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What to Check Before You Open a Derivatives Account — Bybit
Ten minutes of setup before you fund anything saves the two most expensive mistakes new derivatives traders make.
Most guides start at "click sign up". That is the least important step. Here is what actually determines whether the account works out.
What the screen actually shows (checked 2026-09-01):
- Two tabs sit above the fields: Email and Mobile Number. The form below them is the same either way. - Referral Code (Optional) is a collapsed row you have to open. A code that is accepted gets a green tick at the right-hand end of the field — no tick means it did not take, and there is no other warning. - One checkbox, and it is already ticked for you: pressing the button is agreeing to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. There is no separate age box. - The submit button is labelled Get My Welcome Gifts. Nothing on the page says Sign Up or Register, which is worth knowing if you are looking for one. - The password rules appear as a live checklist under the field: 8-30 characters, at least one uppercase letter, at least one lowercase letter, at least one number. No special character is required, which differs from most venues. - Google, Apple and Telegram sign-in sit under the button beneath Or sign up with. Use the email form instead: a social sign-in is the step where a referral code most often fails to attach, and the account opens normally when it does.
*Interfaces change. This was the owner's captures of a published third-party walkthrough, reviewed 2026-09-01; UI facts only, no wording, images or referral code reused; if what you see differs, trust the exchange.*
1. Check whether the venue is authorised where you live
This is not a formality. Exchanges are licensed jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and using one that is not authorised in your country can mean no legal recourse if something goes wrong, sudden withdrawal restrictions, or the app disappearing from your store overnight. Check the exchange's own terms for restricted jurisdictions, and check your national regulator's register. If your jurisdiction is restricted, stop here. Nothing below is worth the exposure.
2. Decide your loss budget before you see a chart
Write down a number you can lose entirely without changing your life. That number is the account. Not "the amount I'll start with and top up later" — the total. Every sizing decision later refers back to it, and if you skip this step you will size against your net worth by accident.
3. Set up security before you deposit, not after
Three things, once, in this order:
- Authenticator-app 2FA, not SMS. SIM-swap attacks are the single most common way retail crypto accounts are drained. An authenticator app removes that path entirely.
- Withdrawal address whitelist. Once enabled, withdrawals can only go to addresses you pre-approved, usually with a 24-hour delay on adding new ones. This converts "attacker drains account instantly" into "attacker waits 24 hours while you get an email."
- Anti-phishing code. A phrase you choose that appears in every genuine email from the exchange. Any email without it is a phishing attempt, and phishing is how most account compromises begin.
4. Understand what you are being charged before you trade
Two numbers matter and most people never look them up: the taker fee (crossing the spread) and the maker fee (posting a resting order). These are Bybit's own published futures rates: taker 0.055%, maker 0.02%. At 10x, a taker round trip therefore costs 1.1% of your margin before the market has moved at all. Run your own numbers in the fee calculator.
5. Know which product you are opening
Spot, perpetual futures, and copy trading are three different risk profiles sharing one login. Spot cannot liquidate you. Perpetuals can, and will, if you size wrong. Copy trading hands sizing decisions to someone whose drawdown you have not examined. Open the account, but do not assume the default product is the one you want.
What to do next
Nothing, for 24 hours. Set up security, leave the account unfunded, and come back. The urge to deposit immediately is the same urge that later becomes the urge to average down.