This guide aims to provide beginners and experienced traders with a comprehensive guide on MEXC USDT-M futures, and guide them on how to trade efficiently and safely on MEXC. In addition, it focusesThis guide aims to provide beginners and experienced traders with a comprehensive guide on MEXC USDT-M futures, and guide them on how to trade efficiently and safely on MEXC. In addition, it focuses

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What are USDT-M futures? A complete guide to trading USDT-M futures at MEXC

Author: MEXC

Sep 21, 2026MEXC

11 min

This guide aims to provide beginners and experienced traders with a comprehensive guide on MEXC USDT-M futures, and guide them on how to trade efficiently and safely on MEXC. In addition, it focuses on the advantages of MEXC USDT-M futures products in terms of ultra-low trading fees, first-class trading depth, and industry-leading risk control security systems, so that users can have a more comprehensive understanding of the basic information of MEXC USDT-M futures.

Abstract of this article:

What is USDT-M futures: cryptocurrency derivative futures trading that uses the stablecoin USDT anchored to the US dollar as the margin and settlement unit. The USDT-M futures on the MEXC platform provide users with diversified and flexible trading methods such as cross and isolated margin mode models, Market Order, limit order, and plan order.

The USDT-M futures on the MEXC platform have now launched over 1500 trading pairs, providing users with a wide range of trading opportunities. In addition to the fast launch speed and large number of futures trading pairs, the USDT-M futures on the MEXC platform are also in a leading position in the industry in terms of trading fee rates, trading depth, and other aspects.

What are the differences between USDT-M futures and currency-based futures? The biggest difference between USDT-M futures and currency-based futures is that the value and profit and loss calculation of U-based perpetual futures are based on USDT, while currency-based perpetual futures use a certain cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin or Ethereum) as margin and calculate profit and loss.

1. What are USDT-M futures

USDT-M futures is a type of cryptocurrency derivative futures trading that uses USDT (Tether, stablecoin ) as the margin and settlement unit . Unlike traditional COIN-M futures (such as BTC futures), USDT-M futures do not require holding Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies as margin. Investors only need to hold USDT to participate in trading. This futures trading method lowers the threshold and provides investors with a more stable and convenient trading experience.

2. Overview of MEXC USDT-M futures

MEXC USDT-M futures is a type of digital currency derivative that is priced and settled in USDT. Its prominent features include:

Support high leverage trading, leverage can be freely adjusted from 1 to 500 times, and small capital can be used to leverage large profits.
Support two-way position holding. Users can hold both long and short positions on one futures at the same time, and the leverage of the long and short directions is independent. When holding both long and short positions, the corresponding margin needs to be occupied according to the risk limit level.
Multiple margin modes are available, including cross and isolated margin mode modes, to meet the risk preferences and trading strategies of different users.

In addition, MEXC has ultra-low transaction fees, with maker order fee of 0% and taker order fee of only 0.02%. Users can use the platform coin MX to offset the taker order fee and enjoy an additional 20% discount, thereby reducing transaction costs.

3. Trading operation guide

3.1 Log in to your MEXC account and select USDT-M perpetual futures

3.2 Select your trading pair

3.3 Select margin mode, MEXC futures trading supports isolated margin mode and cross margin mode

The two margin models differ as follows:

Under isolated margin mode mode, a certain amount of margin is allocated to the positioning. If the positioning margin is lost to a level lower than the Maintenance Margin, the positioning will be forcibly liquidated. At the same time, you can also choose to add or reduce the margin for this positioning.
Under cross margin mode, all cross positioning shares the cross margin of the asset. In a forced liquidation event, traders may lose all of the margin and all cross positioning under the margin asset.

3.4 Determine your leverage ratio

3.5 Select your order method and set the price and quantity

MEXC supports five commission methods, namely: ① limit commission ② Market Order ③ plan commission ④ tracking commission ⑤ only make Maker.

Limit order refers to buying and selling at a specific or better price, and limit orders cannot guarantee execution.

