Gate Contract Trading Strategy Full Analysis: Short-term Profit Hunting vs. Long-term Stable Planning, Which Is More Suitable?

Gate registered users achieved remarkable growth in 2025, reaching 48 million, just one step away from the 50 million milestone. In terms of contract trading, BTC contract depth has also ranked TOP 1 across the entire network.

Faced with over 600 small coin contracts and comprehensive trading tools, choosing between short-term quick trades or medium- to long-term position layouts has become a core issue that every contract trader must confront.

01 Market Environment and Gate Contract Advantages

The crypto market is no longer an isolated self-sustaining system. As Gate founder Lin Han pointed out: “The crypto space has integrated into the global macroeconomy and is more influenced by the US stock market and the global economy.” This means that market volatility is driven by internal cyclical factors as well as external macroeconomic conditions.

In this complex environment, Gate’s contract market has become one of the preferred platforms for traders due to its unique advantages. Data as of early 2025 shows that Gate’s contract market has ranked among the TOP 2 globally in digital currency contract trading.

Supporting this position is its outstanding liquidity performance, especially in mainstream digital currency contracts, where Gate’s BTC contract depth has successfully ranked among the top across the entire network.

Product diversity is another major highlight of Gate contracts. The platform offers over 600 small coin contracts, covering a wide range from mainstream coins to emerging hot topics. This diversified contract selection provides ample space for traders with different strategic preferences.

Whether seeking high volatility opportunities for short-term trading or long-term investors looking for potential projects, traders can find suitable trading targets on Gate.

02 Breakdown of Short-Term Trading Strategies

Short-term trading generally refers to holding positions from a few minutes to several days, suitable for traders who can closely monitor the market and react quickly. On Gate, short-term trading can fully leverage various advanced features provided by the platform.

Grid trading robots are ideal tools in volatile markets. Gate has added multiple robot strategies on top of traditional grid trading. These robots adopt a high-buy, low-sell trading mode, intelligently managing oscillating markets. Backtested data shows that under different market conditions, their performance surpasses traditional manual trading strategies.

Contract grid-neutral robots can automatically identify market fluctuation ranges, buying during price dips and selling during price rises, achieving automated profit accumulation.

Flexible use of funding rates can serve as an additional income source for short-term traders. Gate’s perpetual contracts settle funding fees every 8 hours. When market sentiment is bullish, longs pay shorts; conversely, when bearish sentiment is strong, shorts compensate longs.

Smart short-term traders combine technical analysis with funding rate changes to identify potential market turning points. When rates are at extreme values, it often indicates overly optimistic or pessimistic market sentiment, and contrarian positions at this time may secure more favorable entry prices.

Advanced order types provide precise execution tools for short-term strategies. Gate supports various advanced orders, including conditional orders, time-segmented orders, iceberg orders, and trailing limit orders.

Time-segmented orders can split large orders into smaller ones, placed at set intervals to reduce market impact. Segment orders allow splitting large orders within specified price ranges, with flexible modes such as averaging, increasing, or decreasing order sizes.

03 Deployment of Medium- to Long-Term Trading Strategies

Medium- to long-term trading strategies focus on trend following and value investing, with holding periods typically ranging from several weeks to months. These strategies are also well-supported by tools and techniques on Gate.

Dual-position strategies and risk hedging are core techniques for medium- to long-term layouts. Gate’s perpetual contracts allow users to hold both long and short positions simultaneously under the same contract. This mode grants investors greater flexibility, enabling them to capitalize on upward trends while profiting from declines through short positions.

The ability to independently manage and adjust long and short positions provides powerful risk hedging capabilities.

Cash-and-carry arbitrage strategies are important tools to cope with market volatility. By holding both spot and contract short positions, traders hedge against price fluctuations, reducing or eliminating potential losses from holding cryptocurrencies, while also earning from the contract’s funding rates based on market trends.

