Your First Trade

This guide walks you through placing your first options trade on Diffusal — from depositing collateral to submitting an order.

Step 1: Deposit Collateral

Before you can open any position, you need USDT in your trading collateral vault.

1. Navigate to the Portfolio tab in the left sidebar
2. Click Deposit in the Collateral section
3. Enter the amount of USDT to deposit
4. Approve the USDT token spending allowance (one-time on-chain approval)
5. Confirm the deposit transaction

Your available margin will update immediately after the transaction confirms.

For a detailed walkthrough of collateral mechanics, see Collateral Management.

Step 2: Select a Trading Pair

1. Use the pair selector at the top of the Options Chain panel
2. Choose a base asset (e.g., BTC-USDT)
3. The options chain loads with the current order book state

Step 3: Browse the Options Chain

The options chain displays calls on the left and puts on the right, with strikes running down the center column.

Key columns:

• Bid / Ask: Best resting orders in the order book at each strike
• IV: Implied volatility for that strike (bid/ask midpoint)
• Delta: First-order price sensitivity to the underlying
• OI: Open interest (total contracts outstanding)

Strikes are color-coded: in-the-money options have a subtle background tint; at-the-money is highlighted.

To view a specific expiry, use the expiry selector above the chain. You can also filter by call or put using the side toggle.

Step 4: Open the Order Form

Click any Bid or Ask cell in the options chain to populate the order form on the right panel.

• Clicking a Bid pre-fills a sell order at that price
• Clicking an Ask pre-fills a buy order at that price

You can also click the row anywhere outside the bid/ask cells to open the form with a neutral starting state.

Step 5: Review the Order Form

The order form shows:

• Side: Buy or Sell
• Option: Strike, expiry, and type (Call/Put)
• Quantity: Number of contracts (1 contract = 1 option)
• Price: Limit price in USDT per contract
• Order Type: Limit or Market
• IV Toggle: Switch between entering price as premium (USDT) or IV (annualized volatility %)
• Margin Preview: Estimated impact on your initial margin requirement

Review the margin preview before submitting. If the order would exceed your available margin, the submit button is disabled and an error message explains the shortfall.

Step 6: Submit the Order

Click Place Order to submit.

Diffusal uses EIP-712 meta-transactions for order submission. This means:

• You sign a typed message in your wallet (no gas required)
• The off-chain matching engine matches your order against resting book orders
• Settlement happens on-chain when a match occurs (the protocol pays gas for settlement)

Your wallet prompts you to sign — approve it. The order appears in your Open Orders list immediately.

Understanding Order States

Next Steps