Placing Your First Trade on PERPTools: A Step-by-Step Guide
Trading on PERPTools is intuitive. Traders can start placing their first trade with two fundamental methods - Market and Limit Orders - to enjoy special program for early comers.
This article will focus on helping traders navigate to the trading terminal at app.perptools.ai. This guide will walk you through the essential steps of placing your first trade, focusing on the two most common order types: Market and Limit orders.
Step 1: Preparing Your Workspace
Before placing a trade, you must set up your connection:
- Connect Wallet: Click the "Connect Wallet" button in the top right corner. PERPTools supports major Web3 wallets like MetaMask.
- Select Your Market: On the left-hand sidebar (Markets), choose the asset you wish to trade. In the provided example, we are looking at ETH-PERP (Ethereum Perpetual).
- Check Your Balance: Ensure you have USDC (or the required collateral) available in your connected wallet. Your balance will appear in the "Available" section of the trading widget.
Step 2: Understanding the Order Widget
On the right side of the screen is your Execution Panel. This is where you configure your trade. In this section, you might want to pay attention to the following features:
- Buy/Long: You profit if the price of ETH goes up.
- Sell/Short: You profit if the price of ETH goes down.
- Leverage: The dropdown (e.g., Cross 100X) allows you to multiply your buying power. Warning: High leverage significantly increases the risk of liquidation.
Step 3: Placing a Market Order
In trading, a Market Order is the simplest way to trade. It executes immediately at the best available price currently in the order book. So basically traders use it when they want to enter or exit a position instantly and aren't concerned about a slight difference in price (slippage).
How to place it:
- Select the "Market" tab from the dropdown menu (where it currently says "Limit").
- Input Amount: Enter the amount of ETH you want to trade or use the slider to select a percentage of your available collateral.
- Review Execution: The "Est. liq. price" will show you at what price your position would be closed automatically to prevent further losses.
- Click Buy/Long (or Sell/Short): Your trade will be filled instantly.
Step 4: Placing a Limit Order
By contrast, a Limit Order allows you to set a specific price at which you are willing to buy or sell. When you believe the price will hit a certain level before moving in your favor, or when you want to avoid paying the higher "taker" fees associated with market orders, you can opt for this trading method.
How to place it:
- Select the "Limit" tab (as seen in the screenshot).
- Set Price: In the "Price" field, enter the exact USDC price at which you want to enter the market. A small tip: You can click prices directly in the Order Book (the middle column) to auto-fill this field.
- Input Quantity: Enter the amount of ETH you wish to trade.
- Order Options: * Post only: Ensures your order is added to the book and not filled immediately, guaranteeing you receive "maker" rebates/fees.
- TP/SL: Toggle this to set "Take Profit" and "Stop Loss" levels simultaneously with your entry.
- Click Buy/Long: Your order will appear in the "Open Orders" section at the bottom of the screen until the market price hits your limit price.
Key Differences at a Glance
Feature | Market Order | Limit Order |
Speed | Instant execution. | Executes only when the price is hit. |
Price | Best available market price. | The specific price you choose (or better). |
Certainty | Guaranteed execution, price varies. | Guaranteed price, execution not guaranteed. |
Fees | Usually higher (Taker fee). | Usually lower (Maker fee). |
Pro-Tips for Navigation
Though PERPTools trading UI is designed to facilitate the simplest user workflow, there might be some points that some traders are not familiar with. To master the PERPTools interface, you should leverage the integrated TradingView chart in the center of your screen to identify key support and resistance levels before committing to a Limit order. By observing the Order Book in the center-right column, you can spot "liquidity walls"—large clusters of buy or sell orders—that often act as short-term price barriers. Once your trade is active, keep a close eye on the Positions tab at the bottom of the interface; this is where you can monitor your Unrealized PnL (Profit and Loss) in real-time and adjust your exit strategy as the market moves.
Disclaimer: Trading perpetuals involves significant risk. Always start with small amounts and understand your liquidation price before increasing leverage.
