Leverage trading allows you to increase your position in a trade by (in Bitmexs case) upto 100%. This means that any profit you derive from an investment will be multiplied 100 times. The catch, of course, is that although you can make alot of money form a winning trade - you can also lose lots too.
As someone who enjoys trading small (very very small) amounts of crypto - Bitmex caught my interest. I have been using it two weeks and have been impressed with it. At the same time I have lost all my statoshi on it.
The auto deleveraging feature allows you to lose no more than your original investment, and the make taker style market means that you can can earn rather than pay in transaction fees - if your a market maker.
For a newbie to order books and trading, I would warn that (as I show) losing money is very easy on leveraged (AKA margin) trades and furthermore you may find this style of trading a bit confusing. BitMex offer trades across several main crypto's with a level of leverage, it also has an API which looks promising but I have not tested. I found the community to be quite laid back and on the fun side of trading. As a small trader (sometimes trading fractions of a cent) I was attracted to the high level of leverage available (I'm not sure any other platform matches this for bitcoin). I also enjoyed the ease of setting up an account, transfers are only done in bitcoin, but do not require any formal registration.
My experience on Bitmex has helped me understand alot more about how markets work and are underpinned, how currency is pumped, and the nature of money itself. Call me strange, but I find this kind of fun to play with.
Using this link to sign up will give you a limited time fee discount, and also earn me some much needed micro dollar. https://www.bitmex.com/register/d314uw
Top tip: Avoid this type of trading like a bad rash, if you have even a hint of a gambling problem.