With the Coin-M Futures Grid strategy, investors can earn from market volatility by buying low and selling high, or selling high and buying low. This strategy allows investors to keep up with market fluctuations and generate profits

1. What is the Coin-M Futures Grid?
2. Coin-M Futures Grid vs. Other Futures Grids
3. How to use a Coin-M Futures Grid?
4. How to start the Coin-M Futures Grid Bot?
5. FAQ

What is the Coin-M Futures Grid?

The Coin-M Futures Grid is a specialized type of Futures Grid, focused on investing and earning in non-stablecoins.

Investments are made in cryptocurrencies other than stablecoins (such as BTC, ETH, and SOL, excluding USDT), with profits realized in the same currency. It operates on the same principles as other Futures Grids.

Coin-M Futures Grid vs. Other Futures Grids

How to use a Coin-M Futures Grid?

As mentioned earlier, Coin-M Futures Grid is about “investing and earning in non-stablecoins”, so coin prices have a dual impact: 

The change in holdings, reflected in the number of coins, is due to PnL from the grid. And the USDT value of the coins.

Therefore, common ways to use the Coin-M Futures Grid are:

(1) Go long during coin price rises to capture dual gains

When coin prices rise, the Coin-M Futures Long Grid will: 

• Earn additional coins. 
• Benefit from the increased USDT value of the invested coins. 
• Continue to profit if coin prices rise further.

Assume a BTC/USDT Coin-M Futures Long Grid and a USDT Futures Long Grid are initiated at 80,000 USDT with identical parameters, investing 0.1 BTC and 8,000 USDT, both using 3x leverage.

When the price rises to 100,000 USDT, the Coin-M Futures Grid’s net value will be higher:

• The USDT Futures Grid earns 6,000 USDT, resulting in a total net value of 14,000 USDT with the initial 8,000 USDT.
• The Coin-M Futures Grid gains 0.06 BTC (worth 6,000 USDT), plus the initial 0.1 BTC (worth 10,000 USDT), totaling a net value of 16,000 USDT.
• Additionally, if the grids are closed and BTC prices continue to rise, the 1.06 BTC from the Coin-M Futures Grid will further increase in value, whereas the net value of the USDT Futures Grid will remain unchanged.

(2) Short when coin prices fall to hedge and avoid selling off spot

When coin prices fall, the Coin-M Futures Short Grid will: 

• Earn additional coins and receive funding fee income to ensure the net value does not decrease or even grow (depending on leverage) 
• Avoid “selling too soon” (selling spot for hedging and missing out on a subsequent rise) 

Assume a BTC/USDT Coin-M Futures Short Grid is initiated at 100,000 USDT, with an investment of 0.1 BTC (equivalent to 10,000 USDT), then the price falls to 80,000 USDT.

At 3x leverage:

• The grid earns 0.075 BTC (worth 6,000 USDT), combined with the initial 0.1 BTC (8,000 USDT), totaling a net value of 14,000 USDT.

At 1x leverage:

• The grid earns 0.025 BTC (worth 2,000 USDT), combined with the initial 0.1 BTC (8,000 USDT), totaling a net value of 10,000 USDT.

Notably, with 1x leverage shorting, the Coin-M Futures Grid is unlikely to experience liquidation, making it a preferred option for hedging

(3) When uncertain about coin price direction, use fluctuations to gather more coins

As a grid strategy, the Coin-M Futures Grid can effectively arbitrage through price fluctuations to accumulate coins. This approach equips investors for future market developments.

How to start the Coin-M Futures Grid Bot?

In APP：

Step 1: Download/Update and log in to the latest version of the Pionex app to access the Coin-M Futures Grid Bot

Step 2: Click on [Bot] in the bottom menu bar, then click on [Create] - [Futures], where you will find the "COIN-M Futures Grid" option.

Step 3: Once you are in the “Coin-M Futures Grid” section, you can select your preferred Coin-M Futures pair, then choose “Copy Strategy” and click on “Long,” “Short,” or “Neutral.” The system will recommend corresponding AI strategies, allowing you to select your preferred option by clicking the [Copy bot] button

You can also choose “Customize” to manually set up your grid parameters, adjust the leverage, and create a grid.

