Spot: when you buy BTC with USDT, you get actual BTC. You can hold it long-term, transfer it out or withdraw it.
Futures: USDT perpetual futures trade price movements. You do not hold the coin itself; instead you use USDT as margin, and profit and loss are settled according to price changes. Perpetual futures have no expiry date.
1. What you hold
With spot you hold the coin; with futures you hold a long or short position.
2. Leverage
Spot has no leverage: what you buy is what you get. Futures can use leverage, which magnifies profit and loss by the leverage multiple; see what leverage is in futures trading.
3. Going short
With spot you can only buy first and sell later, so you only profit when the price rises. With futures you can open either a long or a short, and a short position profits when the price falls.
4. Fees
On Akunosai, spot fees start from 0.1%; futures fees are 0.02% maker and 0.06% taker, charged once when you open and once when you close. While you hold a futures position, you also pay or receive funding fees at each settlement time. For full details, see spot and futures trading fees.
5. Risk
Spot has no liquidation: if the price falls, you still hold the same number of coins. A futures position is liquidated when its margin is no longer enough to keep it open, and you can lose your entire margin.
Which should beginners start with?
If you just want to hold BTC or ETH long-term, spot is simpler. If you want to learn futures, practice first with the 10,000 virtual USDT on the futures demo account, and only consider real money once you understand leverage, stop-loss and liquidation. You can also join a demo trading contest.
On Akunosai, spot and futures use two separate accounts: USDT you deposit arrives in your Spot (trading) account first. Before trading futures, transfer it to your futures account; the transfer arrives in seconds and is free of charge.