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To open a trade on Ostium, select a market, choose long or short, set leverage (1x–200x), deposit USDC collateral, optionally configure take-profit and stop-loss, and submit your order for onchain settlement in seconds.

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Step-by-Step

Ostium trading panel for opening a position
1

Choose Your Market

Select from 60 markets across 6 asset classes: Stocks, ETFs, Commodities, Indices, Forex, and Crypto, all settled in USDC.
  • Stocks: AAPL, TSLA, NVDA, MSFT, and 20 more (24 total)
  • ETFs: KR2550, URA, UNG, XLE
  • Commodities: XAU/USD (gold), XAG/USD (silver), WTI/USD (crude oil), and 4 more
  • Indices: US500/USD, US100/USD, US30/USD, GER40/EUR, and 3 more
  • Forex: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, and 6 more (9 total)
  • Crypto: BTC/USD, ETH/USD, SOL/USD, and 6 more (9 total)
Each pair has a maximum leverage cap and specific fee rate. See Markets for the full list.
2

Select Your Side

Choose Long (profit if price rises) or Short (profit if price falls). Both sides use the same leverage ranges and fee structures. All collateral and PnL are denominated in USDC.
3

Set Your Leverage

Leverage multiplies your position size: = × Leverage.
  • Range: 1x to 200x, depending on the pair
  • Lower-volatility pairs (e.g., EUR/USD): higher caps (up to 200x)
  • Higher-volatility pairs (e.g., certain ETFs): lower caps (as low as 50x)
  • price: Moves closer to entry as leverage increases. See Liquidation for thresholds.
Example: 100 USDC collateral at 20x leverage = 2,000 USDC notional position.
4

Enter Collateral

Deposit USDC (Arbitrum native or bridged). This is your margin. All position sizing, fees, and PnL derive from it.
  • Minimum collateral: Pair-specific (typically $10–$100 USDC)
  • Effective collateral: Deposited amount minus opening fee minus oracle fee
  • Position size: Effective collateral × leverage
5

Set Take-Profit and Stop-Loss (Optional)

Take-Profit (TP):
  • Automatically closes your position at a target price
  • For longs, TP must be above current price; for shorts, below
  • Maximum TP: 900% above entry (i.e., entry price × 10). If you don’t set one, the system applies this cap automatically.
Stop-Loss (SL):
  • Automatically closes your position if price moves against you past this level
  • Must be set between current price and liquidation price
  • Free to set and adjust. Automated SL execution incurs no oracle fee.
Leave both blank to manage manually from the Positions panel.
6

Choose Your Order Type

  • Market: Executes immediately at the current ask (long) or bid (short) price.
  • Limit: Executes only when price reaches your target. Canceling a pending limit order costs $0.10.
  • Stop: Triggers when price crosses a level, then executes as a market order.
See Order Types for detailed mechanics and examples.
7

Confirm and Submit

Review your order summary: pair, side, leverage, collateral, effective margin, notional size, TP/SL prices, estimated opening fee, oracle fee, and liquidation price.Click Submit. The keeper network fetches the current oracle price, deducts fees from your collateral, and opens the position onchain. This typically takes 1–2 seconds.
8

Monitor Your Position

Once open, your trade appears in the Positions panel with live PnL, mark price, liquidation price, and margin ratio. From there you can update TP/SL, add or remove collateral, or close manually at any time. See Managing Positions for details.

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What It Costs to Open

Two fees are deducted from your collateral at open: the opening fee and the oracle fee.

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Opening Fee

The opening fee is a one-time charge calculated on your notional position size (collateral × leverage) and deducted from collateral.
Asset ClassFee
Stocks10
ETFs10 bps
Commodities3–20 bps (varies by pair)
Indices5 bps
Forex3 bps (5 bps for USD/MXN, USD/KRW)
Crypto10 bps

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Oracle Fee

A flat $0.10 USDC per price request. Charged at open. Refunded on a successful full close. Not charged on automated TP/SL executions.
If a market open fails due to slippage, your collateral is returned but the $0.10 oracle fee is consumed.

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Effective Collateral

Effective Collateral = Deposited Collateral − Opening Fee − Oracle Fee
Position Notional = Effective Collateral × Leverage

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Worked Example

Scenario: Open a 10x long on ETH/USD with 1,000 USDC collateral.
  1. Deposit: 1,000 USDC
  2. Notional position: 1,000 × 10 = 10,000 USDC
  3. Opening fee: 10,000 × 10 bps = 10 USDC (calculated on notional, deducted from collateral)
  4. Oracle fee: $0.10
  5. Effective collateral: 1,000 − 10 − 0.10 = 989.90 USDC
  6. Final notional: 989.90 × 10 = 9,899 USDC
If ETH/USD moves ~10% against you, your loss approaches your effective collateral and the position is liquidated. For the full fee schedule, holding costs (rollover and funding), and liquidation details, see Fees.

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FAQ

Your position stays open until you manually close it or price reaches your liquidation threshold. Without a stop-loss, large moves against you can wipe out your collateral before you have time to react.
Not directly. Leverage is set at open. However, you can adjust your effective leverage by adding collateral (which lowers leverage) or removing collateral (which raises it). See Managing Positions.
The opening fee and oracle fee are deducted from collateral at open. See the Worked Example above for the full calculation.
  • Managing Positions — Adjust TP/SL, add collateral, and track PnL.
  • Fees — Complete fee breakdown: opening, rollover, funding, liquidation.
  • Order Types — Market, limit, and stop orders with examples.