Please find an overview of all risk disclosures here. We encourage all clients to read these disclosures carefully.
Virtual Asset Risk Disclosure
Virtual Assets investments are more volatile than most other investments and carry therefore a high degree of risk. Investing in Virtual Assets means that you should be aware that you can lose your entire investment.
Market Volatility
Markets in crypto assets are usually more volatile than markets in other assets. This means that the value of your assets may fluctuate significantly as a result of the high volatility in the underlying crypto asset markets, including the possibility that your positions will be liquidated as a result of such volatility.
Complex Instruments Disclosure
Deribit offers customers the opportunity to trade in a variety of derivative products on selected crypto assets. These products include options, options on futures, futures and perpetuals and are considered to be complex and may be difficult to understand. Please note that these products are not suitable for all investors and you should familiarise yourself with how these products work as well as the risks associated with it. You should seek independent advice if required.
Leverage Risk Disclosure
Derivative products such as options, options on futures, futures and perpetuals are leveraged instruments. This means that a price move in the underlying asset can lead to significant gains or significant losses of your position. It is possible that you lose all the assets that you have deposited in your account as a result.
Past performance No Guarantee Disclosure
The past performance of any products, including those of Virtual Assets as well as derivatives on Virtual Assets, is not indicative of the future performance of these products. It is not a guarantee and should not be used as guidance for future results.
Investment Risk Disclosures
Investing in the virtual assets market is speculative and involves a high degree of risk. Investments in virtual assets and products derived from virtual assets such as futures, options and perpetuals may lose a substantial portion or all of their value.
Fraud, manipulation and hack disclosure
Virtual assets may be subject to fraud, manipulation, theft, including through hacks and other targeted schemes and clients may not benefit from legal protections.
Virtual Assets Derivative Risk Disclosure
Derivative products such as options, options on futures, futures and perpetuals are leveraged instruments. This means that a price move in the underlying asset can lead to significant gains or significant losses of your position. It is possible that you lose all the assets that you have deposited in your account as a result.
Virtual Assets investments are more volatile than most other investments and carry therefore a high degree of risk. Investing in Virtual Assets means that you should be aware that you can lose your entire investment.
Irreversibility of virtual asset transfers
You may lose your virtual assets if you withdraw your virtual assets to an incorrect or incomplete wallet address.
Liquidity risk
Virtual assets may not be liquid and you might not be able to buy/sell or open/close positions at the prices you want to.
Public disclosure of deposits and withdrawals
Deposits and withdrawals of virtual assets will be recorded on a public blockchain.
Liquidation of Derivatives Positions
Deribit may, without prior notice, close out or liquidate derivatives positions if margin requirements are no longer met. Deribit will use the assets in the client’s account to carry out such actions and may, at its discretion, determine which positions to close and when to close them. Liquidations may occur during periods of high market volatility and at unfavorable prices. Clients are responsible for maintaining sufficient margin at all times and for any losses resulting from such liquidations.
Broker Dealer Routing for Spot
When acting as a broker:
Deribit routes all spot orders to its affiliate regulated exchange, Coinbase Inc. Such routing complies with the VARA’s best execution requirements at all times and ensures that reasonable steps are taken to achieve the best outcomes for clients.
Deribit does not hold or maintain funds or virtual assets or provide clearing services for other Virtual Asset Services Providers.
When acting as a broker, Deribit does not refer or introduce clients to other persons.
Deribit’s client virtual asset safeguarding processes and partners are detailed in the Wallet Management and Custody sections of the Support page of its website.
Equity Perpetuals
Leverage Risk. Derivative products such as perpetuals on equities are leveraged instruments. This means that a price move in the underlying asset can lead to significant gains or significant losses of your position. It is possible that you lose all the assets that you have deposited in your account as a result.
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity in Equity Perps may vary significantly, particularly during out-of-hours periods (evenings, weekends, holidays), trading halts, and periods of market stress. You may be unable to close or reduce positions at your desired price or at all.
Pricing & Basis Risk. The price of an Equity Perpetual may diverge materially from the price of the underlying equity, particularly during out-of-hours periods, trading halts, or data feed disruptions. The funding rate mechanism and fair value methodology may not fully eliminate this divergence.
Corporate Action Risk. Corporate actions affecting the underlying equity, such as, dividend payments, stock splits or reverse splits, takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, right issues, tender offers etc., may result in trading halts, position adjustments, forced cash settlement, or contract delisting. The terms of settlement or adjustment are determined by Deribit and may not align with your expectations or trading strategy.
Data & Technology Risk. Reference pricing relies on third-party data feeds and technological infrastructure. Feed failures, delays, or inaccuracies may affect index calculation, mark pricing, margin requirements, and liquidation outcomes.
Regulatory & Exchange Intervention Risk. Deribit may, at its sole discretion, halt trading, reduce leverage, adjust pricing methodology, or take other emergency actions. Such actions may materially and adversely affect your positions and open orders.
No Shareholder Rights. Equity Perpetuals do not confer any rights in or to the underlying equity security. You have no voting rights, dividend entitlements, or other ownership interests.
Counterparty & Waterfall Risk. As a derivative traded on Deribit, your positions are subject to Deribit’s default waterfall and settlement processes. In extreme market conditions, losses may be socialized in accordance with Deribit’s rules.
