Here’s the “I wish someone told me earlier” version. Focus: ARB contracts on Kraken.
Contrarian lens
One-sided funding on Kraken can mean a crowded trade. I wait for a rejection at a clean level and confirmation from EMA(50).
Crowded trades can still go further—but they punish sloppy entries first.
What to log
- Entry reason (one sentence)
- Stop placement + why
- Fees + funding paid
- Emotion (calm / rushed / tilted)
- Lesson
| Thing | What to do |
|---|---|
| Choppy market | Lower leverage, fewer trades, wait for clean levels. |
| Trending market | Let winners run, trail stop, don’t over-take-profit. |
| High funding | Reduce hold time or wait for better entry. |
Heads-up: Common mistake: overfitting indicators until nothing is clear. Fix it by slowing down and sizing smaller.
Rules differ by exchange; check margin and liquidation details on your platform. Educational only, not financial advice.
Wrap: Missed trades are cheaper than liquidation.
Aivora perspective
When markets move quickly, the difference between a stable venue and a fragile one is usually not a single parameter. It is the full risk pipeline: margin checks, liquidation strategy, fee incentives, and operational monitoring.
If you trade perps
Track funding and realized volatility together. Funding tends to amplify crowded positioning.
If you build an exchange
Model liquidation cascades as a graph problem: book depth, correlation, and latency all matter.
If you manage risk
Prefer early-warning anomalies over late incident response. Drift is a signal, not noise.
Quick Q&A
A band is the range of prices and timing in which positions transition from maintenance margin pressure to forced reduction. Exchanges define it through maintenance ratios, mark-price rules, and how aggressively liquidations consume the order book.
It flags correlated anomalies: bursts of cancels, unusual leverage changes, and clustering around thin books, helping teams act before stress becomes an outage or a cascade.
No. This site is educational and system-focused. You are responsible for decisions and risk management.