BitMEX, the exchange that helped define modern crypto trading,
marks its 11-year anniversary today with a bold celebration of the traders who helped shape the exchange and the industry since 2014. As part of the milestone, BitMEX is releasing “11 Insights from 11 Years of Experience,” a curated set of hard-earned lessons from more than a decade at the frontier of digital asset markets.
How BitMEX helped build modern crypto trading
BitMEX’s story is linked with the history of crypto itself. From inventing the world’s first perpetual swap and being the first to introduce 100x leverage, to being one of the earliest advocates for Proof of Reserves, BitMEX has been consistently ahead of the curve. As the market evolved through cycles, narratives, and reinventions, BitMEX stayed grounded in its founding principles: build for traders, not hype.
Today, BitMEX continues pushing that mission forward – expanding access to professional tools including Copy Trading, Trading Bots, and advanced derivatives – whilst upholding its commitments to transparency, resilience, and technical excellence.
“BitMEX has weathered every cycle because we built on principles, not trends,” said Stephan Lutz, CEO of BitMEX. “In my three years as CEO, I’ve watched the market reinvent itself again and again. Many exchanges have risen and fallen and we’ve seen many things change, but BitMEX has always stayed true to its DNA. We’ve remained principled, resilient, and trader-first, and I’ve never been prouder to lead this company.
The last few years have shown me that when the market gets loud, traders return to the platforms that are steady, neutral, and battle-tested. I’m proud of what my team has achieved and incredibly excited about what comes next.”
What a decade on the frontline has taught us
BitMEX is celebrating its anniversary by consolidating a decade of hard lessons, market scars, and engineering breakthroughs into 11 key insights – a candid look at what really matters in crypto trading. The highlights include:
- It’s always been about Bitcoin. Every cycle reinforces the same truth: Bitcoin is still the only asset to consistently surpass its previous all-time highs, driven by its immaculate monetary design and decentralised origins.
- Perpetual swaps are the greatest finance invention in the 21st century. Before BitMEX created the perpetual swap, crypto derivatives were broken toys. The perps solved the fundamental limitations of traditional futures and became the most traded product in crypto.
- Security isn’t a product — it’s a practice. You can’t buy trust. You have to earn it every day. BitMEX’s 100 percent cold-storage, multi-signature withdrawal model was slow and inconvenient but that is exactly why it worked. After 11 years, the lesson remained the same: security isn’t just a feature but a philosophy backed by non-negotiable trade-offs.
- Are you trading the market or the house? Many exchanges still run internal market-making desks – a structural conflict that gives them
visibility into customer flow and liquidation levels. BitMEX was built differently: no prop trading or no internal desks. A neutral venue remains the only fair venue. - Crypto remains a fragmented market. The crypto market isn’t a unified pool, it’s a patchwork of liquidity silos. As we highlighted in our
Q1 2025 Derivatives Report, some exchanges list tokens that peak on day 1 and collapsenimmediately after. BitMEX’s listing strategy consistently shows stronger, more sustainable performance because real markets require real liquidity. - The real risk isn’t liquidation. It’s Auto-Deleveraging.
Liquidation is predictable; ADL isn’t. When markets crash faster than the insurance fund can respond, profitable traders can still be force-closed. BitMEX’s ADL system does not privilege any trader in the queue, results of years of engineering to ensure fairness under stress. - Fair Price Marking: The shield for perp traders against market manipulation. BitMEX pioneered the concept of Fair Price Marking, which protects traders positions by anchoring Mark Prices to a hybrid composite index rather than a single source. To move that price,
manipulators would need to crash the global spot market, not just a single venue. It’s the ultimate defence for high-leverage traders. - Leverage is freedom. BitMEX introduced 100x leverage but paired it with non-recourse liquidation, meaning traders can never lose more than their posted collateral. It democratised access to position sizes previously reserved for institutions, while demanding a level of discipline and precision most traders underestimate.
- The Bitcoin 4-Year Cycle isn’t dead.
As outlined in our recent article, “Four-Year Cycles Aren’t Dead”, every cycle births a new “this time is different” narrative, but leverage, human psychology, and halving-driven supply constraints continue to reset the market in predictable waves. The ETF era hasn’t changed the underlying plumbing, the cycle is alive and functioning exactly as designed. - Be careful of the high-yield stablecoin trap. Some “stablecoins” are not stable; rather, they’re leveraged yield schemes waiting to implode.
Terra/LUNA, xUSD, and USDX all followed the same pattern: artificial yields masked unsustainablemechanics. High yield is always a warning label, not a feature. - Don’t confuse the wrapper with the asset. ETFs, digital asset treasuries, and structured wrappers offer new access but come with fees,
incentives, and premium/discount dynamics that often cause them to underperform the crypto they track. The wrapper is a business; the asset is the asset. Traders must know the difference.