OCT 4, 2026
4 MIN READ
1,000 WORDS
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Perpetual futures, or perps, are futures contracts with no expiry date, so you can hold a leveraged long or short position for as long as you stay margined. Aevo’s perpetual futures trade around the clock on an order book that matches off-chain and settles on-chain. Perps and options share one cross-margin account, and PERPS+ lets you attach options protection to a BTC or ETH perp in one tap.
Perp DEX volume in the 30 days to July 2026, per Castle Labs and Block Scholes
Perpetual specifications on Aevo: standard and tokenized equity
Ondo tokenized equities listed with spot and matching perps on 7 August 2026
AEVO distributed each week through the trading epoch, split by volume
01
What are perpetual futures or “perps”?
A perpetual future is a futures contract with no expiry date. You hold a long or short position for as long as you can keep it margined, and a periodic funding payment between longs and shorts keeps the contract price close to the price of the underlying asset. The perpetual futures lesson walks through the mechanics.
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What is a perp dex?
A perp dex is a decentralized exchange for perpetual futures, where trades settle on-chain instead of on a centralized exchange’s books. Aevo is a perp dex with an off-chain order book, on-chain settlement and up to 20x leverage on BTC and ETH, and the same account trades options too. New to the mechanics? Read how to trade perpetual futures.
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How perps work on Aevo
Order book matching. Orders match off-chain at exchange speed against a central limit order book.
On-chain settlement. Trades settle on the Aevo L2.
One account. Perps share a cross-margin account with options, and you can use isolated margin on the same account. Accounts with more than $5,000 in assets can switch on portfolio margin. See cross margin perps & options.
Cross collateral. Most venues only take USDC or USDT. Aevo also accepts ETH, WBTC and its own aeUSD as collateral, each with its own collateral ratio. Profit and loss still settle in USDC.
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BTC and ETH contract specifications
Parameter
BTC-PERP
ETH-PERP
Underlying
Aevo BTC Index
Aevo ETH Index
Contract size
1 contract = 1 BTC
1 contract = 1 ETH
Quote and collateral
USDC settlement. Collateral in USDC, USDT, aeUSD, ETH or WBTC
Same as BTC-PERP
Funding period
1 hour
1 hour
Initial margin
5% (20x maximum)
5% (20x maximum)
Maintenance margin
3%
3%
Fees
0.08% taker, 0.05% maker
0.08% taker, 0.05% maker
Liquidation fee
1%
1%
Minimum order value
10 USDC
10 USDC
Source: Aevo contract specifications, October 2026. See where a position at your leverage would be liquidated:
Where does a leveraged position get liquidated?
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Two perpetual specifications
Aevo runs two kinds of perp side by side, and they don’t follow the same rules.
Type
What it is
Rule that matters
Standard perpetuals
BTC, ETH and a long list of altcoins
3% maintenance margin, funding against an index price
Tokenized equity perps
Perps on Ondo tokenized stocks such as NVDAon, TSLAon, SPYon, QQQon, HOODon and GOOGLon
Listed 7 August 2026 alongside spot, so carry trades can sit on one venue
Read the specification for the market you’re trading. A tokenized equity perp follows an underlying that stops trading at the closing bell, which a BTC perp never does.
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Popular markets
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Add protection with PERPS+
PERPS+ bundles an options hedge into a BTC or ETH perp, so you can limit your loss, get paid to hold or lock a range without choosing a strike or an expiry. It covers BTC and ETH perps only. Everything else on the venue is hedged manually or through OTC, which runs on mainnet outside the regular margin system. Accounts with more than $5,000 in assets can run these hedges under portfolio margin, which lowers the margin a hedged position needs. See how cross margin perps & options work together. The full walkthrough is on the options hedging page.
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Rewards for perp traders
Perp volume counts towards three reward streams: weekly USDC cashback paid out of trading fees, the weekly 1M AEVO epoch, and the Aevo year-end rewards, a USDC reward projected at roughly 808,800 USDC for 2026. Staking AEVO changes your share.
09
Know the risks
Leverage amplifies losses as fast as gains. A liquidation takes your margin on that position, and in a cross-margin account it can draw on the rest of your collateral. Read how cross margin perps & options work, the spot vs perp prices lesson and the leverage and margin lesson before you size a position.
WHERE TO GO NEXT
Browse every crypto perpetual markets on Aevo with live mark and index prices. Start with how to trade perpetual futures if funding, mark price and liquidation are new to you. To hedge perps with options in one tap, PERPS+ attaches a floor, a ceiling or both to a BTC or ETH perp. Prefer to trade the option itself? See the options dex.
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Frequently asked questions
What are perpetual futures?
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Is Aevo a decentralized perpetuals exchange?
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What collateral do Aevo perps use?
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Which perps does PERPS+ cover?
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Can I trade perps on tokenized stocks?
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Can I use isolated margin on Aevo perps?
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What is portfolio margin?
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Check out the BTC order book
Open a perps position on Aevo
Trade Perps ↗
MATCHING
OFF-CHAIN ORDER BOOK
SETTLEMENT
ON-CHAIN, AEVO L2
HOURS
24 / 7 / 365
COLLATERAL
USDC, USDT, AEUSD, ETH, WBTC
PRODUCT / PERPETUAL FUTURES
This page is for information only and isn’t financial advice. Options and perpetual futures are high-risk products and you can lose your full position.