Bybit is a crypto exchange for spot and perpetual trading with unified collateral

A BTC purchase and an ETH perpetual share one account

A mixed spot-and-derivatives workflow is the clearest active trading use case for Bybit's Unified Trading Account.

A trader might buy BTC with USDT in the spot market while opening an ETHUSDT perpetual position for leveraged price exposure. The spot trade increases the BTC balance and reduces USDT. The perpetual creates a contract position whose unrealized profit or loss enters the account calculation. Both legs appear inside one UTA, removing transfers between separate spot and derivatives wallets. Product settlement still matters: spot delivers an asset balance, while the perpetual carries leverage, funding, and liquidation terms (more on this in Guide to bybit ).

Centralized and onchain alternatives separate custody from product depth

Bybit alternatives fall into two categories: custodial order-book exchanges and wallet-connected protocols that settle trades onchain. Coinbase Advanced and Kraken Pro provide centralized spot order books, with derivatives offered under their regional product rules. dYdX focuses on wallet-connected perpetuals, and Uniswap exchanges tokens through automated market maker pools on networks such as Ethereum. Integrated balances favor a centralized venue; direct blockchain settlement favors an onchain protocol when its network, liquidity, and collateral model match the trade.

Unified collateral converts balances into usable margin

Unified collateral is an account-level margin system that converts supported coin balances into a common USD value.

USD valuation and collateral value ratios

A collateral value ratio is the percentage of an asset's USD index value that enters margin balance.

A 100% ratio credits the whole value, while an 80% ratio credits $80 from each $100 of indexed value. Bybit publishes tiered ratios for assets whose credited percentage falls across quantity bands. Positive collateral receives the listed ratio; a negative asset balance counts at 100% for liability valuation. Margin balance therefore differs from wallet balance even when the coins have not moved. USDT, USDC, BTC, and ETH also produce different results because each asset has its own eligibility, index method, ratio schedule, and account-level collateral restrictions at the time of calculation.

Borrowing when a settlement balance turns negative

UTA borrowing is a balance-sheet liability created manually or automatically when a required settlement asset is unavailable.

For context, Bybit provides two borrowing routes: Manual Borrow and Auto Borrow. A USDC-settled fee, option premium, or derivatives loss can create a USDC liability when the account holds collateral but lacks enough USDC. The wallet response then separates coin equity, borrowed amount, accrued interest, and USD value. Depositing the borrowed asset or realizing profit in it reduces the liability through repayment. Borrowing limits use the lowest of three constraints: account tier, the coin's position tier, and remaining lending-pool liquidity.

Three margin modes define the liquidation boundary

Margin mode is the rule set that decides whether Bybit evaluates one position, the shared account, or a risk-offset portfolio.

Isolated margin assigns collateral to a position and triggers liquidation when mark price reaches that position's liquidation price. Cross margin pools eligible collateral and evaluates initial and maintenance margin across the account. Portfolio margin adds risk-based offsets among positions, which lowers required margin when the recognized portfolio exposures hedge each other. The chosen mode applies to the whole Unified Trading Account rather than to one trading pair.

In cross and portfolio margin, liquidation begins when the account maintenance margin rate reaches 100%. Portfolio margin requires at least $1000 in net equity and supports one-way position mode. Isolated and cross margin also support hedge mode for USDT perpetuals, allowing separate long and short sides under the same contract. A mode switch changes margin treatment for every supported position in the account.

Spot ownership and perpetual exposure solve different trading tasks

Spot and perpetual markets are distinct instruments that place ownership and contract exposure inside the same trading interface, as recorded in Bybit availability.

Spot orders exchange one asset for another

A spot trade settles as balances of the base and quote assets, such as BTC and USDT. Bybit defines three basic order families: market, limit, and conditional. A market order takes liquidity, while a limit order sets a price boundary and waits until matched. Conditional orders create either a market or limit order after a trigger fires. An OCO order uses two directional triggers; activating one cancels the other. Spot take-profit and stop-loss orders reserve assets when placed, while ordinary spot conditional orders reserve them only after triggering.

Perpetual contracts maintain leveraged exposure

A perpetual contract is a margin instrument that tracks an underlying price without an expiry date. USDT and USDC perpetuals use linear settlement, so profit and loss accrue in the settlement stablecoin. An inverse contract such as BTCUSD uses the underlying asset for margin and settlement. A trader chooses long or short exposure, size, and leverage, then monitors mark price, maintenance margin, and funding. UTA records the position beside spot balances, but the contract remains a venue ledger entry rather than a blockchain token.

Trading fees, funding, and borrowing run on separate clocks

Trading costs on Bybit are three separate mechanisms: execution fees, perpetual funding, and interest on borrowed assets.

Execution fees equal filled order value multiplied by the applicable fee rate. Maker and taker rates differ, and a limit order pays the taker rate when it executes immediately against resting liquidity. The account's product, region, and VIP level set the displayed rate. VIP qualification uses asset balance or rolling 30-day volume, while levels refresh daily at 07:00 UTC. The rate active when the order enters the system controls that fill.

Perpetual funding transfers value directly between long and short positions at the symbol's scheduled timestamp. Bybit recalculates the rate every minute from an interest component and a premium index. On an 8-hour schedule, funding occurs three times in 24 hours. The standard interest component in that example is 0.03% per day, or 0.01% per interval, while specified exceptions use 0%. Premium, caps, and the signed final rate change with the contract.

