Have you traded on Bybit yet?
I've been trying out Bybit for sometime now and i've had a good experience with this derivatives exchange for BTC. Here the P&L is settled in BTC itself so if you are looking to long or short Bitcoin then it's an exchange option worth considering. It's one of the few exchanges that i've come to enjoy using in recent times.
You need to be careful when using leverage but you can always trade with low leverage or simply use 1x leverage while you're learning risk management and position sizing.
There's a number of ways to trade depending on your strategy. For example, you can simply hold btc and do nothing when it goes up and take 1x short to maintain its USD value when it drops. Margin trading is generally best for experienced traders owing to the risks of liquidation if you aren't careful with leverage.
Normally on a spot exchange you would need to sell Bitcoin for FIAT or stablecoin and then buy back btc. Here you can short bitcoin and close your trades and have profit or loss settled in Bitcoin itself similar to Bitmex.
If you are keen about learning how to margin trade then I suggest you master risk management for leverage trading first. Bybit has a good video to help you do just that over here
You can also learn how to use Bybit and it's features by watching the following video.
Bybit is also giving upto $90 in bonus for some easy tasks once you signup with them. You can create an account now and make use of this bonus for paying towards your trading fees etc.
I've used a few different exchanges but for derivatives trading Bybit is easy to use with an intuitive UI. Check it out for yourself and I wish you a successful year in crypto trading.
After a long headache, I finally got approved on Coinbase. Turns out they were confused as I was an American student living in Germany, but applying using my US credentials. I'm so glad their are alternatives like Bybit out there.
I would recommend using a VPN like TorGuard then you don't need to worry about the location of your ip and it's always a good id to mask it if possible. Bybit doesn't require KYC and i'm not sure if you can use it as a US citizen with a US ip. But you will be able to use it just fine with any non-US ip if such a clause were to exist. :)
I have a discount code for TorGuard if you decide to try it out: TGLifetime50
Also, i've observed Bybit's performance to remain consistent and they have a good live chat support.