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How perpetual futures actually work
The mechanics, explained without the marketing. These pages describe the instrument rather than this product, because the instrument is the part that decides whether a trade survives.
- 01What a perpetual future actually isWhat a perpetual future is, how it differs from a dated future, and what keeps its price near spot.Read it
- 02Funding rates: the price of holding the crowded sideWhat a funding rate is, who pays it, how often it settles, and how to read it as a sentiment signal.Read it
- 03Leverage and liquidation, without the marketingHow leverage sets position size, what maintenance margin means, and what actually triggers a liquidation.Read it
- 04Cross margin or isolated marginThe difference between cross and isolated margin, and which one suits which kind of position.Read it
- 05Stop loss and take profit, and where they failHow stop-loss and take-profit orders work on perps, and the failure modes that make them not fire.Read it
- 06Shorting with a perpetual futureHow shorting works with a perpetual future, and why it needs no borrow, no locate and no margin call.Read it
- 07Open interest, and what it tells you that volume does notWhat open interest counts, how it differs from volume, and what rising or falling OI says about a move.Read it
- 08Mark price, index price and the last tradeThe three prices on a perps screen, which one triggers liquidation, and why they are allowed to differ.Read it
- 09Slippage: the difference between the quote and the fillWhy the fill price differs from the quoted price, how to measure the cost, and the ways to reduce it.Read it
- 10Maker and taker fees, and which one you areWhy venues charge two different fees, what each one costs on a round trip, and when post-only pays off.Read it
- 11Limit orders, market orders and the choice between themPrice certainty against fill certainty, what the time-in-force flags do, and which order suits which job.Read it
- 12What a perp DEX is, and what it is notWhat makes a perps venue a DEX, the two main designs, and what you still have to trust when you use one.Read it
- 13Working out your liquidation priceThe arithmetic behind a liquidation price, worked for a long and a short, and what moves it after you open.Read it
- 14Funding rate arbitrage, and what it really costsThe cash-and-carry trade on perps, what it yields, what capital it ties up, and the ways it actually fails.Read it
- 15Hedging a spot position with a short perpHow to hedge a spot holding with a short perp, how to size it, what the carry costs and where hedges fail.Read it
- 16Position sizing, worked backwards from the stopSizing a leveraged trade from the risk you accept and the stop you set, with leverage as an output.Read it
- 17TWAP settlement, and why the last trade is not usedWhat a time-weighted average price is, why markets settle on one, and how it differs from a TWAP order.Read it
- 18Prediction markets: trading an outcome instead of a priceHow a market on an outcome works, why the price reads as a probability, and what resolution rules decide.Read it
- 19How an up or down window is settledThe window, the reference price and the tie rule behind an up or down market, and why spot disagrees.Read it
- 20Self-custody and exchange custody, compared honestlyWhat custody decides, how the two models fail differently, and the middle ground most venues actually use.Read it
- 21Stock perps: equity exposure without the shareWhat an equity perp is, where its price comes from, how hours and corporate actions work, and what you give up.Read it
- 22How to short bitcoinThe routes to a short bitcoin position, a worked perp short with its liquidation level, and what it costs.Read it
- 23How Anthropic perps workWhat an Anthropic perp tracks, how a private company gets a price, what one point means, and the risks that do not exist on a BTC perp.Read it
- 24How OpenAI perps workWhat an OpenAI perp tracks, how the venues price a company with no public shares, funding, hours, and what changes when a real price appears.Read it