelled.
- Liquidation
- A liquidation is the venue closing a position because the equity behind it has fallen below the maintenance margin.
- Maker and taker fees
- A taker fee is charged to the order that takes resting size off the book, and a maker fee to the order that was resting on it.
- Mark price
- The mark price is Hyperliquid's robust estimate of a perpetual's fair price, and what margin, liquidations and unrealized profit and loss are measured on.
- Market order
- A market order is an order to trade at once at the best prices resting on the book, whatever they turn out to be.
- Open interest
- Open interest is the size of the positions still open on a market, counted once per contract rather than once per side.
- Oracle price
- The oracle price is the spot price Hyperliquid's validators publish for each perpetual, and what funding is computed on.
- Order book
- An order book is the list of the buy and sell orders resting on a market, which is what an incoming trade is matched against.
- Paper trading
- Paper trading is trading in simulation: orders against a real market's prices with a simulated account, so that nothing is risked and nothing is signed. This product calls it simulation mode.
- Perpetual futures
- A perpetual future is a contract whose value follows the price of an asset, with no expiry date, settled in cash and held against margin.
- Realized PnL
- Realized profit and loss is the result a closing trade turns into cash, with the fee of that trade counted in it.
- Slippage
- Slippage is the difference between the price a trade was expected to get and the price it actually got.
- Unrealized PnL
- Unrealized profit and loss is what an open position is worth above or below its entry price, measured at the mark price, before anything is closed.