Step 4: After copying the strategy, enter your investment amount, and then click [Create] - [Confirm] to place your bot order.

On Web：

Step 1: Open the Pionex website, log in to your account, click on [Futures] in the top menu bar, then click on [Futures Bot], where you will find the "Coin-M Futures Grid" option.

Step 2: Once you are in the “Coin-M Futures Grid” section, you can select your preferred Coin-M Futures pair, then choose “Copy Strategy” and click on “Long,” “Short,” or “Neutral.” The system will recommend corresponding AI strategies, allowing you to select your preferred option by clicking the [Copy bot] button.

You can also choose “Customize” to manually set up your grid parameters, adjust the leverage, and create a grid. The process of creating a grid using “Customize” is as follows:

Step 3: After copying the strategy, enter your investment amount, and then click [Create] - [Confirm] to place your bot order.

Coin-M Futures Grid FAQ

Q: What trading pairs are supported by Coin-M Futures Grid Bots?
A: We support several Coin-M perpetual futures pairs, and you can find them under [Market] - [Futures] - [COIN-M].

Q: Are the Coin-M Futures and USDT Futures for the same cryptocurrency identical? For example, the BTC/USDT Coin-M Futures and the BTC/USDT Futures?
A: The prices of Coin-M Futures and USDT Futures for the same cryptocurrency both track the spot market, so their movements are generally similar. However, as they are distinct futures, their price fluctuations will not be perfectly aligned, and their liquidity may differ.

Q: With identical parameters and entry price, will the profit net value (not total net value) of the Coin-M Futures Grid exceed that of a USDT Futures Grid?
A: If parameters and entry prices are the same, the profit net value of both grids will generally be similar.  Key differences include the net value of the investment amount and the capability to hold the spot (thus avoiding missed profit from future price rises). Moreover, since Coin-M Futures and USDT Futures differ, during extreme market scenarios, the number of arbitrages may vary, causing slight differences in profit.

Q: Why is there a division into actual investment and dynamic margin after opening an order?
A: The actual investment amount is the amount you use to open an order, while the dynamic margin is the reserved “safety cushion.” You can reserve a portion of the total investment amount as the dynamic margin when opening an order, or you can add it later. This amount is used to hedge against your floating losses and reduce the risk of liquidation.

As shown in the image, when you go long, adding dynamic margins will lower your estimated liquidation price, and when you go short, it will increase your estimated liquidation price. When your grid is close to the liquidation price, you can reduce the risk by adding the dynamic margin. If your grid becomes profitable later and moves away from the liquidation price, you can withdraw the margin.

Q: Can I add/withdraw margin to my Coin-M Futures grid bot?
A: Yes, to manage the margin in your bot, click on the running bot, then go to [More] - [Adjust Margin]. If you want to add more margin, select [Add Margin]. If you want to withdraw the margin, select [Withdraw Margin]. The added margin will be used as an available balance to maintain your position or for fee deduction and will not affect any of the bot parameters.

Q: Is it necessary to enable the margin reservation? When is it better to reserve the margin?
A: When you open an order, if you enable the margin reservation, the system will reserve a portion of the investment amount as a “safety cushion,” which is the dynamic margin. It will lower your estimated liquidation price when you go long and raise it when you go short. If you don’t want to reserve the dynamic margin, you can uncheck the option and leave the dynamic margin field blank, only filling in the actual investment amount.

To protect your grid from approaching the liquidation price, we generally recommend enabling it, especially when using higher leverage. If you are already experienced with futures grids and prefer to have more control over your funds, you can uncheck it first and then use the margin management feature to add or reduce margin after opening an order.

Q: Will the grid profits automatically become margins?
A: Yes, your grid profits will help reduce the liquidation risk. However, this portion of the grid profits cannot be withdrawn at the moment.

