qTesla Perp
Trade Tesla stock in Bitcoin with a perpetual margined and settled in sats.
Overview
qTesla Perp is a perpetual on Tesla stock (TSLA), quoted as TSLA/USDT, margined and settled in sats, at a BTC/USDT rate locked when you place the order. It is part of the qAssets beta, open to a limited set of users.
This page covers what is specific to Tesla. How the rate lock, funding and the quanto adjustment work for every qAsset is explained on qAssets.
Contract specification
| Description | Value |
|---|---|
| Instrument / pair | quanto_perp / tsla_usdt |
| Quantity unit | Share |
| Underlying asset | Tesla stock (TSLA) |
| Price reference | LNM Tesla Perp Index |
| P&L | Quantity × (Exit price − Entry price) ÷ Locked BTC rate × 100,000,000 |
| Margin mode | Isolated |
| Max leverage | 20x |
| Price tick | $0.01 |
| Quantity step | 0.01 share |
| Min order | 0.01 share |
| Max quantity per order | 2 shares |
| Max quantity per account | 100 shares |
| Funding interval | Every 8 hours |
| Quanto adjustment | Charged or received every 8 hours, from margin |
Margin and liquidation
Your notional is the size of the position, expressed in sats at your locked rate:
Notional (sats) = Quantity × Entry price ÷ Locked BTC rate × 100,000,000Your margin is that notional divided by your leverage:
Margin (sats) = Notional ÷ LeverageBecause the bitcoin rate is fixed, your liquidation level is a price in the underlying and nothing else. It does not move when bitcoin moves:
Long: Liquidation price = Entry price × (1 − 1 / Leverage)
Short: Liquidation price = Entry price × (1 + 1 / Leverage)Funding and the quanto adjustment are settled from your margin every 8 hours, exactly as funding works on Futures. A position held for a long time at high leverage sees its margin erode, and its liquidation level move closer, even if the underlying has not moved at all. A leveraged position left open indefinitely will eventually be liquidated by fees alone.
Maintenance margin
A maintenance margin is reserved beside your trade margin. It is not part of the margin that absorbs P&L. It is held back to cover the fees that would be charged if the position were liquidated, computed at the highest tier fee rate regardless of your own tier.
| Order type | Reserved |
|---|---|
| Market | Opening fee + closing fee |
| Limit | Closing fee |
This is the same mechanism as Futures.
Price reference
It is worth separating two things that are easy to confuse.
- The underlying asset is what you are taking a view on. For qTesla Perp that is Tesla stock.
- The reference market is where we read its price from. That is a venue, or a basket of venues, quoting an instrument that tracks Tesla stock.
| Price | Reference |
|---|---|
| Tesla stock (TSLA) | LNM Tesla Perp Index |
| BTC/USDT rate lock | LN Markets bitcoin index, as on Futures |
LNM Tesla Perp Index
The LNM Tesla Perp Index is a weighted average of the last traded prices of TSLAUSDT perpetual futures across the constituent exchanges. It is used to compute profit and loss on qTesla Perp.
The current composition is as follows:
| Exchange | Weight |
|---|---|
| Binance | 100% |
Building the reference as an index rather than pointing directly at one venue's feed means the composition can be widened later, by adding exchanges or reweighting, without changing the contract, the API or anything you have open. It is the same construction as the BTCUSD Basket behind Futures.
This composition may be modified without prior notice.
Order execution, including liquidation and trigger orders, runs against available order book liquidity, not against the price reference. This is the same behaviour as Futures.
Funding
Funding on qTesla Perp is exchanged every 8 hours, at 00:00, 08:00 and 16:00 UTC. The rate is the Binance TSLAUSDT perpetual funding rate, passed through 1:1. Direction and settlement follow the rules under Funding fee.
Quanto adjustment
The adjustment on Tesla uses the formula under Quanto adjustment. The rate is updated frequently as market conditions change: a higher correlation with bitcoin or higher volatility raises it, calmer markets lower it. The current rate is shown on the market's Rates screen. The adjustment is fixed every 8 hours and deducted from, or added to, the position's margin.
Ex-dividend adjustment
On a stock's ex-dividend date, its price drops by the dividend amount, so the price of qTesla Perp drops too. An ex-dividend adjustment cancels that drop for your position:
- Longs are credited the amount.
- Shorts are debited it.
Ex-dividend adjustment (sats) = Quantity × Dividend per share ÷ Locked BTC rate × 100,000,000It is settled at 00:00 UTC on the ex-date, and only on positions open at that moment.
It is a transfer between traders, not a dividend: you hold no shares and nothing is withheld. It appears as its own line, Ex-dividend adjustment, in your trade history, separate from funding and from the quanto adjustment.
Tesla pays no dividend today. The mechanism applies if that changes.
Stock splits
When Tesla splits its stock, trading on qTesla Perp is paused around the split's ex-date. The pause is announced a few days before the split.
- Open positions are re-based: quantity × split ratio, entry price ÷ split ratio. Their value, P&L, margin and distance to liquidation are unchanged.
- Open orders are cancelled.
- Trading resumes on the new price scale.
No shareholder rights
qTesla Perp is a derivative on Tesla's share price. You hold no shares and have no vote.
Trading hours
qTesla Perp trades 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including weekends and US market holidays. Liquidations stay live throughout, for the reasons set out under Trading hours.
The stock's exchange session runs from 9:30 to 16:00 New York time on weekdays. Outside it, the price follows the perpetual market, which reacts to news before the exchange reopens, and spreads are wider. Size and leverage accordingly if you intend to hold across a closed session.
Tesla is among the most volatile large-cap stocks, with sharp moves around earnings and quarterly delivery figures. Leave more distance to your liquidation price than you would on a calmer underlying.
Read next
qAssets explains the quanto mechanism, the worked scenarios, and the costs common to every qAsset.