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How to trade crypto futures in India, and whether you should

Updated 2026-11-07 · 2784 signals tracked

• 59.5%Win rate
• 1.22Avg R
• 150TP2 hits
• 2784Signals

What a perpetual future is

A future is a contract on the price of an asset. A perpetual future has no expiry date, so you can hold it as long as you can pay for it. You do not own any Bitcoin. You hold a position that gains when the price moves your way and loses when it does not.

Two features set it apart from buying a coin. First, leverage: you post a deposit called margin and control a position several times larger. Second, funding: small payments pass between long and short traders at set times, which keeps the contract's price close to the spot price. Neither exists when you buy a coin and hold it.

Varsity covers this in Perpetual futures, and whether you should. Its answer is cautious, and so is this page. New to trading in general? Start with how to trade crypto in India.

Is it legal, and where?

Varsity's chapter Is crypto legal in India? says buying, holding, selling and trading crypto is legal and the profit is taxed, and that crypto is not legal tender. It also says registration with FIU-IND is a money-laundering check, not investor protection. We say no more than that.

Before you deposit anywhere, check the exchange's registration yourself on the regulator's website, FIU-IND, and read its own compliance page. Delta Exchange India states in its help centre that it is registered with FIU-IND as a reporting entity; you can read that article and compare it with the regulator's list. Registration means the exchange reports to the authority. It does not mean your money is insured. The Varsity chapter choosing a crypto exchange in India safely has the full checklist.

Leverage, margin and liquidation, in rupees

Margin is the deposit that backs a position. Delta's user guide describes initial margin as the amount required to enter a new position. Maintenance margin is the minimum you must keep to hold it open. Once maintenance margin is breached, in the guide's words, the liquidation process is triggered.

Here is an illustration with round numbers. It is not a forecast, and exchange rules and fees change the exact figures. You put in ₹10,000 of margin and use 10x leverage, so the position is worth ₹1,00,000. A price move of 1% against you costs ₹1,000, which is 10% of your margin. A 10% move against you would cost the whole ₹10,000. In practice the exchange closes the position a little before that point, because it needs to keep a buffer. That close is liquidation, and you lose most or all of the margin.

Now the same position at 2x leverage. ₹10,000 of margin controls ₹20,000. A 10% move against you costs ₹2,000, a fifth of the margin. The leverage you choose sets how much room the price has before you are out. Higher leverage means less room.

Delta's user guide says: "All contracts on Delta Exchange India are notionally quoted, margined and settled in USD. However, (a) the USD-INR rate on the platform is fixed and (b) your balances are always maintained in INR and no INR/ USD conversion ever takes place." Its own conclusion is that the contracts are effectively margined and settled in INR. Read the guide's own wording before you trade, because it also describes margin mode: it states that all contracts support cross margin, and that margin mode is an account-level property. In cross margin, your whole balance backs your open positions, so one bad trade can draw on money you meant for another. Maximum leverage varies by contract and by position size, so read the contract page of the product you plan to trade.

Varsity's Module 5, Perpetual Futures and Leverage, will go further on margin and liquidation as the chapters are published.

Funding rates in plain words

When more traders are long than short, the perpetual's price tends to run above spot. Funding pulls it back: longs pay shorts a small fee. When shorts dominate, shorts pay longs. The exchange does not keep the money. Traders pay each other.

Delta's derivatives guide describes the funding rate as an 8-hourly rate, made of two terms, a premium and an interest rate, and says: "Funding is exchanged between longs and shorts once every 8 hours at 5:30 am IST, 1:30 pm IST and 9:30 pm IST." It also notes that some contracts have a 4, 2 or 1 hour funding period, so check the contract you trade. A position open at a funding time pays or receives; one closed before it does not.

Funding is small on a single day, but it is a running cost on a position you hold for weeks, and it can change sign. Varsity's chapter works the arithmetic for a ₹1,00,000 position. A strongly positive funding rate is also a read on how crowded the long side is, which is one reason it appears in the data behind signals.

Order types and stop-losses

Delta's order types page lists limit, market, stop and bracket orders. A limit order sets your price and waits. A market order fills now at the best price available, which can be worse than the last price you saw. A stop order stays dormant until price reaches a trigger, and then becomes a market or limit order. A bracket order attaches a stop-loss and a take-profit to an entry.

The stop-loss is the order that does the most work. It is the price at which you decide the idea is wrong. Put it in when you enter, not afterwards, and do not move it further away to avoid a loss. Remember that a stop-market order fills at the next available price, and in a fast move that can be beyond your trigger. That gap is called slippage.

