Lab: your first trade

Before you start

Step 1 · Read the header

1. 1Find the pair name — BTC/USDT.
2. 2Find the last price, and watch it tick.
3. 3Find 24h Change, High, Low and Volume.
4. 4Find the Sources row on the right.

Step 2 · Read the order book

1. 1Red rows above the middle are asks — people selling.
2. 2Green rows below are bids — people buying.
3. 3The number in the middle is the spread.
4. 4The Sum column accumulates size — it shows how much you would have to eat to move the price.

Step 3 · Place a market buy

1. 1In the ticket, choose Buy / Long.
2. 2Leave the order type as Market.
3. 3Enter a small size — 0.01 BTC.
4. 4Before submitting, read the four summary numbers: order value, margin required, estimated liquidation price, taker fee.
5. 5Submit.

Those four numbers are the whole trade. Reading them before every order is the habit worth building here, where it costs nothing to build.

Step 4 · Find your position

1. 1Open the Positions tab below the chart.
2. 2Read size, entry price, mark price and liquidation price.
3. 3Watch the unrealised PnL move with the price.

Step 5 · Set a stop-loss

1. 1In the TP / SL column of your position, click set.
2. 2Enter a stop-loss about 0.5% below the current price.
3. 3Save.

You have now decided in advance what being wrong looks like. That is the single most useful habit in trading, and it is much easier to form before money is involved.

Step 6 · Watch it fire

1. 1Leave the position alone and watch.
2. 2If the price does not reach your stop, move the stop up to just under the current price.
3. 3Wait for it to trigger.

Triggering one deliberately, once, where nothing is at stake, teaches more than reading about it ten times.

Step 7 · Try a limit order

1. 1Choose Buy / Long and switch the type to Limit.
2. 2Set a price clearly below the market.
3. 3Submit. It will not fill — it joins the queue.
4. 4Find it under Open Orders, then cancel it.

Now you know the difference between taking a price and asking for one.

Step 8 · Break something on purpose

1. 1Open a position at high leverage — 20× or more.
2. 2Note the estimated liquidation price in the ticket before submitting.
3. 3Leave it without a stop-loss and watch.

This is the most valuable step in the lab. Being liquidated once, deliberately, on a venue where it costs nothing, is the cheapest possible version of a lesson most traders pay real money for.

Step 9 · Then the live venue

When the practice venue holds no surprises, the live venue settles real spot trades on chain: you sign an order, a counterparty crosses it, and both legs move directly between wallets. It runs on a test network today, so the assets still carry no monetary value — but the signatures and the settlement are real.