Weekend & Holiday Gap Risk. Significant news or events occurring while underlying equity markets are closed may result in material price gaps when those markets reopen, which may not be fully reflected in weekend/holiday pricing and could result in adverse liquidation or settlement outcomes.
Commodity Perpetuals
Possibility of negative prices for energy commodities
Energy futures benchmarks (e.g., WTI) can trade below zero, as occurred in April 2020 due to inventory, storage, and transportation constraints as drivers of dislocations, and that the perpetual index and P&L will track such moves, with shorts effectively paying longs when prices are negative.
Impact of contango/backwardation on funding costs
Commodity forward curves often exhibit persistent contango or backwardation, causing systematic positive or negative funding over time even in the absence of large spot moves; this is a structural feature of commodity markets, not an error.
Geopolitical supply risk and OPEC’s role in price formation
Commodity prices, especially oil prices, are heavily influenced by geopolitical events, OPEC decisions, sanctions, and physical disruptions, which can create sharp, gap-like moves and elevated funding volatility even when underlying exchanges are closed.
Jurisdictional aspects of reference markets
Commodity reference prices are derived from regulated markets in multiple jurisdictions (e.g., US and European exchanges), and that trading hours, circuit breakers, halt rules, and protections in those markets may differ from Deribit, contributing to basis and timing differences.
Pre-IPO Perpetuals
Key Considerations & Risks
Pre-IPO perp markets share many mechanics with standard perpetual futures but also introduce private-company-specific valuation and IPO risks. Please read the following disclosures carefully. You should not trade these contracts unless you fully understand how they work and are comfortable with the associated risks.
Valuation opacity and model risk
Pre-IPO perpetuals reference an index driven by market demand and supply and external private-company prices from other perpetual venues, rather than a transparent listed share price.
Valuations can be revised quickly as new secondary trades, funding rounds, or disclosures emerge, resulting in sudden repricing of the perp’s market price even when broader markets appear stable.
IPO gap risk and Auto-Deleveraging
The exact share count and final IPO price are only known when the 424B4 is filed shortly before trading begins, which can lead to gap moves between the pre-IPO contract price and the first day of trading.
A 25%+ move on IPO open is plausible; at 3-5x leverage this can cause large P&L swings and may trigger auto-deleveraging (ADL) events if losses exceed posted margin and there is no Liquidation Service Provider layer.
While wider Index Bands, IPO-specific halts, and TWAP bridges help contain disorderly moves, they do not eliminate the risk of forced position reductions via ADL in stressed scenarios.
Liquidity and hedging limitations
There is no centralized spot market in the underlying shares; liquidity is fragmented across secondary platforms and derivatives venues, and physical shorting or borrowing of the private equity is generally not possible.
Market makers and sophisticated users must rely on cross-venue derivative hedges or correlated public proxies, introducing additional basis and counterparty risk that can impact spreads and depth, especially around IPO events.
Liquidity and volatility
Pre-IPO markets may be significantly more volatile and less liquid than large-cap equities, with thinner order books and wider spreads, particularly outside of major news flow or when only a small number of market makers are active.
Around key milestones (S-1 publication, roadshow, 424B4 filing, IPO open), prices may move sharply and gap between sessions; if you remain leveraged through these events, you are exposed to large P&L swings and potential liquidations or ADL.
Margin and liquidations
Leverage: Pre-IPO perps launch with conservative leverage (up to 5x) to account for discrete valuation shocks.
Margin mode: The pre-IPO phase runs in cross margin like other perpetual futures. After IPO conversion, the contract will remain eligible for cross margin alongside other Deribit perps.
Liquidations: Pre-IPO perps use the same liquidation waterfall as other Deribit perps - auto-liquidations, insurance fund, then ADL - but are expected to rely more heavily on ADL given the absence of an LSP layer and the possibility of large IPO-day gaps. See more details on Deribit’s Support Page.
To manage risk, Deribit enforces pre-IPO specific position limits and global open interest caps that may be more conservative than for other perps and are set by the liquidity tier of each pre-IPO market. These limits, along with Index Bands, are intended to reduce the impact of thin liquidity and rapid moves, but they do not eliminate the risk of losses, including liquidations in fast markets.
Market halts
Pre-IPO perps include IPO-specific pauses and conversion halts (for example, around the S-1 filing) to perform the P&L-neutral rebase and bridge into live equity prices in a controlled manner.
If the IPO is delayed or cancelled, Deribit may continue to list the valuation-based perpetual future; if the company is acquired, the contract may be settled at a publicly disseminated valuation or, if unavailable, at the last traded Mark Price before the market is halted and the contract is delisted.
During such lifecycle events, spreads may widen and liquidity may be lower, and there is a risk of significant price adjustments when new information is incorporated into the valuation index.
Pricing and gap risk
Pre-IPO perps and the underlying index trade 24/7:
As with any perpetual futures contract, the price of a pre-IPO perp is determined by supply and demand on the order book and may diverge from other private-market quotes or indicative IPO pricing, especially around major announcements or in thin trading conditions.
Because the valuation index and perp trade 24/7 while much underlying private-market activity is episodic, there is gap risk when new secondary trades, funding announcements, or IPO filings occur between sessions on other venues; leveraged traders may experience sharp mark-to-market moves.