For example, when holding Bitcoin spot, an investor can simultaneously open a short contract. If the spot price drops and the funding rate is positive, the profit from the contract can offset the spot loss, while earning the corresponding funding fee.

Risk management tools for portfolios are crucial for medium- to long-term holdings. Gate has introduced a tiered liquidation mechanism. When a position triggers liquidation, if the position size is too large, the system lowers the risk limit of the contract position by one tier and liquidates the excess portion. This mechanism gradually reduces leverage, alleviating margin pressure.

OCO orders are a type of combined order consisting of a take-profit order and a stop-loss order. When one executes, the other is automatically canceled. This allows traders to implement risk management strategies automatically without continuous market monitoring.

04 Strategy Selection and Practical Tools

Given the diversity of Gate’s contract trading, how should investors choose the right strategy based on their own situation? The core differences between short-term and long-term trading are summarized in the table below:

Beginners can start with Gate’s simulated trading. The contract demo allows users to trade with virtual funds in a zero-risk environment, experiencing the entire contract trading process. This helps new investors familiarize themselves with trading procedures and test strategies without risking real capital.

The star trader copy system offers another learning and growth avenue for beginners. Through copy protection mechanisms, platform risk control systems, and copy insurance vouchers, investors gain additional safety.

Cost optimization is vital for both strategies. Gate’s contract fees are mainly divided into Maker (limit order) and Taker (market order) fees. Typically, Maker fees are lower than Taker fees, and in some cases, even negative (traders receive fee rebates). Using limit orders as Makers and avoiding frequent market orders can effectively reduce Taker fee expenses.

Gate’s tokenomics support fee optimization. Users holding platform tokens GT or reaching certain trading volumes can upgrade to higher VIP levels, enjoying significantly reduced Maker and Taker fees.

Data-driven decision-making is a core capability in modern contract trading. Gate provides rich market big data, including fund flows, contract positions, long-short ratios, and large orders. These data help investors gain deep insights into market dynamics and identify potential trading opportunities.

For efficiency-focused traders, Gate’s market big data features offer comprehensive market information.

05 Three Principles of Steady Trading

Whether short-term or medium- to long-term, successful contract trading is built on solid risk management and discipline. There are three key principles when trading contracts on Gate.

The wisdom in leverage selection is the first line of risk control. The general market advice is to use lower leverage, especially during periods of increased volatility. Gate offers flexible leverage options, from conservative 3x to higher ratios. Beginners are advised to choose lower leverage, such as 5x or 10x.

Using leverage wisely means maintaining sufficient margin to withstand adverse market movements, avoiding forced liquidation due to short-term volatility.

Executing stop-loss discipline is the dividing line between professional traders and ordinary investors. Gate offers various stop-loss strategies, with the basic being trailing stop-loss. This strategy automatically adjusts the exit price based on market price fluctuations, especially suitable for trending markets.

Strict stop-loss settings prevent a single trade from causing excessive losses, protecting the account from catastrophic damage.

The conscious avoidance of holding positions blindly is key to long-term survival. In contract trading, “not holding through” is an important principle to avoid overexposure. Investors should avoid holding positions blindly in unfavorable markets to prevent larger losses.

This means when market movements go against expectations, one should decisively execute stop-loss plans rather than hope for a “rebound.”

Future Outlook

An experienced trader has opened three windows on the Gate contract interface: on the left, a real-time monitoring grid trading robot that steadily captures small fluctuations in volatile markets; in the middle, a weekly chart of Bitcoin marked with key support levels, planning to position long-term longs at these points; on the right, a funding rate monitoring panel showing current rates for multiple coins.

He clicks on a coin with an abnormally high funding rate to establish a contrarian position and calmly says: “Short-term profits from volatility, long-term profits from trends. True masters can find their own profit space in both rhythms simultaneously.”

No matter which path is chosen, Gate’s rich tools and deep markets have already paved multiple routes for different types of traders to reach their goals.