Perpetuals vs Options

Rails offers two trading products on one account. Your API keys and authorization work across both, but each product has its own balance, funded and withdrawn independently. What differs is the instrument you trade and the API surface you use to trade it.

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At a glance

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When to use Perpetuals

• You want directional exposure with leverage and no expiry to manage.
• You rely on stop-loss / take-profit trigger orders.
• You want a single order book per market and continuous funding.

Start with the Perpetuals Overview.

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When to use Options

• You want defined-risk strategies, volatility exposure, or hedging.
• You need Greeks and implied volatility to price and manage positions.
• You are comfortable with fixed expiries and cash settlement.

Start with the Options Overview.

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What’s shared

Both products use the same account, credentials, and onboarding, documented once in Get Started:

• Get Set Up with Rails — account and wallet setup
• Environments — base URLs for each environment
• API Keys — creating and managing credentials
• Authorization and Get Access Token — authorizing your requests
• Deposit & Withdraw — funding and withdrawing, done per product

Authorization is identical across products: you obtain an access token once and use it for both Perpetuals and Options WebSocket and REST APIs. Balances, however, are separate — each product is funded and withdrawn independently.