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This guide gets you from zero to your first trade. No prior perps experience required—if you’ve used a DEX before, you’ll feel right at home.

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Prerequisites

  • A wallet compatible with Robinhood Chain (Robinhood Wallet, MetaMask, Rabby, or similar)
  • USDC on Robinhood Chain for collateral
  • A small amount of ETH for gas (Robinhood Chain uses ETH as its gas token)
  • A few minutes
Don’t have funds on Robinhood Chain yet? Bridge ETH and supported ERC-20s using the canonical Arbitrum bridge or a partner route. See Bridging to Robinhood Chain for all options.

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Step 1: Connect Your Wallet

  1. Go to our App
  2. Click Connect Wallet in the top right
  3. Select your wallet and approve the connection
  4. Approve the network switch to Robinhood Chain if it isn’t your current chain
Once connected, you’ll see your wallet address in the header. Perpetra never asks for your private keys.

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Step 2: Register & Deposit

1

Register your account

On first visit, you’ll register an on-chain account. Sign the message in your wallet—this creates your Perpetra trading account and doesn’t cost gas for the initial setup.
2

Deposit USDC

Navigate to Deposit and approve the USDC transfer. Your balance appears in the app once the transaction confirms. USDC is your collateral for all perpetual positions.
3

Activate trading keys (optional)

For gasless trading and one-click execution, activate session keys. This creates a temporary key pair—no approvals needed for each order during the session. You can skip this and sign each trade manually if you prefer.

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Step 3: Place Your First Order

  1. Pick a market from the trading pairs (e.g. BTC-PERP, ETH-PERP)
  2. Choose Market or Limit order
  3. Set your size and leverage (start low if you’re new)
  4. Click Buy or Sell
Your position opens immediately for market orders, or when your limit price is hit. Check the Positions tab to see open positions, PnL, and liquidation price.

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Order Types at a Glance

TypeWhen to use
MarketYou want to execute now at the best available price
LimitYou have a target price and can wait
Stop-LossYou want to cap losses if price moves against you
Take-ProfitYou want to lock in gains at a target price
We cover these in detail in Order Types.

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What Happens Under the Hood

Perpetra uses a hybrid orderbook: matching happens off-chain for speed, but every fill settles on-chain. You get CEX-like execution with DEX transparency. Liquidity is shared across the ecosystem, so you benefit from deep books without fragmented liquidity.
You’re set. From here, explore Positions to manage risk, or Fees to understand costs.