What is a perpetual?

A perpetual (also called a "perp") is the core trading instrument on Markets. It lets you bet on whether an asset's price will go up or down — without an expiration date.

Think of it like making a trade on Tesla's price — without actually buying Tesla stock, and without any deadline on when you need to close it.

How it differs from what you know

If you're coming from stock trading (Robinhood, eToro)

When you buy TSLA on Robinhood, you own the share. If Tesla goes up, you profit when you sell.

On Markets, you open a perpetual position on TSLA. You don't own the share, but your position rises and falls in perfect sync with Tesla's price. You can hold it for 5 minutes or 5 months — entirely your choice.

If you've heard of futures contracts

Traditional futures work like this: "I agree to buy oil at $80 per barrel in 3 months." They have a fixed expiry date and require rollover when they expire.

Perpetuals remove all of that complexity:

Perpetuals vs traditional futures vs spot

✅ Perpetuals are simpler than traditional futures. No expiry. No rollover. No delivery. You open a position, you close it when you want.

The one extra thing: funding rate

Because perpetuals never expire, a small balancing mechanism keeps the perp price anchored to the real asset price. This is called the funding rate — a small hourly payment between longs and shorts.

It's usually tiny. But you should know it exists.

In plain English

A perpetual is a trade that says: "I think Tesla's price is going up (or down), and I want exposure to that move — without owning the stock, without an expiry date, and with the ability to use leverage."

Key facts about perps on Markets

• Settled in USDH — a stablecoin (stable $1 value). No physical assets, no share delivery.
• 24/7/365 — you can open or close any position at any time
• Min position size: 10 USDH
• Leverage: up to 10x on most assets (varies)
• Funding: every hour, a small rate is exchanged between longs and shorts