Overview

To reduce or close a position, you need to place an order in the opposite direction of your current position.

For example:

- If you hold a long position → place a sell order to reduce or close it.

- If you hold a short position → place a buy order to reduce or close it.

You can find your current position details on the Positions tab at the bottom of the futures trading page.

There are a few different ways to do this, which we’ll explain below.

1. Reducing or Closing Positions Without Using Reduce-Only Option

You can manually enter an order in the opposite direction by inputting the order size you want to reduce the position by.

⚠️ Important: If the order size exceeds your current position size, the system will first close your existing position and then open a new position in the opposite direction with the remaining size. This may result in an unintended position reversal.

Example:

- You hold a long position of 1 BTC.

- You place a short order for 1.5 BTC without enabling the Reduce-Only option.

- Result: Your 1 BTC long position will be fully closed, and a new 0.5 BTC short position will be opened.

If your intent was only to reduce the long position, using the Reduce-Only option (see below) is the safer approach.

2. Using the Reduce-Only Option

The Reduce-Only option ensures that an order can only reduce your existing position — it can never increase your position size or open a position in the opposite direction.

Example:

- You hold a long position of 1 BTC.

- You place a short order for 0.8 BTC with the Reduce-Only option enabled.

- Result: Your long position will be reduced to 0.2 BTC. No new short position will be opened, regardless of market movement.

3. Why Your Reduce-Only Option May Be Rejected: Projected Position Issue

This is a commonly misunderstood scenario. Even if you have an open position, your Reduce-Only option may still be rejected if your projected position is zero, which can be caused by open orders.

How projected position is calculated:

Projected Position = Current Position + All Open Orders

When you submit a Reduce-Only option, the system evaluates the projected position — not just the current position. If open orders have already "consumed" part of the available position to be reduced, a subsequent Reduce-Only option will be rejected.

Here’s an example of a rejected Reduce-Only order:

  Step 1 — Current state:

  - Open position: Short 2 BTC (Calculated as -2 BTC)

  - Open order: Long 2 BTC (Calculated as +2 BTC)

  Step 2 — Projected position calculation:

  Projected position = -2 BTC + 2 BTC = 0 BTC
(The existing long order already covers the full short position.)

  Step 3 — User attempts to place:

  - A new long order for 1 BTC with Reduce-Only enabled

  Step 4 — Result:

  - Rejected. The projected position is already 0 — there is nothing left to reduce.

  - The system will not accept this Reduce-Only option.

Why does this happen?

The system treats the existing open long order as already reducing the short position. Accepting another Reduce-Only long option on top of that would result in a net long position, which defeats the purpose of a Reduce-Only option.

What can you do instead?

- Cancel the existing open long order first, then re-submit the Reduce-Only option.

- Or, if you want to close the position at market price, cancel all open orders and use a market close order directly from the Positions tab.