Borrowing interest follows another schedule. Flexible spot liabilities receive a prorated first charge through the next fifth minute of an hour, with periods shorter than 1 minute rounded to 1 minute. Later flexible charges occur hourly at minute 05. Fixed-term choices span 7, 14, 30, 60, 90, and 180 days, with interest deducted when borrowing begins. Eligible fixed loans support up to 5 renewals when more than 6 hours remain before the original due time. Total carrying cost changes with fee tier, funding, borrowed balance, and holding period.

A first deposit should lead to a controlled spot order

Account setup is a regulated onboarding process that ends with a funded Unified Trading Account and a deliberately sized first order.

Registration uses one email address or phone number for one account, followed by identity verification and account protection settings. Product access and deposit methods depend on residence, so eligibility comes before funding. A crypto deposit also requires an exact asset and network match. After the balance arrives, the spot ticket provides the cleanest first view of quantity, order type, fee role, and filled balance without introducing leverage.

Use this five-point decision checklist before submitting the order:

• Select Spot for asset ownership or a USDT Perpetual for contract exposure.
• Use a limit order for a price boundary or a market order for immediate execution within the displayed slippage control.
• Choose isolated margin for position-assigned collateral or cross margin for deliberate account-wide sharing.
• Read the instrument's minimum quantity, quantity step, and price tick before sizing.
• Set the intended trigger reference and use reduce-only when an exit must only shrink a perpetual position.

Custody and withdrawal controls remain part of the trade

Centralized custody is the operational model in which Bybit holds account assets and processes withdrawals under configured controls. Google Authenticator two-factor authentication, an address book, and a new-address lock add account-level safeguards; the lock delays newly added destinations for 24 hours. Proof of reserves uses a binary Merkle tree, where each node has at most two children, to support account-balance verification. Longer-term balances can move to Ledger or Trezor hardware wallets when self-custody better fits the holding plan.

Mark price and maintenance margin govern liquidation

Liquidation is a margin-control process driven by mark price, maintenance requirements, and the account's selected margin mode.

The mark price combines an index-based spot reference with a funding basis, while the last traded price records the latest execution on Bybit. A position can show a last price above its isolated liquidation price even when the mark price reaches the trigger. Conditional exits support three references: Last Price, Mark Price, and Index Price, so the selected trigger matters. Risk tiers raise maintenance requirements as position notional grows, bringing liquidation closer. In cross and portfolio margin, collateral changes elsewhere also move account maintenance margin, making a displayed position-level liquidation estimate informational rather than decisive.

An isolated position settles at bankruptcy price after mark price triggers liquidation, and bankruptcy price represents the 0% margin level. Cross-account outcomes change with every collateral balance and open position.

Portfolio offsets and API controls reward technical account management

Advanced UTA use is a risk-netting and automation workflow built around portfolio margin, options, and API V5.

Portfolio margin nets option and futures risk

Portfolio margin is a risk-based model that evaluates USDC options, perpetuals, futures, and eligible spot hedges together. A long BTC option paired with a short BTC perpetual creates offsetting directional exposure. The portfolio engine runs risk scenarios across the combined positions and assigns initial margin to the resulting net exposure. Recognized offsets improve capital efficiency, while concentration, volatility, and mismatched expiries raise the requirement. There is no user-selected leverage value in portfolio mode because the risk model computes margin at account level.

API V5 unifies order and account operations

API V5 is a unified interface for market data, orders, positions, account balances, and asset operations. Order requests use four product categories: spot, linear, inverse, and option. A custom orderLinkId accepts no more than 36 characters. Perpetuals and futures permit 500 active orders per symbol and 10 active conditional orders per symbol. Spot permits 500 open orders in total, while options default to 50 open orders per settlement coin. Automated systems still read tick size, quantity step, and leverage limits from instrument data because those settings remain symbol-specific.

Collateral switches, new listings, and network choices create edge cases

Edge cases are rule interactions involving collateral eligibility, launch-phase order limits, and blockchain network selection settings.

Collateral customization operates only in cross and portfolio margin, the two modes that pool multiple assets. USDT, USDC, and BYUSDT serve as automatic collateral and cannot be switched off. Bybit blocks collateral deactivation when that change would lift the account's initial margin rate to 80% or higher. An outstanding liability also keeps its associated collateral setting active until repayment. Platform-wide collateral limits can temporarily prevent new activation even when the coin remains listed.

During the first 5 minutes of a new spot listing, market, conditional, take-profit or stop-loss, OCO, and strategy orders remain unavailable. A spot market order can fill across no more than 10,000 transactions; quantity beyond that execution count is canceled. RPI and Post-Only orders allow up to five times the standard limit-order maximum, although each symbol publishes its own quantity cap. These launch and order limits change which order form the interface accepts.

Network choice is the final compatibility check. USDT on Ethereum follows ERC-20, while USDT on Tron follows TRC-20. Ethereum and Arbitrum addresses can share an EVM format, yet balances remain on separate networks. The asset, chain, and receiving service must all match before a withdrawal is submitted. The correct route changes with the receiving wallet's supported network.