Dual Leaderboard Competition Rules Explained: Thresholds, Boards and Payouts

2026-09-07

Two thresholds decide whether you are ranked at all, one formula decides where you land on the second board, and a tier table decides how much money exists to be shared. This is the rule set of Bitbase's dual leaderboard futures competition read in the order it actually applies to you, with the payout figures for every tier.

Dual Leaderboard Competition Rules Explained: Thresholds, Boards and Payouts-bitbase-4768

Getting onto a board

Ranking is not automatic for participants. There is a floor, and it is the same figure for both boards: 50,000 USDT of valid futures volume during the event. Below it you are entered but unranked, and unranked means unrewarded.

The PnL percentage board adds a second condition on top of that one. It also requires at least five valid position openings. Both conditions have to hold, so a large single position that clears the volume floor in one trade qualifies for the volume board and not for the other one.

Board	Volume floor	Extra condition	Ranks paid
Trading volume	50,000 USDT	None	1–500
PnL percentage	50,000 USDT	At least 5 valid openings	1–200

What counts as valid volume

The word doing the work in "50,000 USDT of valid volume" is *valid*. Four categories are excluded, and the exclusions are arithmetic rather than accusation: they describe what the counter does not add up.

API trades do not count. Orders with zero fees do not count. Volume generated using futures bonuses or futures trial funds does not count, which is also why a reward from this event cannot be recycled into ranking in the next one. And orders held for less than three minutes do not count.

That last exclusion is the one that changes behaviour most. A position opened and closed inside three minutes contributes nothing to your total no matter how large it was, so volume built from very fast round trips does not accumulate. Two people trading the same notional can end the event with entirely different valid totals depending on how long their positions stayed open, which is worth understanding before treating volume as a simple count.

How the percentage return is computed

The PnL board runs on a formula the rules state explicitly, and reading it carefully matters because it is not the same as the return figure a portfolio screen shows you.

Return percentage is profit divided by the sum of two things, the futures account equity at the start of the event and the net transfers into the futures account during it, multiplied by 100. Profit itself is equity at the end of the event, minus equity at the start, plus transfers out during the event, minus transfers in during it.

The structure of that denominator is the point, and it is closer to the cost basis idea than to a raw profit figure. Adding funds mid-event increases what you are measured against, so topping up does not flatter the percentage. And because transfers out are added back into profit while transfers in are subtracted, moving money in or out during the event does not create or destroy profit on paper. The formula is built to make the ranking reflect trading rather than cash management.

If two participants settle with the same percentage, the tie breaks on valid event volume, highest first.

The unlock tiers, and what each one pays

The prize pool has a ceiling of 300,000 USDT, and how much of it exists depends on the combined futures volume of everyone in the competition. Each unlocked tier splits 80% to the volume board and 20% to the PnL board.

Combined volume	Total unlocked	Volume board	PnL board
500 million USDT	15,000	12,000	3,000
1 billion USDT	30,000	24,000	6,000
2 billion USDT	60,000	48,000	12,000
5 billion USDT	150,000	120,000	30,000
10 billion USDT	300,000	240,000	60,000

Below 500 million USDT combined, nothing unlocks. The tiers are steps rather than a sliding scale, so the pool sits at one figure until the next threshold is crossed.

The payout tables

Within each tier the pool is divided by rank. The two boards use different rank bands, and the volume board pays a hundred places deeper.

Trading volume board, in USDT per participant:

Rank	500M tier	1B tier	2B tier	5B tier	10B tier
1	1,200	2,400	4,800	12,000	24,000
2	1,080	2,160	4,320	10,800	21,600
3	720	1,440	2,880	7,200	14,400
4	600	1,200	2,400	6,000	12,000
5	480	960	1,920	4,800	9,600
6	420	840	1,680	4,200	8,400
7	360	720	1,440	3,600	7,200
8	240	480	960	2,400	4,800
9	180	360	720	1,800	3,600
10	120	240	480	1,140	2,280
11–30	89	178	356	900	1,800
31–100	26	52	104	258	516
101–200	18	36	72	180	360
201–500	4	8	16	40	80

PnL percentage board, in USDT per participant:

Rank	500M tier	1B tier	2B tier	5B tier	10B tier
1	300	600	1,200	3,000	6,000
2	270	540	1,080	2,700	5,400
3	240	480	960	2,400	4,800
4	180	360	720	1,800	3,600
5	150	300	600	1,500	3,000
6	135	270	540	1,350	2,700
7	120	240	480	1,200	2,400
8	105	210	420	1,050	2,100
9	90	180	360	900	1,800
10	60	110	220	550	1,170
11–30	23	45	90	225	450
31–100	7	13	26	65	129
101–200	4	9	18	45	90

Placing on both boards pays the higher of the two amounts, not the sum. Board rewards do stack with the daily draw, which is settled separately.

When rewards arrive, and in what form

Rewards are distributed within ten business days of the event ending, and they arrive as futures trial funds rather than as a balance you can withdraw. Trial funds carry a 50% deduction ratio and require matching assets in the futures account at a one-to-one ratio, which puts them closer to a margin requirement than to a payout. Once received they appear in the coupon centre.

Reading a payout figure from the tables above as cash therefore overstates it. The tables give the size of the credit, and the conditions on that credit are part of the reward rather than fine print underneath it. Questions about rules or rewards go to official customer support.

The bottom line

The rule set resolves into a short sequence. Clear 50,000 USDT of valid volume, remembering that API trades, zero-fee orders, bonus-funded volume and sub-three-minute positions are not counted. Add five valid openings to reach the second board. Watch the combined field volume, because it decides which tier's payout column applies. Then read whatever figure you land on as a trial fund credit with a 50% deduction ratio, not as USDT.

The full terms are published on the event page and are the authoritative version, including the clause that final rankings and reward eligibility rest on Bitbase's own review. If you are weighing whether to take part at all, the wider guide to the competition covers eligibility and the daily draw. To keep learning the fundamentals, follow more from Bitbase Academy.