--- title: "What Are Perpetual Futures (Perps) in Crypto?" term: "Perpetual futures (perps)" type: glossary_term canonical: https://www.moonwire.org/insights/glossary/perpetual-futures.html --- # What Are Perpetual Futures (Perps) in Crypto? > Futures contracts with no expiry date. Instead of settling on a fixed day, they are kept close to the spot price by periodic funding payments between longs and shorts. **Perpetual futures** — perpetual swaps, or simply *perps* — are derivative contracts that let traders hold long or short exposure to an asset without owning it and without an expiry date. They are the most traded instrument in crypto, and they are also increasingly offered on assets beyond crypto, such as stock indices and individual shares. ## How they differ from ordinary futures A traditional futures contract settles on a set date, and its price converges on the spot price as that date approaches. A perpetual never settles, so it needs another way to stay anchored to the underlying market. That mechanism is the [funding rate](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/glossary/funding-rate.md): - When the perpetual trades **above** the spot or index price, longs pay shorts at each funding interval, making it more expensive to stay long. - When it trades **below**, shorts pay longs. Those payments pull the contract price back toward the underlying price without any delivery. ## Leverage and margin Perps are traded on margin: a trader posts collateral worth a fraction of the position size. That magnifies both gains and losses. If losses eat through the posted margin, the exchange closes the position automatically — a **liquidation**. Clusters of liquidations can accelerate a price move, because forced selling (or buying) triggers further forced orders. ## Why they matter for reading the market - The total value of open perpetual positions is a large share of [open interest](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/glossary/open-interest.md) across crypto. - The funding rate shows which side of the market is crowded and paying for it. - A **perp discount** — the contract trading below spot — describes more demand to be short than long at that moment. ## Perps are not the asset A perpetual on a stock gives price exposure; it does not give ownership, votes or dividends in the usual sense. That distinction matters when perps on equities are compared with tokenized shares. ## In MoonWire analysis Our coverage reports perpetual listings, venue volumes, funding and positioning as sources and exchanges report them — as descriptions of market structure, not as trading suggestions. ## Further reading - [Wikipedia: Perpetual futures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_futures) ## Where this appears in MoonWire analysis - [Tokenized Stocks vs Tokenized Equities vs RWAs: What Actually Shipped in 2026](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/tokenized-stocks-vs-tokenized-equities-vs-rwas.md) — Sep 12, 2026 - [Prediction Markets Listed Perps. A Perp Venue Listed Football.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/week-in-review-2026-09-08.md) — Sep 11, 2026 - [Crypto Venues Listed Stock Products All Week. The SEC Scheduled a Roundtable.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/week-in-review-2026-09-01.md) — Sep 11, 2026 - [Three Bitcoin Reads Waited on a Level. The Conviction Was in Fee Revenue.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-08-25.md) — Aug 29, 2026 - [Bitcoin's 20% Lag Was Read Two Ways in One Day: Verdict or Precondition](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-08-11.md) — Aug 16, 2026 - [Treasury Sanctioned Two Exchanges the Day the Senate Punted the Crypto Bill](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/treasury-iran-exchange-sanctions-senate-clarity-delay.md) — Aug 8, 2026 - [BTC Firms 1.85% in Two Days While Open Interest Sits Flat and Perps Trade at a Discount](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/btc-breakout-read-2026-08-03.md) — Aug 5, 2026 - [Market Pulse - August 1: A Patch Reaches the Firmware, Not the Keys It Already Made. Two Other Stories Saturday Worked the Same Way.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-08-01.md) — Aug 3, 2026 - [Market Pulse - July 30: Bitcoin's Exchanges Spent the Day Listing Oil, the S&P 500 and Event Contracts.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-07-30.md) — Jul 31, 2026 - [Market Pulse — July 27: Strategy Went Five Weeks Without Buying Bitcoin — and Named Coin Sales as a Funding Source for Its Buybacks](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-07-27.md) — Jul 29, 2026 - [Market Pulse — July 23: The Venue That Invented the 100x Perpetual Is Closing. The Perpetual Never Left.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-07-23.md) — Jul 24, 2026 - [Market Pulse - July 17: The Coins Lost the Room. The Contracts on Them Didn't.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-07-17.md) — Jul 18, 2026 --- *MoonWire surfaces and summarizes public crypto news.* **General information only — not financial advice.** MoonWire Ltd. is not licensed by ASIC and holds no AFSL. This content does not consider your objectives, financial situation, or needs, and is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset. *This analysis is generated by artificial intelligence and may be inaccurate, incomplete, or fabricated. Independently verify before acting.* © 2026 MoonWire Ltd. · [Terms](https://www.moonwire.org/legal/TOS) · [Risk Disclosure](https://www.moonwire.org/legal/RISK_DISCLOSURE) · [Privacy Policy](https://www.moonwire.org/legal/PRIVACY_POLICY)