LEARN / TRACK 3
Spot, futures and options: same chart, different contracts
A price line doesn’t tell you what you own, what you owe or how a position can end. Check the contract before the signal.
Spot crypto
Exchange one asset for another. Learn where the asset and its access keys are held.
Read the spot lesson →02 / CONTRACTFutures and perpetuals
Take price exposure through a contract. Margin and liquidation change the loss path.
Read the futures lesson →03 / RIGHTOptions
Buy or sell a time-limited right with a premium, strike and expiration.
Read the options lesson →Why our current Watch pages begin with spot
CouchChange's primary paper study observes BTC, ETH and SOL spot markets. This is our own study design, not a claim of profit or a recommendation to trade them. The futures and options lessons are education; we have no running study in either market. Read the CFTC advisory CFTC ↗ for the different risks of spot and derivatives.
Sources
Examples marked made-up numbers are invented. Nothing in this lesson is a recorded CouchChange result or a recommendation.
Try it
A token purchase and a futures contract both gain when the token price rises. Are the obligations the same?
Think it through, then open an answer
No. The spot purchase acquires the asset; a futures position is a contract with margin and settlement rules.