OKX BTC Futures: Should I Choose Expiry or Perpetual?

Start here: which OKX BTC contract am I looking at?

When I first open the OKX futures list, the product names look more similar than they really are. I use the instrument ID and the expiry behavior to separate them before I look at price or leverage.

What I check	Dated BTC expiry future	Coin-margined BTC perpetual
Instrument ID	BTC-USD-YYMMDD	BTC-USD-SWAP
How long it lasts	Ends on the date in the code	Has no fixed expiry
What keeps it tied to spot	It converges into final delivery	Periodic funding encourages convergence
Costs I watch	Trading fees, basis, roll cost and any final delivery fee	Trading fees and cumulative funding
When I would examine it first	I have a hedge date or want to avoid recurring funding	I want continuous exposure without rolling a dated contract

One naming detail can still trip me up: OKX help pages may say BTCUSD-PERP, while the V5 API uses BTC-USD-SWAP. I use the API instId when checking a market or preparing an order. If I want USDT margin instead of BTC margin, I need BTC-USDT-SWAP, which is a different contract.

If I choose a dated BTC contract, what am I buying?

The current BTC-USD expiry family is an inverse, BTC-settled contract. “Inverse” is the part I always check first: the quote and face value are in USD, but the position value, PnL and trading fee land in BTC.

Specification	Current rule	What it means to me
Instrument pattern	BTC-USD-YYMMDD	The final six digits are the expiry date, not a separate asset pair
Underlying	BTC/USD index	The index, not a single exchange’s last trade, anchors delivery
Settlement / delivery currency	BTC	I need BTC collateral and receive BTC-denominated PnL
Face value	100 USD per contract	100 contracts represent 10,000 USD of face value
Contract multiplier	1	No hidden multiplier in the standard formula
Tick size	0.1 USD	Price moves in 10-cent increments
Lot and minimum size	0.1 contract	The public API currently permits 10 USD of face value per size step
First-tier maximum leverage	20×	Larger positions enter lower-leverage risk tiers
Contract families	Weekly, monthly, quarterly	I must select a dated instrument; there is no automatic perpetual roll
Delivery time	Friday, 08:00 UTC	The specific Friday depends on the instrument ID

Why can my BTC balance change before the contract expires?

I separate these two events because the word “settlement” is used for both:

Event	When	What changes	Is the position closed?
Daily settlement	08:00 UTC; cross-margin positions only	Settled PnL moves into the balance and the entry price resets to the settlement price	No; position size stays unchanged
Final delivery	08:00 UTC on the delivery Friday	Pending orders are cancelled; remaining positions are settled at the delivery price	Yes; the dated contract is delisted

OKX states that daily settlement uses the average mark price during the preceding 30 minutes and does not charge a settlement fee. It does not run on the first listing day or the final delivery date.

For final delivery, the current product guide says the delivery price is the BTC/USD index sampled during the final hour. A separate current settlement-rules article still describes a 30-minute window sampled every 200 ms. Because those official descriptions are not perfectly aligned, I would not hard-code the sampling window in an automated strategy; I would verify the instrument-information page and current rule immediately before expiry. Both sources agree on the practical outcome: open positions close at the settlement price and the dated contract disappears.

Which fees can actually reduce my BTC balance?

The useful answer is: daily settlement fee, no; trading fees, yes; final delivery fee, account-specific.

Charge	Applies to expiry futures?	Who receives it?	How I verify it
Maker/taker trading fee	Yes, when an order fills	OKX	My account fee tier or authenticated trade-fee API
Daily settlement fee	No under the current daily-settlement rule	Nobody	Official daily-settlement help page
Final delivery fee	May apply according to the account’s delivery rate	OKX	GET /api/v5/account/trade-fee?instType=FUTURES&instFamily=BTC-USD while authenticated
Funding fee	No	Not applicable	Expiry futures do not use recurring funding

I would not publish one “universal delivery fee” percentage. OKX exposes a delivery field because the rate can depend on the account, entity and current fee schedule. The safer formula is:

Inverse final delivery fee = face value × contracts ÷ delivery price × my delivery-fee rate

The same account-specific principle applies to maker and taker rates. OKX’s public fee example uses 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker for a regular tier, but the number displayed in my own account is the one I would put into a cost calculation.

If I choose the perpetual, what changes?

For coin margin, the operational instrument is BTC-USD-SWAP. It keeps the inverse 100 USD face value and settles in BTC, but it removes the expiry date and adds periodic funding.

