What's the easiest way to make money if a stock goes up?

Buy the stock. It's the simplest possible expression of "I think this goes up." You own a share, the share goes up, you sell. No expiration, no direct leverage to manage, no liquidation risk. The trade-off is upside: with a small account, the dollar gain on a correct call is small. If the size of the gain matters to you, the next step up is a leveraged product like a perp — but the simplest answer to the question "how do I make money if a stock goes up" is still: buy the stock.

Can I bet on a stock without buying it?

Yes — and this is exactly what options and perps were built for. Both let you take a position on a stock's direction without owning shares. Options are the older, more common product on retail brokerages and come with more moving parts (strike, expiry, IV). Perps are the newer simpler version for direction-only bets: pick long or short, pick leverage, close when you want. Same directional exposure, different mechanics.

How much money do I need to start?

Less than most people expect. Buying a share of a stock costs whatever the share costs — sometimes hundreds of dollars per share, sometimes fractional shares for a few dollars. Options usually cost the contract premium, which can range from $30 to several hundred per contract depending on the stock. Perps usually require a small amount of margin per contract — often around $50 to $100 to open a meaningful position, depending on the leverage you choose. Higher leverage means less cash up front, but a smaller move can liquidate you.

What's direct leverage and how does it work?

Direct leverage means controlling a position bigger than the cash you put up. If you post $100 of margin at 5x leverage, you control a $500 position. A 1% move in the stock moves your position $5 — which is 5% of your $100 margin. The size of the gain or loss is calculated on the full $500, not the $100. The cash you posted is the most you can lose; the upside is uncapped (in either direction) up to the liquidation point. Direct leverage is the multiplier; the trade is whatever the trade is.

Is this riskier than just buying the stock?

Yes — clearly. Buying a stock with no direct leverage means your downside is bounded by how far the stock can fall (and stocks rarely go to zero overnight). A leveraged perp position can be liquidated in a much smaller move and the margin you posted is gone. The upside is symmetric — direct leverage amplifies wins the same way it amplifies losses. Stop losses and small position sizes are how most disciplined direct-leverage traders manage it. There is no version of direct leverage where the risk goes away.

What's the Easiest Way to Bet on a Stock Going Up?

TL;DR: The simplest way to bet on a stock going up — without buying shares and without learning options — is to open a long perpetual futures contract (perp). Pick a direction, choose a leverage multiplier, and price moves convert linearly into profit or loss. There is no strike, no expiration, and no implied volatility to forecast. The trade-off: faster losses when wrong, capped at the posted margin via automated liquidation.

The simplest way to bet on a stock going up — without buying shares and without learning options — is a perpetual futures contract, or perp. You pick a direction, choose how much leverage to use, and close the trade whenever you want. No expiration date. No greeks. Same direction call you were already going to make.

If you have a hunch about a stock and you've been weighing whether to buy 5 shares or wade into an options chain, this guide is for you. The two paths most people already know, why both fall short, and the third path that actually fits — all below.

The Two Paths Most People Already Know

If you tell someone at a barbecue you think NVDA is headed up before earnings, they'll usually point you to one of two answers. Path one: just buy the stock. Path two: buy a call option. These are the two retail-trading paths that get talked about. They are not the only paths, and neither one is great for someone who has a strong opinion and a small account.

Path 1: Buy the shares

You open a brokerage account, you type in NVDA, you hit buy. With $200 you get a couple of shares. If the stock goes up 5%, you make $10. If it goes up 20%, you make $40. Reliable, transparent, no surprises — and underpowered. A correct call on direction barely shows up in your account. For someone with a strong view, that math is frustrating. The whole point of having a strong opinion is the position should matter.

Path 2: Buy a call option

Options are the leverage product traders are usually pushed toward. A $200 call can act like a $2,000 stock position if the move comes through. The catch: options are easily the most complicated product on a retail brokerage app. You have to pick a strike price, an expiration date, and a premium that already prices in how much the market thinks the stock will move. If your direction is right but the timing is off, the option can expire worthless. If you bought before earnings and volatility drops afterward, you can lose money on a correct call. None of this is theoretical — it happens to most first-time options traders.

Why Both of Those Paths Fall Short for People With a Strong Opinion

Buying shares is too small. Options are too complicated. That's the squeeze most traders feel and don't have a name for. You don't want a textbook on theta and IV crush. You also don't want $40 of upside on a thesis that took you a week to form. What you actually want is the leverage of an option without the four-decision tax that comes with it.

The Third Path: A Perp, Explained in Plain English

Perps (perpetual futures) are contracts that let you trade a stock's price movement with direct leverage, without an expiration date. You put up some cash as margin. The contract gives you exposure to a multiple of that cash. If the stock moves up, you make a multiple of the move. If it moves down, you lose a multiple of the move. You close whenever you want.

Compare that to an option. An option asks: which strike, which expiry, what premium, what's IV doing this week. A perp asks: long or short, how much leverage, when do you close. The number of variables you have to forecast drops — direction is the predictive call; leverage and exit are mechanical. Fewer interlocking decisions to get right means fewer ways to be wrong on a correct view.

A worked example

Say you have $100 and you think AAPL is going up over the next week. With shares, $100 gets you about half a share. A 5% move gets you $5. With a perp at 5x leverage, $100 of margin controls $500 of exposure. The same 5% move gets you $25. Same view, same time horizon, same exit — five times the result. The flip side is identical: a 5% drop costs you $25 instead of $5. Direct leverage is a multiplier on whatever happens, in either direction.

