OCT 4, 2026
5 MIN READ
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Learn how to trade perpetual futures. A perpetual future is a futures contract with no expiry date. It lets you take a leveraged long or short position on an asset for as long as you can keep it margined, and a periodic payment called funding keeps its price tied to the real market. This lesson covers how perps work, how to read a perp market, how margin and liquidation shape a position, and where the risks sit.
IN THIS LESSON
A perp has no expiry. You can hold it as long as you stay margined.
Funding payments between longs and shorts keep the perp price close to the index price.
Leverage multiplies gains and losses, and liquidation closes your position if margin runs out.
Perps are the most traded derivative in DeFi, which is why they’re the first thing most traders learn.
Perp DEX volume in the 30 days to July 2026, per Castle Labs and Block Scholes
Growth in DeFi perp volume since early 2024
Growth in DeFi perp open interest over the same period
01
What is a perpetual future?
A traditional futures contract settles on a fixed date. A perpetual future never does. You open a long if you expect the price to rise or a short if you expect it to fall, and you keep the position open until you close it or run out of margin.
You don’t own the underlying asset. You hold a contract whose profit and loss follow its price. On Aevo, that profit and loss settles in USDC.
02
Why do perps stay close to the real price?
With no expiry, nothing pulls the contract price back to the asset price at a set date. Funding does that job instead.
When the perp trades above the index price, longs pay shorts.
When the perp trades below the index price, shorts pay longs.
The payment goes between traders. It isn’t a fee to the exchange.
Funding pushes the perp back toward the index. On Aevo’s BTC and ETH perps the funding period is one hour, so the payment is calculated and exchanged every hour. Try the direction and the size of a payment below.
Who pays funding, and how much?
BTC and ETH perps on Aevo use a one-hour funding period. Rates here are your inputs. Funding moves between traders, not to the exchange.
A long position held through a period of high positive funding pays that cost every interval, so funding is part of what a position really costs. Check the funding rate on the market ticket before you hold a position for days.
03
Mark price, index price and last price
A perp market shows several prices, and they do different jobs.
Price
What it is
Used for
Last price
The price of the most recent trade on the order book
What you see moving on the chart
Index price
A reference price built from the underlying market
Anchoring funding
Mark price
The exchange's fair value estimate for the perp
Calculating unrealized profit and liquidation
Liquidations run off the mark price, not the last traded price. That’s designed to stop one thin trade from liquidating people.
04
Margin, leverage and liquidation
To open a position you post margin, which is collateral held against it. Leverage is the position size divided by that margin, so 10x leverage means a position worth ten times your margin.
If the market moves against you and your margin falls below a minimum called maintenance margin, the exchange liquidates the position. You lose the margin on it. The leverage and margin lesson covers the maths and has a calculator.
05
Perps, dated futures and spot
Feature
Spot
Dated future
Perpetual
Expiry
None
Fixed date
None
Leverage
No
Yes
Yes
You hold the asset
Yes
No
No
Price tied to index by
Direct ownership
Convergence at expiry
Funding payments
Main cost of holding
None
Basis to spot
Funding
06
How perps work on Aevo
Contract specs. BTC and ETH perps settle in USDC against an Aevo index, with 1 contract equal to 1 BTC or 1 ETH, 5% initial margin, 3% maintenance margin and 20x maximum leverage.
Order book. Orders match off-chain against a central limit order book and settle on-chain.
One account. Perps share a cross-margin account with options, with isolated margin on the same account. OTC trades are outside the regular margin system. See unified margin.
Two specifications. Standard perps and tokenized equity perps follow different rules. Read the perpetual futures page.
PERPS+. On BTC and ETH perps you can attach an options hedge at entry. See options hedging.
07
Common mistakes
Ignoring funding. A small rate per interval adds up over days.
Using too much leverage. High leverage leaves almost no room for normal price noise.
Treating cross margin as isolated. A loss on one position draws on the whole account.
The perp trades above the index price and funding is positive. Who pays whom?
When the perp trades above the index, longs pay shorts. The payment is between traders and pushes the perp price back toward the index.
Which price decides whether your position gets liquidated?
Liquidations run off the mark price, which is designed to stop a single thin trade from triggering them.
WHERE TO GO NEXT
Trading leveraged contracts with no expiry? Aevo runs a perps dex with on-chain settlement and 20x on BTC and ETH. The deepest market on the venue is the BTC perps market, with options and PERPS+ on the same asset. Before sizing anything, check how liquidation works with the interactive leverage calculator. New to derivatives? The crypto derivatives guides take you from your first perp to hedging in seven short lessons.
08
Frequently asked questions
What is a perpetual future?
+
What is the funding rate?
+
Do I own the asset when I trade a perp?
+
What is liquidation?
+
How are perps different from options?
+
Put the lesson to work
Practice on testnet or start small on mainnet.
Launch Exchange ↗
KEEP GOING
LEVEL
BEGINNER
TIME
10 MINUTES
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
NONE
WORKED EXAMPLES
ILLUSTRATIVE
LEARN / PERPETUAL FUTURES / LESSON 2
This lesson is for education only and isn’t financial advice. Leveraged products can lose more than you expect, quickly. Worked examples are simplified and use illustrative numbers.