Specification	BTC-USD-SWAP	Why it matters
Contract type	Inverse perpetual	No fixed delivery date
Settlement currency	BTC	Fees, funding and PnL affect the BTC balance
Face value	100 USD per contract	Same face value as coin-margined expiry futures
Contract multiplier	1	Standard inverse formula applies
Tick size	0.1 USD	Same quoted price increment as the expiry family
Lot and minimum size	0.1 contract	Current public instrument setting
First-tier maximum leverage	100×	Falls as position size enters higher tiers
Trading hours	24/7	Funding events do not pause trading
Default funding times	00:00, 08:00, 16:00 UTC	Only open positions at assessment pay or receive funding

Does “100×” mean I can always use 100× leverage?

“Up to 100×” is only the first line of the answer. The public position-tier endpoint currently starts like this:

BTC-USD-SWAP position tier	Position size in contracts	Maximum leverage	Initial margin ratio	Maintenance margin ratio
Tier 1	0–2,000	100×	1.00%	0.40%
Tier 2	2,000.1–5,000	66.66×	1.50%	0.50%
Tier 3	5,000.1–20,000	50×	2.00%	0.75%
Tier 4	20,000.1–40,000	40×	2.50%	1.25%
Tier 5	40,000.1–60,000	33.33×	3.00%	1.75%

This is why I never multiply account equity by 100 and call that the executable position. Position size changes the tier; open orders, margin mode, existing exposure and regional eligibility can reduce the available leverage further. High leverage also narrows the distance between entry and forced reduction or liquidation.

How do I calculate trading fees and funding in BTC?

For the inverse BTC perpetual, all three formulas start from BTC position value:

Position value in BTC = 100 USD × number of contracts ÷ mark price

Trading fee in BTC = filled position value × maker or taker rate

Funding fee in BTC = position value × current funding rate

When the funding rate is positive, longs pay shorts. When it is negative, shorts pay longs. OKX facilitates that transfer and says it does not retain funding as a platform service fee. The default interval is eight hours, but OKX can shorten it to four, two or one hour when the rate reaches its cap or floor.

What would 100 contracts cost at an $80,000 mark price?

I use an assumed price and rate here so the arithmetic is copyable; these are not live quotes.

Calculation	Formula	Result
Face value	100 contracts × 100 USD	10,000 USD
BTC position value	10,000 ÷ 80,000	0.125 BTC
Maker fee at 0.02%	0.125 × 0.0002	0.000025 BTC
Taker fee at 0.05%	0.125 × 0.0005	0.0000625 BTC
One positive funding payment at 0.01%	0.125 × 0.0001	0.0000125 BTC paid by the long

Leverage changes the margin posted, not the position value used for these fee calculations. At 20×, the rough initial margin for 0.125 BTC of exposure is 0.00625 BTC before maintenance margin, fees and buffers. At 100× it is roughly 0.00125 BTC, but a much smaller adverse move can consume that margin.

Which contract would I choose?

If I care most about…	I would examine first	Main cost to watch
A fixed hedge date	Dated BTC-USD expiry future	Entry/exit fee, basis and any final delivery fee
Avoiding recurring funding	Dated BTC-USD expiry future	Contract roll and delivery mechanics
Continuous exposure without rolling	BTC-USD-SWAP	Trading fee plus cumulative funding
Keeping PnL in BTC	Either coin-margined product	BTC collateral volatility and inverse PnL behavior
Simple USDT accounting	Neither of the above	Compare BTC-USDT-SWAP instead

I would decide the margin currency first, then the expiry behavior, and only then compare leverage. Choosing a contract because it advertises the largest leverage reverses that order and hides the cost that actually compounds: funding, rolls, fees and liquidation risk.

What do I check before I place an order?

My five-minute checklist is short:

1. Copy the exact instId; do not treat BTC-USD-SWAP and BTC-USDT-SWAP as interchangeable.
2. Read ctType, ctVal, ctValCcy, settleCcy, tickSz, lotSz, minSz, lever and expTime from the public instruments endpoint.
3. Read the current position tier before using the headline leverage.
4. For perpetuals, check current rate, cap, floor and nextFundingTime; do not annualize one rate as if it were guaranteed.
5. Check the account’s maker, taker and delivery rates inside OKX. Public examples are not an invoice for my account.

Product access and maximum leverage can vary by jurisdiction and account mode. This page explains contract mechanics; it does not tell anyone to use leverage or open a derivatives position.