First Merchants Corporation

1. Stock tokens (spot)

Nature: Stock tokens are digital tokens pegged to the price of specific traditional stocks (such as TSLAUSDT and NVDAUSDT) and are traded on Bitget's spot market.

Features: When you trade stock tokens, you are buying and holding tokens rather than owning the underlying traditional stocks.

• The price of these tokens generally follows the price movements of the stocks they are pegged to, such as Tesla or Nvidia.
• The advantage is that you can participate in the price movements of traditional financial assets, such as U.S. stocks, using cryptocurrencies (for example, USDT), without the need for a traditional brokerage account.

2. Stock perps

Nature: Bitget also offers USDT-margined perpetual futures, commonly referred to as stock perps, based on major U.S. blue-chip stocks such as Tesla and Meta.

Characteristics: Stock perps are derivative products that allow you to take a bullish or bearish view on the future price of an underlying stock through margin trading. These products typically support leverage, such as up to 25x.

It does not involve owning the underlying stock. Instead, profits and losses are settled based on price movements of the futures.

Important note: When trading stock perps on Bitget, you are participating in derivative markets within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This is fundamentally different from purchasing publicly traded shares through a traditional brokerage, as you do not own equity in the underlying company.

Futures trading and the use of leverage involve high risk. Please ensure you fully understand the risks before trading.

If you wish to directly hold equity in traditional stocks and enjoy shareholder rights (such as receiving dividends), you must trade through a regulated traditional securities brokerage or brokerage platform.

1. Trading convenience and global accessibility

• 24/7 trading: Traditional stock markets, such as U.S. equity markets, operate during fixed trading hours. In contrast, cryptocurrency derivatives markets are typically open 24/7. This means investors can trade anytime, capitalizing on breaking news or market fluctuations.
• Lower entry barriers and faster onboarding: Compared with traditional brokerages, which often require extensive identity verification and lengthy account setup processes, Bitget generally offers faster account onboarding. Users can trade using cryptocurrencies such as USDT, without the need for complex fiat deposit and withdrawal procedures.
• Global accessibility: Users can access derivatives trading linked to globally recognized stocks via the Bitget platform, subject to applicable regulations.

2. Capital efficiency and high leverage

• High leverage options: Stock perps typically offer higher leverage than traditional stock trading (for example, up to 25x). This allows traders to control larger positions with smaller margin requirements, improving capital efficiency.
  Note: While high leverage can amplify gains, it also amplifies losses proportionally.
• Two-way trading: Traders can easily take both long and short positions. This means traders can potentially profit from market volatility whether stock prices rise or fall, provided the market direction is correctly anticipated.

3. Trading and settlement using cryptocurrency

• USDT margin: Stock perps on Bitget typically use USDT (or other stablecoins) as the margin and settlement currency. For users who already hold cryptocurrency, there is no need to convert assets into fiat currency, allowing them to trade directly with stablecoins.
• Efficient fund transfers: Crypto-based transfers and settlements are typically faster than traditional fiat systems, enabling more efficient global fund allocation.

4. Integration

One-stop platform: Bitget allows users to trade spot cryptocurrencies, crypto derivatives, and stock perps on a single platform, making it easier to manage different asset types in one place.

Transaction fees:

Bitget offers limited-time fee promotions for stock perps (especially tokenized stock perps) from time to time to attract traders.

Standard reference rates: Under Bitget's standard futures fee structure, the taker fee is typically around 0.06%, while the maker fee is around 0.02%.

Current promotions for stock perps (important): To promote its stock perps products, Bitget is offering discounted transaction fees during Q4 2025, with taker fees as low as 0.006% and maker fees as low as 0.002%. There is also a limited-time promotion offering zero-fee trading for spot stock tokens.

Funding rate:

The funding rate is a key mechanism in perpetual futures (including stock perps) that helps keep the futures price closely aligned with the spot price of the underlying asset. It is not a fee charged by the platform, but a periodic payment exchanged between long and short traders.

Funding rates fluctuate dynamically and are mainly driven by market sentiment and imbalances between long and short positions. Stock perps generally experience lower volatility than cryptocurrencies, so funding rates are often relatively low during stable market conditions. However, during earnings seasons or major positive or negative news events, heavy concentration of long or short positions—such as in high-growth technology stocks like Tesla or Nvidia—can create significant imbalances, causing funding rates to spike in the short term.

Funding payments are typically settled every 8 hours. If you close your position before the funding settlement time, no funding payment will be charged or received.

Funding rates are not fixed. If you hold a position for an extended period, high positive funding rates (for long positions) or high negative funding rates (for short positions) will affect your overall holding costs or potential returns. For this reason, it is important to monitor the funding rate in real time on the trading interface.