Market Order refers to quickly buying and selling at the best price currently available in the market.

Planning commission refers to the user's preset trigger price, commission price and quantity. When the market price reaches the trigger price, the system will automatically place an order according to the commission price.

Tracking order is a strategy order that submits the order set by the trader to the market during a market correction.

Only doing Maker means that orders will not be immediately executed in the market, ensuring that users are always Makers. If an order is immediately executed with an existing order, the order will be cancelled.

These five commission methods, specific differences, you can refer to the article: " How to use different order modes for futures orders? "

3.6 Select to open long or open short

3.7 Perform position squaring operation

Users have three ways to perform position squaring:

Click "One-click position squaring", and the one-click position squaring will cancel all limit orders and position squaring all positions in the Market Order mode.

Click on "Lightning Position Squaring". Lightning position squaring refers to positioning all positions at market price at once. Through lightning position squaring, you can quickly specify all positions.

Enter the price and quantity, and click on Pingduo.

4. What are the benefits of trading USDT-M futures with MEXC?

4.1 Industry-leading ultra-low rates with additional discounts for MX holders

After you transfer MX to your futures account, you can use MX to offset USDT-M futures fees and enjoy a 20% discount on fees. If MX is used up, it will be considered closed.

In addition, even without using MX to enjoy additional discounts, MEXC futures products also provide users with leading ultra-low rates - 0 rates for maker orders and as low as 0.02% for taker orders. For more detailed information about MEXC handling fee rates, you can refer to MEXC related rates . Rates may vary in different countries and regions, please refer to the rates displayed on the page.

4.2 Good transaction depth

MEXC is characterized by discovering high-quality projects and quickly launching new projects. With years of industry reputation, MEXC has accumulated tens of millions of users, with businesses covering more than 170 countries and regions worldwide, providing over 1500 perpetual futures trading services. The huge user base provides excellent depth and balanced futures levels for MEXC futures trading, ensuring the depth of trading.

In the past 24 hours, the trading volume of MEXC futures reached more than 20.20 billion US dollars . This can ensure that users can trade smoothly in extreme market conditions and avoid unexpected liquidation. (Note: Data interception time July 4, 2025, source coinmarketcap)

Taking the BTCUSDT trading pair as an example, by calculating the total number of limit orders within ± 5 basis points of the BTCUSDT futures middle price, the MEXC platform is about 82M USDT, while another global top 3 competing platform is about 42M USDT, MEXC is about 2 times higher than the industry leader.

In addition, MEXC Futures offers a wide range of cryptocurrencies, including USDT-M, metaverse, Layer2, NFT, Meme, and DeFi. At the same time, MEXC's excellent project discovery capabilities continuously list new currencies, bringing users the best trading experience.

4.3 MEXC's futures trading system has high security and stability performance

MEXC ensures the stable operation of the platform and the safety of user assets through three important measures .

The first is a reserve ratio of over 100%, which is present on all major platforms for asset security and transparency, and users do not need to worry about the risk of runs.

The second is to combine cold storage and hot wallet strategies to ensure the security of users' asset storage.

The third is the risk margin system that covers all futures trading pairs, compensating for losses exceeding the margin, allowing users to trade with confidence. As of July 4, 2025, the MEXC futures risk margin account has various encrypted assets with super value 560 million USDT, and has strong resistance to extreme market conditions.

MEXC's trading system is a multi-tiered and multi-cluster system architecture with a high-performance trading engine developed by industry-leading developers with banking technology expertise, capable of completing 1.40 million transactions per second with breakthrough efficiency and performance.

In addition, MEXC is also the safest exchange platform, where users have various security measures such as identity authentication, two-factor authentication, and anti-phishing codes. Our servers are also independently hosted in multiple countries to ensure the security and integrity of user data.

5. MEXC USDT futures trading FAQ

5.1 How to calculate the profit and loss of USDT-M futures?

Futures profit and loss mainly depend on the user's opening price, position squaring price, and trading volume. Specifically, it can be further divided into three aspects: commission expenses, income or expenses of fund expenses, and position squaring profit and loss.

