Recently, a fan approached me with a look of helplessness in their eyes.

He said he was confident in his market judgment and endured four days of holding, only to see funding rates and slippage hit him simultaneously, and he lost $1,000 just like that. It wasn't until the moment of liquidation that the market suddenly surged.

I just told him: "You didn't lose to the market, you lost to the rules."

Too many traders think trading contracts is just guessing whether the price will go up or down. But what really eats into your profits are often not wrong market directions, but those "invisible rules" hidden in the details. Today, let's talk about the three deadliest traps in futures trading.

**Funding Rate — The Boiling Frog Game**

Funding fees are like slow-acting poison. They settle every 8 hours, with longs and shorts paying each other. It seems like just a few points each time, but if you hold a position long-term, these fees gradually eat away at your principal. How many people haven't lost to market volatility but have been drained by the accumulation of funding fees?

How to deal with it? Don't open new positions when the funding rate is sky-high; for long-term holdings, stagger the funding settlement cycle; a smarter approach is to stand on the side of favorable funding, meaning receiving subsidies rather than paying fees.

**Liquidation Price — The Visible Trap**

Do you think 10x leverage can withstand a 10% counter-move? Reality is often more brutal. If the price only retraces 5%, your position gets liquidated. Why? Because when the platform calculates the liquidation price, it already includes fees, slippage, and risk reserves. That visible liquidation line is not the real safety line.

The straightforward countermeasure: avoid heavy positions; use isolated margin mode to lock in single-trade risk; keep leverage between 3x and 5x to leave room for buffers; set a mental stop-loss level yourself and stay away from the exchange's liquidation line.

**High Leverage — The Fast Lane to Zero**

100x leverage looks like a shortcut to doubling your money, but in reality, it's an accelerator to zero. Costs like fees and funding are calculated based on the nominal principal after leverage, plus various slippages. Even if your direction is correct, profits can be swallowed up.

What is the real strategy? Use high leverage only for testing small positions, and always set a stop-loss; for trending markets, use low leverage to hold positions comfortably; take profits when appropriate and don't rely on a Hail Mary to turn things around.

Remember: this market isn't short of people who understand the direction; what’s lacking are traders who truly understand the rules, control risks, and stick to discipline. Making money is easy, but to survive longer and earn steadily, you must respect these invisible rules.