# How to Journal Crypto Futures and Perpetual Swaps

> A practical guide to journaling crypto futures and perpetual swap trades. What to track beyond P&L including funding rate, leverage, and liquidation distance.

**URL:** https://traderjournal.app/crypto-trading/how-to-journal-crypto-futures-perpetual-swaps

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# How to Journal Crypto Futures and Perpetual Swaps

Crypto futures and perpetual swaps have unique costs and risks that standard forex journal fields do not capture. Here is what to add to your journal for crypto derivatives.

## What Makes Crypto Futures Different

**Funding rate:** On perpetual swaps, long and short positions pay each other every 8 hours. Funding can be a significant cost or income depending on market sentiment. A 0.1% funding rate 3× daily = 0.3% per day in costs for leveraged longs during a funding-positive period.

**Liquidation price:** Unlike forex stop losses, crypto futures have a forced liquidation level. Your journal should track how close your stop is to your liquidation — a stop 5% away with a liquidation 5.5% away is dangerous.

**Mark price vs last price:** Most exchanges use mark price (average of index + basis) for liquidation. A wick on spot price can trigger a stop that would not have triggered on mark price.

## What to Log for Every Crypto Futures Trade

```
Exchange: Binance / Bybit / OKX / etc.
Instrument: BTCUSDT / ETHUSDT / etc.
Type: Perpetual / Quarterly futures
Direction: Long / Short
Leverage: 10x / 20x / etc.
Entry price: [price]
Stop loss: [price]
Liquidation price: [price]
Distance to liquidation: [% from entry]
Take profit: [price]
Funding rate at entry: +0.01% / -0.02% / etc.
Funding paid/received: [amount]
Session: Asia / London / NY
Result: Win / Loss / Liquidated
Net P&L (after funding): [amount]
```

## Tracking Funding Cost Impact

Tag trades as `long-highfunding` or `short-highfunding` when funding rate is above 0.05%. After 50 trades, compare win rate and net P&L for high-funding vs low-funding periods. Many traders find that longing during high positive funding is a losing strategy because they are paying to be on the crowded side.

## Liquidation Distance

A useful rule: your stop loss should be reached long before your liquidation price. If they are within 1–2% of each other, your leverage is too high for that stop placement. Log this distance and review whether it correlates with your loss sizes.

## Summary

Crypto futures require tracking three things most forex journals miss: funding rate, leverage, and liquidation distance. These are not minor details — they are the variables that separate profitable crypto futures trading from slow-burn liquidation.