Fee

As a deep liquidity extractor or taker one-sided, you need to pay a fee (Taker Fee) = positioning value x Taker Fee;

As a deep liquidity provider or a maker party, you need to pay a fee (Maker Fee) = positioning value x Maker Fee.

Funding Fee

Demaker on the positive or negative funding rate and the direction of your position, you will receive or incur funding expenses.

Funding cost = funding rate x positioning value.

Positioning value = position quantity (currency) x reasonable price.

Profit and loss calculation

Long position = (position squaring price - opening average price) x position quantity x face value.

Bear position = (opening average price - position squaring price) x position quantity x face value.

Combining the above key information, let's give an example: MEXC futures trading user Alice holds a long position of 10K XRP with an average transaction price of 2 USDT, and the transaction role is a maker order (with a transaction fee rate of 0). Finally, she adjusts all positions with an average transaction price of 2.4 USDT, and the transaction role is taker orders (with a transaction fee rate of 0.02%). During this period, she experiences a settlement of capital expenses (for ease of calculation, in this case, the settlement time of XRPUSDT perpetual futures price is 2.2 USDT), and the current XRPUSDT perpetual futures has a capital fee rate of 0.05%.

So the handling fee that Alice needs to pay is 2.4 * 10,000 * 0.02% = 4.8 USDT. Only taking orders requires payment of handling fees, and placing orders enjoys 0 fees.

Alice needs to pay a funding fee of 2.2 * 10,000 * 0.05% = 12 USDT. Since Alice holds a long position and the funding rate for the period is positive, she needs to pay the funding fee instead of collecting it.

The nominal profit and loss of Alice's position squaring is (2.4-2) * 10,000 = 4,000 USDT.

According to the above formula, Alice's actual profit and loss in this transaction is 4,000-4.8-12 = 3983.2 USDT.

For more specific calculations, please refer to the article " Margin and Profit and Loss Calculation ".

5.2 What is the difference between USDT-M futures and currency-based futures?

The biggest difference between USDT-M futures and COIN-M futures is that the value and profit and loss calculation of U-based perpetual futures are based on USDT, while COIN-M perpetual futures use a certain cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin or Ethereum) as margin and calculate profit and loss.

Comparison Item	USDT-Margined Contracts	Coin-Margined Contracts
Margin Type	USDT	Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies
Settlement Unit	USDT	Cryptocurrencies (e.g., BTC, ETH)
Price Volatility Impact on Margin	None (USDT is stable, pegged to USD)	Margin value fluctuates with cryptocurrency price
Suitable for Investors	Beginners and investors seeking stable returns	Experienced investors willing to take higher risks
Operational Difficulty	Simple, profits and losses are intuitive and easy to understand	More complex, as settlement unit and margin volatility increase calculation difficulty

5.3 Can I hold both long and short positions at the same time?

Yes, MEXC supports two-way position holding. Users can hold both long and short positions at the same time, and the leverage of the long and short directions is independent.

5.4 What is the USDT futures commission rate?

USDT futures maker order rate 0%, taker rate 0.02%. Of course, the rates may vary in different countries and regions. Please refer to the rates displayed on the page.

5.5 What is the maximum leverage supported by USDT-M futures?

USDT-M futures support up to 500x leverage.

5.6 What are the risks of USDT-M futures?

USDT-M perpetual futures have market volatility risks, and leveraged trading may lead to capital losses. In addition, although USDT is a fiat-backed stablecoin anchored to the US dollar, it is still necessary to pay attention to the latent risks brought by USDT exchange rate fluctuations.

Currently, MEXC platform has launched a 0 fee activity . By participating in this activity, users can significantly reduce transaction costs and truly achieve the goal of "saving more, trading more, and earning more". On the MEXC platform, you can not only enjoy low-cost transactions with this activity, but also keep up with market trends, keenly capture every fleeting investment opportunity, and start a journey of wealth appreciation.