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Perpetual trading involves significant risk, including the possibility of losing more than your initial margin. Only trade with funds you can afford to lose.
Perpetual trading lets you speculate on the price of cryptocurrencies without owning the underlying asset. You trade a perpetual contract that tracks the market price of an asset like BTC or ETH. Unlike traditional futures, perpetual contracts have no expiry date — your position stays open until you close it or it is liquidated.

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How Perpetual Contracts Work

  • No asset ownership — you never actually hold BTC, ETH, or any other coin.
  • Leverage — you can control a position much larger than your deposited funds.
  • Mark Price — positions are valued using the Mark Price, designed to reflect fair value and reduce manipulation.
  • Liquidation — if the market moves against you beyond your margin buffer, your position is closed automatically.
  • Order types — perpetual orders use the same market, limit, and stop types and Time in Force options as spot. See Order Types.

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Perpetual vs Spot — Key Differences

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Who Should Use Perpetual Trading?

Perpetual trading is designed for traders who want to speculate on short-term price movements, hedge existing spot positions, and are comfortable with the risks of leverage and liquidation.
New to trading? Start with What is Spot Trading? first.