What are perpetual futures, and how do they work?
Updated Nov 10, 2026 · 5 min read
Perpetual futures are futures with no expiry, kept near spot by hourly funding. How funding works, perps vs CME futures vs shares, and Hyperliquid funding and open interest on Nov 9, 2026.
What are perpetual futures? A perpetual future (a “perp”) is a futures contract with no expiry date. You can hold it as long as your margin lasts, long or short, with leverage. Instead of converging to the spot price at expiry, its price is kept close to the underlying by funding: small payments between longs and shorts, paid every hour on Hyperliquid.
Key takeaways
- No expiry: no rolling from one contract month to the next.
- Funding keeps the perp near the index price. When the perp trades above it, longs pay shorts; below it, shorts pay longs.
- Margin and leverage: you post collateral (USDC on Hyperliquid) and can be liquidated if losses eat through it.
- Perps are the most traded crypto derivative, and on Hyperliquid they also cover stocks, indices, commodities and currencies through the XYZ market.
Funding and open interest on Hyperliquid, Nov 9, 2026
The ten largest perps by open interest at the snapshot. Hyperliquid pays funding every hour; the annualised figure is the hourly rate times 8,760.
| Market | Mark price | Funding, per hour | Funding, annualised | Open interest | 24h volume | Max leverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | $74,118 | 0.0013% | 11.0% | $3.08B | $2.98B | 40x |
| ETH | $2,109 | 0.0006% | 5.2% | $1.77B | $1.78B | 25x |
| HYPE | $72.91 | 0.0013% | 11.0% | $1.63B | $497M | 10x |
| ZEC | $1,195 | 0.0013% | 11.0% | $524M | $443M | 10x |
| SOL | $85.92 | -0.0010% | -8.5% | $441M | $379M | 20x |
| XRP | $1.0845 | -0.0006% | -5.2% | $151M | $130M | 20x |
| XMR | $595.70 | 0.0099% | 86.3% | $151M | $30M | 5x |
| NEAR | $3.4861 | -0.0001% | -0.9% | $141M | $66M | 10x |
| LIT | $3.1171 | 0.0013% | 11.0% | $111M | $33M | 5x |
| UNI | $6.7339 | 0.0013% | 11.0% | $68M | $16M | 10x |
Five of the ten sat at 0.0013% an hour, about 11% a year, which is Hyperliquid’s default interest-rate component when the perp trades close to its index. Departures from it show where the crowd leans: at the snapshot, SOL shorts were paying longs about 9% a year and XMR longs were paying shorts about 86% a year.
How funding works
- 01The exchange compares the perp’s price with an index of spot prices (the oracle).
- 02The gap, plus a small interest component, sets the funding rate.
- 03Every hour, each position pays or receives position size × funding rate. On Hyperliquid a positive rate means longs pay shorts.
- 04Funding is paid between traders, not to the exchange.
Example: a $10,000 BTC long held for a day at 0.0013% an hour pays about $3.12 in funding (10,000 × 0.000013 × 24).
Perps vs CME futures vs shares
| Hyperliquid perps | CME Bitcoin futures | US shares | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expiry | None | Monthly and quarterly contracts; trading ends on the last Friday of the month | None |
| What keeps the price in line | Hourly funding between longs and shorts | Converges at expiry; cash-settled to the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate | It is the asset itself |
| Trading hours | 24/7 | 24/7 since May 29, 2026, apart from short weekly and daily breaks | Exchange hours, 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET, plus extended sessions at some brokers |
| Contract size | Any size, from about $10 | 5 BTC (standard), 0.1 BTC (Micro) | One share, fractional at some brokers |
| Leverage | Up to 40x on BTC | Exchange-set margin per contract | Up to 2:1 at purchase (50% Reg T initial margin), 25% FINRA maintenance minimum |
| Settled in | USDC | US dollars | Shares |
| Access | Self-custody wallet, no account; not yet open to US persons | Through a regulated futures broker, with KYC | Through a broker, with KYC |
Leverage and liquidation
Leverage multiplies both the gain and the loss on the margin you post. Liquidation comes before the margin is fully gone, at the maintenance margin, which on Hyperliquid is half the initial margin at the market’s maximum leverage. That is why a 20x position on a market with 20x maximum leverage is liquidated after roughly a 2.5% move against it. The full mechanics are in Hyperliquid funding, margin and liquidation explained.
Perps are leveraged products
You can lose your whole margin, quickly, and funding is a cost on top when you hold the crowded side. Use a stop on the exchange and size positions so a normal day’s move cannot liquidate them.
How to trade perps on a DEX automatically with Senpi
Hyperliquid is a decentralised exchange: you keep custody of the USDC margin, and every trade settles on its own chain. Senpi adds an agent on top. Describe the rule in a sentence to your Senpi agent, in the app or from Claude, ChatGPT or another AI app through the connectors. Senpi shows the rules back to you, then runs them in a separate strategy wallet with the stop attached from the first fill. Funding is one of the inputs its templates read:
- Ant, funding harvester: shorts perps where longs are paying high funding, once the long crowd is exhausted, and collects the funding while it waits.
- Pangolin, funding-rate fader: takes the other side of a crowd that keeps paying steep funding for hours.
What is the difference between perpetual futures and regular futures?
Regular futures have an expiry date and converge to the spot price at expiry, so holders roll from one contract to the next. Perpetual futures never expire; a funding payment between longs and shorts keeps their price close to spot instead.
How often is funding paid on Hyperliquid?
Every hour. On Nov 9, 2026 five of the ten largest Hyperliquid perps paid 0.0013% an hour, about 11% a year, from longs to shorts.
Can you lose more than you put in with perpetual futures?
On Hyperliquid your loss on a position is limited to the margin assigned to it, because the position is liquidated first. With cross margin, that can mean the whole account balance backing it. That is why isolated margin, small size and stops matter.
Can US residents trade perps on Hyperliquid?
Not yet through Hyperliquid itself: its current terms exclude US persons. US access is moving: the CFTC approved stock perps on registered US exchanges on Nov 3, 2026, and ICE and Trade[XYZ] are building a regulated US market on Hyperliquid’s infrastructure and Kraken’s Bitnomial plans permissioned Hyperliquid perps, both pending CFTC approval. Hyperliquid in the US tracks what opens and when.
Can I trade stock perpetual futures?
Yes. Hyperliquid’s XYZ market lists perps on stocks such as Nvidia and Tesla, on indices and on commodities. See how to trade stocks on Hyperliquid.
Trade perps on Hyperliquid with an agent
Describe the trade or the strategy in a sentence. Senpi shows you the rules, then runs them with a stop from the first fill.
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