Q: Can the grid profits be withdrawn?
A: Yes, click on [More] - [Redeem profit] to release the withdrawable grid profits from the bot to your primary account in your Pionex account.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of Futures grids?
A: Yes, there is. The minimum number of grids is 2, and the maximum number of grids is 500.

Q: Difference between Mark Price and the Last Price?
A: The mark price refers to the estimated real value of the futures contract. It considers the fair value of an asset to avoid unnecessary liquidations during market fluctuations. Pionex futures grids use the mark price as the trigger condition for liquidation and also calculate floating profits and losses based on the mark price. Please refer to the official website documentation for the calculation method of the mark price: Mark Price – Pionex Trading Bot.

Q: What is the funding rate, and why am I charged a fee?
A: Funding rate is a special mechanism in perpetual futures contracts aimed at anchoring the futures contract price to the spot price. The funding rate applies to both manual and grid trading and is settled every 8 hours. If the funding rate is positive, long position holders pay short position holders, and if it is negative, it is the opposite. Please refer to the official website documentation for the calculation method of the funding fee: Funding Fee – Pionex Trading Bot.

Q: After charging the funding rate, will it be deducted/increased in which column? How can I view the historical details?
A: The income and expenditure of the funding rate will be reflected in the floating profits and losses. You can find the historical data on the bot by going to [Detail] - [Transaction] - [Funding History] - [Funding Fee].

Q: Why is there no buy order within the grid range?
A: This is due to the use of dynamic orders by Pionex to achieve a two-tier buffer technology. When you have multiple grid cells, to maximize the utilization of your margin, the system will not place all orders at once but will place orders near the current price and adjust your orders as the price moves.

Supplementary explanation: What is the two-layer buffer?
Due to the maintenance of margin requirements, when an order is close to liquidation and remains unfilled, it is usually automatically canceled. In this case, some exchanges may choose to close grid trading and liquidate positions automatically. However, if the market quickly rebounds after a dip, this approach can cause unnecessary losses to users. In such a scenario, Pionex does not close the user’s orders but automatically restores the maximum amount of unfilled orders based on the current position and margin. After the user adds margins, more orders are automatically placed. Thanks to the two-layer buffer, Pionex futures grids support leverage of up to 100 times, and users can freely set parameters such as range and grid count without considering the correlation between parameters, greatly improving the user experience.

Q: Why am I prompted with “order close to estimated liquidation price” even though the current price is far from the estimated liquidation price?
A: Due to the leverage of the futures contract, profit and loss fluctuations are often significant. To avoid situations where you may not have enough time to add dynamic margins during volatile market movements, we will provide a warning when the estimated liquidation price is not far away.

Q: Why can’t I open the Coin-M Futures grid even though there is money in the futures account?
A: For risk management purposes, Pionex futures manual trading operates in a separate account, while robot strategies and spot trading are associated with the main account. If your main account balance is insufficient, but there are funds in the futures account, you can transfer the funds to the main account and then open a futures grid. You can find the transfer button on the account page or the manual setting page of the futures grid, as shown in the image.

Q: Can the futures trial funds be used to offset Coin-M Futures grid fees?
A: No, they cannot. For risk management purposes, Pionex futures manual trading operates in a separate account, while robot strategies and spot trading are associated with the main account. Futures trial funds are only available for use in the manual trading account (i.e., the futures account) and cannot be used in the main account.

Q: Why is my total P&L showing a loss while my Grid Profit is positive?
A: Grid Profit represents the sum of the profits generated by each completed buy and sell order pair in a trading strategy. However, total P&L includes both realized and unrealized profits and losses. If the open positions in the bot are currently suffering losses and the realized Grid Profit is not enough to offset them, you may see a negative Total Profit and Loss.

Q: Why is the total number of Buy and Sell orders not equal to the number of my grids?
A: Our Futures Grid Robot uses a dynamic order placing model, where the number of pending orders is always a limited number of orders near the current price, thus increasing your capital utilization and profitability, and reducing the risk of a potential blowout.

Please get in touch with Pionex Support if you have any other questions.