How Direct Leverage Actually Works on a Small Account

Most beginner traders think of direct leverage as a way to swing for the fences. The smarter use is the opposite: direct leverage lets a small account take a position size that matches the conviction without putting more cash on the line. If you have $300 and you'd want to be in a $2,000 stock position to feel like the trade matters, direct leverage closes that gap. You're not adding money. You're sizing the position to the view.

The number that matters is liquidation. Every leveraged position has a price level where the contract automatically closes and your margin is gone. Higher leverage means a smaller move can hit that level. At 2x, the stock has to move roughly 50% against you to liquidate. At 10x, around 10%. Beginners almost always start with too much leverage and find this out the hard way. A reasonable rule for a first trade: stay at 2x or 3x, set a stop loss, and treat the trade as if the cash you posted is already gone.

Key terms

Perpetual futures contract (perp)

A derivative contract that lets a trader take a leveraged position on the price of an underlying stock with no expiration date; positions are kept in line with the underlying stock price via periodic funding payments between longs and shorts.

Direct leverage

Exposure that scales linearly with the underlying stock price — typically expressed as a multiple (e.g., 5x), where a 1% move in the stock produces a 5% move in the leveraged position.

Funding rate

A small periodic fee exchanged between longs and shorts on a perpetual futures contract; when the perp trades above the underlying stock's spot price, longs pay shorts, and vice versa. Funding keeps the contract price tied to the underlying stock price.

Liquidation

Automatic closure of a leveraged position by the platform's risk engine when the trader's margin falls below the maintenance threshold; on retail venues with liquidation engines, this caps losses at the posted margin.

Margin

Cash posted as collateral to control a leveraged position; the position's notional value can be a multiple of the margin posted, based on the leverage ratio.

Maintenance margin

The minimum equity required to keep a leveraged position open; if equity falls below this level, the position is liquidated.

Decision flow

Do you want leveraged directional exposure beyond 1:1 shares? If no, buy the stock and stop here.
Do you need defined-loss certainty up front? If yes, an options long-call is the cleaner tool. Otherwise direct leverage is simpler.
Pick a leverage multiple — lower leverage means a wider stop-loss room before liquidation.
Set the stop-loss BEFORE opening the position; pre-decide the exit on both the win and loss side.
Open the long perpetual futures contract (perp).

Risk: The Part Nobody Likes to Read but You Should

Direct leverage cuts in both directions. The exact mechanism that turns $5 of upside into $25 turns $5 of downside into $25 of downside. There is no leveraged product anywhere in retail finance that gets around that fact.

Two practical defenses. First: size down. Most experienced perp traders use much less leverage than the platform allows. 2x to 3x is a reasonable beginner ceiling. Second: stop losses on every trade. A stop loss is an automatic order that closes your position if the price hits a level you set in advance. It does not prevent losses; it caps them. Set the stop before you open the trade, not after.

Disclaimer

Not Financial Advice. This content is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Please consult a qualified financial professional before making any trading or investment decisions.

Risk Warning. Trading involves significant risk of loss, including the potential loss of your entire investment. Do not trade with money you cannot afford to lose.

No Invitation to Trade. Nothing in this content constitutes an invitation to trade, an inducement to engage in any investment activity, or a recommendation to enter into any trade or transaction. This content should not be relied upon in connection with any trading or investment decision.

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FAQ

What's the easiest way to make money if a stock goes up?: Buy the stock. It's the simplest possible expression of "I think this goes up." You own a share, the share goes up, you sell. No expiration, no direct leverage to manage, no liquidation risk. The trade-off is upside: with a small account, the dollar gain on a correct call is small. If the size of the gain matters to you, the next step up is a leveraged product like a perp — but the simplest answer to the question "how do I make money if a stock goes up" is still: buy the stock.
Can I bet on a stock without buying it?: Yes — and this is exactly what options and perps were built for. Both let you take a position on a stock's direction without owning shares. Options are the older, more common product on retail brokerages and come with more moving parts (strike, expiry, IV). Perps are the newer simpler version for direction-only bets: pick long or short, pick leverage, close when you want. Same directional exposure, different mechanics.
How much money do I need to start?: Less than most people expect. Buying a share of a stock costs whatever the share costs — sometimes hundreds of dollars per share, sometimes fractional shares for a few dollars. Options usually cost the contract premium, which can range from $30 to several hundred per contract depending on the stock. Perps usually require a small amount of margin per contract — often around $50 to $100 to open a meaningful position, depending on the leverage you choose. Higher leverage means less cash up front, but a smaller move can liquidate you.
What's direct leverage and how does it work?: Direct leverage means controlling a position bigger than the cash you put up. If you post $100 of margin at 5x leverage, you control a $500 position. A 1% move in the stock moves your position $5 — which is 5% of your $100 margin. The size of the gain or loss is calculated on the full $500, not the $100. The cash you posted is the most you can lose; the upside is uncapped (in either direction) up to the liquidation point. Direct leverage is the multiplier; the trade is whatever the trade is.
Is this riskier than just buying the stock?: Yes — clearly. Buying a stock with no direct leverage means your downside is bounded by how far the stock can fall (and stocks rarely go to zero overnight). A leveraged perp position can be liquidated in a much smaller move and the margin you posted is gone. The upside is symmetric — direct leverage amplifies wins the same way it amplifies losses. Stop losses and small position sizes are how most disciplined direct-leverage traders manage it. There is no version of direct leverage where the risk goes away.

Sources

Options trading requires understanding of strike, expiration, implied volatility, and the greeks (delta, theta, gamma, vega). — CBOE — Options Education Center (accessed 4/28/2026)
Margin trading uses borrowed funds and amplifies both gains and losses. Investors must understand maintenance requirements and the risk of margin calls. — SEC — Margin: Borrowing Money to Pay for Stocks (accessed 4/28/2026)