0.36% stop or 1.31% stop? Same 20 USDT risk on a BYDFi SOL long, very different results after fees (TP/SL, intermediate)

Here is the math.

The SOL market at 9:54 AM ET, BYDFi public data

SOL_USDT last 94.34, fair 94.32, index 94.32, down 0.43%, 24 hour range 93.21 to 95.87. One contract is 0.1 SOL. The contract data listed a 0.06% taker and 0.02% maker rate, maintenance margin 0.5%, funding 0.01% per 8 hours.

The screenshot is the live BYDFi SOLUSDT perp page at 9:57 AM ET: 94.14, down 0.64%, index 94.11, fair price 94.11, funding +0.0100% with 01:02:05 left, 24h high 95.87 and low 93.21, a 15m chart and the live order book.

Both examples are illustrations: account 2,000 USDT, risk 1% (20 USDT), market long at 94.34, market exits at the 0.06% taker rate.

Wide stop: 93.10, just under the 24h low

1. Distance 1.24 per SOL, about 1.31%.
2. Fees in and out: 0.0006 x 94.34 + 0.0006 x 93.10 = 0.112 per SOL.
3. Risk per SOL: 1.352. Size 20 / 1.352 = 14.7 SOL, or 147 contracts, about 1,386.80 USDT of value.
4. Target at 2R: 96.82. Net gain about 34.77 USDT against a 19.88 loss at the stop, about 1.75R.

Tight stop: 94.00, just under the nearest wick

1. Distance 0.34 per SOL, about 0.36%.
2. Fees are about the same per SOL, 0.113.
3. Risk per SOL: 0.453. Size 20 / 0.453 = 44.1 SOL, or 441 contracts, about 4,160.39 USDT of value.
4. Target at 2R: 95.02. Net gain about 24.98 USDT against a 19.98 loss, about 1.25R.

Why: fees are a fixed cost per SOL, so the smaller the stop, the bigger their share. With the tight stop, fees are about 24.9% of the loss at the stop. With the wide one, about 8.3%. Tight stops also get tagged more often by normal noise, which today ran 2.66 USDT from high to low.

Where break-even really is

Moving the stop to entry once the trade works does not make it free. With 0.06% fees both ways, the price where a SOL long closes flat is about 94.4533, so the "break-even" stop goes one tick above that, at 94.46.

Settings on BYDFi

• Trigger price type: Last, Fair or Index. Fair and Index react less to a single-book wick.
• Price Protection: BYDFi says it can help reduce abnormal TP/SL triggers during extreme volatility.
• A limit take-profit pays the 0.02% maker rate instead of 0.06%, which helps most on the tight-stop version.
• Leverage: the 0.5% maintenance rate means 100x leaves about 0.5% of room, too close for either stop. At 10x, room is about 9.5%.

Common mistakes

• Judging a stop by its percentage alone. Check what share of the loss is fees.
• Calling entry the break-even stop. It is 94.46 here, not 94.34.
• Picking a tight stop to "afford" a bigger position on SOL, ETH or AVAX. Position value tripled here, risk did not drop.
• Reusing BTC or XRP contract sizes. SOL is 0.1 per contract on BYDFi, so redo the unit conversion.

Short FAQ

Is a wide stop always better? No. It needs a smaller position and a target the market can actually reach.

What about funding? At 0.01% per 8 hours, the wide-stop long pays about 0.14 USDT per settlement while the rate stays positive.

Do trailing stops fix this? They change how you exit winners, not the fee share of the initial stop.

Can a limit take-profit help the tight version? Some. At the 0.02% maker rate the exit fee on 44.1 SOL at 95.02 falls from about 2.51 to 0.84 USDT, but the entry and stop still pay taker.

Verdict: pick the stop width the chart justifies, size from it, and let fees tell you whether the target is still worth it.