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What is Perpetual Futures?

Perpetual Futures: a crypto term, explained in plain English.

In one line

A futures bet on a price that never expires, kept close to the real price by small payments between buyers and sellers. Often called “perps”.

Crypto Drafted with AI help · Reviewed by Keshav Aggarwal · Updated

In simple words

Imagine two friends betting on the price of a toy, and the bet has no end date. To stop the bet drifting away from the real toy price, the side that is ahead of the shop price pays the other a few coins every few hours.

A perpetual future works like that: traders bet on a price going up or down for as long as they like, often with borrowed money, which is why they can be liquidated.

The technical side

A perpetual future, or perpetual swap, is a derivative contract with no expiry date. A funding rate, usually paid every eight hours, moves money between longs and shorts so that the contract price tracks the spot price: when the perp trades above spot, longs pay shorts, and the other way round. BitMEX popularised the format with its Bitcoin perpetual in 2016, and perps are now the most traded product on crypto exchanges, both centralised ones and on-chain ones such as Hyperliquid.

Perps also trade outside crypto. On Sunday 8 November 2026, with US stock markets closed, Nvidia perps (NVDA-USDC) on Hyperliquid fell 3.8% in 24 hours to $180.50 after Nvidia’s board said it was looking into chief executive Jensen Huang’s relationship with a woman reportedly identified as a Chinese spy. With cash markets shut, the perps were the only place the news could be priced, and funding turned deeply negative. See crypto derivatives on crypto options.

Perpetual Futures kya hai?

Perpetual futures ek aisa trade hai jiski koi expiry date nahi hoti: aap price upar ya neeche jaane par jab tak chaho daav laga sakte ho. Har kuch ghante mein longs aur shorts ke beech funding fee jaati hai, taaki perp ka price asli price ke paas rahe. Zyaadatar log ise udhaar (leverage) ke saath trade karte hain, isliye liquidation ka khatra rehta hai.

Not investment advice. Crypto tokens can lose all their value. Read the risk disclaimer.

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