Reduce-only is also worth knowing. The order types page says a reduce-only order can only reduce a position, and is cancelled if it would increase it. It protects you from accidentally flipping a position when a stop and a target both fire. For how a signal's entry, stop and two targets map onto these orders, see how to read a crypto signal.

Position sizing: risk a fixed share

With leverage, the position size and the risk are separate decisions. The risk is the distance to your stop times the size. Choose the loss you accept first, a small fixed share of your trading money, then let the stop set the size.

For example, with ₹1,00,000 and a 1% limit, the most you accept losing on one trade is ₹1,000. If your stop is 2% from your entry, the position can be about ₹50,000. Leverage only decides how much of your account is tied up as margin to hold that position, and 5x or 10x gives the same ₹1,000 risk. The stop, not the leverage, sets the loss. Module 6, Risk, Position Sizing and the Trader's Mind, covers this.

Tax: sources disagree, so read before you trade

Tax on crypto derivatives is a question to settle with an accountant. Varsity's chapters explain the flat 30% rate plus 4% cess and the 1% TDS on virtual digital assets; read the flat 30% tax and the 1% TDS. Delta's own user guide says: "Your balances and unrealised profits always remain in INR and hence, the 1% TDS and 30% flat tax on profits is not applicable." It adds that both do apply if you buy spot. A Delta support article says futures and options on crypto do not qualify as trading virtual digital assets, and that net profits are taxed as per your income tax slab. Those are Delta's statements, not a ruling from the tax authority, and they are not tax advice. Confirm with a chartered accountant before you file.

Do not settle this from a blog post, including this one. Keep your contract notes and ledger, and ask a chartered accountant how your trades should be reported.

Step by step on Delta Exchange India

These steps describe the order of work. They use Delta Exchange India as the example, because that is where Drishti Pro signals run. The same ideas apply on any exchange.

1. Complete KYC and open the account. Use your own documents. Read the exchange's terms and fee page.
2. Deposit rupees. Delta's deposit guide lists UPI, IMPS, NEFT and RTGS, with different limits for each. Start with a small amount.
3. Check the fees. Delta's fee page lists a futures taker fee of 0.05% and a maker fee of 0.02%, and says: "18% GST is applicable on trading fees." Its page says fees apply on notional order value, so leverage raises them in rupees. Rates change, so check the fee page on the day you trade.
4. Pick one contract and read its page. Note the maximum leverage and the margin mode.
5. Write the plan. Entry, stop, two targets, size from the stop.
6. Place the order with the stop attached. Use a limit order if you can.
7. Do not add to a loser. Review the trade after it closes.

A longer worked example for Bitcoin is in how to trade Bitcoin perpetual futures on Delta Exchange, and Delta Exchange signals explains how Drishti Pro's levels map onto the exchange. For the forces behind price moves, read what actually moves crypto prices.

Where signals fit, and the record

A signal gives you an entry, a stop and two targets for a perpetual contract. It does not give you a position size, and it does not know your account. Treat it as one worked example to check against your own plan.

Here is the public record behind Drishti Pro's signals. As of 2026-11-07, 59.5% of 2454 resolved signals won, with a 95% interval of 57.5% to 61.4%. Longs won 58.5% of 1425. Shorts won 60.8% of 1028. 994 signals ended at the stop. Average reward-to-risk is 1.22. A win here means the first target was reached before the stop, and that does not include your fees or funding. Read the whole list on the track record page.

Mistakes that end accounts

• Using the maximum leverage because it is offered. A small price wobble then liquidates you.
• No stop-loss. Hoping is not a plan, and liquidation is a stop you did not choose.
• Adding to a losing position to bring the average price down.
• Sizing by feel. Size from the stop and a fixed share you can lose.
• Forgetting funding and fees on positions held for days.
• Chasing a signal that already moved. If price has left the entry, the reward-to-risk the signal was built on is gone.
• Trading with money you need. Rent, school fees and emergency funds are not trading capital.
• Trading to win back a loss. That is when plans are abandoned.

If you take one line from this guide, take this: practise without leverage, size from the stop, and write the plan before you enter. When you want to see what a plan looks like in practice, open the live signals. And if it feels too much, that is fine. Not trading is a position too.

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Educational & illustrative only — not investment advice. Drishti Pro publishes AI-generated trade ideas and their public track record for information. Crypto is volatile and you can lose money. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Do your own research.