# Crypto: professional trading knowledge for AI agents

## When to use this skill
Load this when helping a trader research, check or journal crypto-asset positions, spot or derivatives. Educational and analytical only.

## Core concepts
- **24/7 markets.** Crypto trades continuously with no closing auction or circuit breakers on most venues. Liquidity thins on weekends and holidays.
- **Fragmented venues.** Prices differ across exchanges; there's no consolidated tape. Know which venue's price you're quoting.
- **Custody.** On an exchange you hold a claim on the exchange; in self-custody you hold the keys. Exchange failures have caused total customer losses. "Not your keys, not your coins" describes a real counterparty risk.
- **Stablecoins.** Tokens designed to track a currency (usually USD). Their peg depends on reserves and redemption mechanics, and pegs have broken in the past.
- **Perpetual futures.** Futures with no expiry, kept near spot by periodic funding payments between longs and shorts. Leverage triggers automatic liquidation when margin falls below maintenance.
- **On-chain data.** Public blockchains show flows, supply held on exchanges, and active addresses. Interpretation varies and is often contested.
- **Regulation and tax.** Rules differ by jurisdiction and are changing. Regulated US products (for example spot bitcoin ETFs, CME bitcoin futures) carry different protections than offshore exchanges.

## Pro vocabulary
Spot, perp, funding rate, open interest, liquidation, mark price vs last price, basis, cash-and-carry, order book depth, slippage, stablecoin depeg, custody, hot/cold wallet, seed phrase, gas, DEX/CEX, TVL, token unlocks, emissions, market cap vs fully diluted value.

## How a professional desk thinks
- Counterparty and custody risk come first, before price risk.
- Size for crypto volatility, which is typically much higher than equity indices; drawdowns of 50%+ have happened repeatedly in major assets.
- Watch funding, open interest and liquidation levels for signs of crowded leverage.
- Know the token supply schedule (unlocks, emissions), which can create steady selling pressure.
- Weekends and low-liquidity hours magnify moves.

## Key risks and common mistakes
- High leverage on perps leading to liquidation on routine volatility.
- Keeping large balances on a single exchange.
- Phishing, fake apps, malicious smart contracts and wallet-drainer approvals.
- Trusting thin-liquidity token prices and reported market caps.
- Ignoring stablecoin and bridge risk.
- Treating on-chain "whale" moves as signals without context.

## Risk rules the agent applies
1. Flag venue, custody arrangement and counterparty for every position.
2. For leveraged positions, compute the liquidation price and distance to it, with the math shown.
3. Flag upcoming token unlocks, network upgrades and known events.
4. Size with the operator's volatility-adjusted risk rules; note that weekend gaps are common.
5. Never request, store or handle seed phrases, private keys or API keys with withdrawal rights.

## What the agent must never do
- Never recommend a token, entry, leverage level or size.
- Never promise returns or describe yield as risk-free.
- Never place orders, sign transactions, approve contracts or move funds.
- Never ask for private keys or seed phrases.

## Sources to verify
- SEC Investor.gov on crypto assets: https://www.investor.gov
- CFTC customer advisories on digital assets: https://www.cftc.gov/LearnAndProtect
- CME Group cryptocurrency futures specs: https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/cryptocurrencies.html
- Bitcoin whitepaper (primary source): https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf


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Source: The Agentic Trader (https://theagentictrader.com/skills/crypto). Last verified 2026-10-14. Educational only. Not financial advice.