Glossary
The words, with the arguments attached
These are the terms a perpetual automation page has to use. Each one says what the word means and what it does not mean. They are not PERP KING's decision rules.
Perpetual future
A perpetual future is a derivatives contract with no expiry. A trader can be long or short and posts margin rather than the full notional. Funding is the mechanism that pulls the contract toward the underlying price. It is not a spot purchase, and it is not a dated future that expires into delivery.
Funding
Funding is a payment between longs and shorts. It is not a fee paid to the exchange. When the rate is positive, longs usually pay shorts. When it is negative, shorts usually pay longs. The interval is per contract. Do not assume eight hours. The calculator uses a rate and an interval you type.
Mark price
The mark price is the exchange's reference price for margin and liquidation. It is not always the last traded price. A stop that the exchange triggers on the mark can behave differently from a stop watched on the last price. The exchange's specification is the authority for which price it uses.
Open interest
Open interest is the number of contracts still open. It is not volume, and it is not a count of traders. Rising open interest means new contracts were opened. It does not, by itself, say whether the next move is up or down. Data sites republish it. The exchange's own feed is the source.
Liquidation
Liquidation is the exchange closing a position because margin is no longer enough under its rules. A stop you place is not a liquidation. The distance calculator is a textbook isolated estimate from entry, leverage and a maintenance rate you type. It is not Binance's, Bybit's, or anyone else's engine. Cross margin, fees and funding change the real price.
Reduce-only
A reduce-only order can shrink a position. It cannot open or increase one. That is why an exchange-side protective stop is placed reduce-only. It does not guarantee a fill at the stop price. In a fast market the fill can be worse.
Isolated and cross margin
Isolated margin limits the collateral of one position. Cross margin shares collateral across positions in that wallet. The same leverage number is a different risk in the two modes. PERP KING's liquidation calculator assumes isolated. Kraken's multi-collateral wallet is cross by default, which the liquidation note explains. Check the mode on the account you connect.
API permission
An API permission is a switch on a key the exchange issued. Read, trade, transfer and withdrawal are not the same switch, and the labels differ by exchange. The reference puts the documented labels side by side. A key that can withdraw is the wrong key for this software.
Questions
Is open interest a buy or sell signal?
No. It counts open contracts. Direction is a separate question, and this glossary does not answer it.
Sources
The longer notes are on this site. Exchange numbers stay on the exchange pages linked from the six-exchange reference.
- Perpetual futures — The contract, on this site.
- Funding — The payment between longs and shorts.
- Liquidation — Maintenance margin and the mark price.
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