What is a Perpetual Future?

Perpetual futures are financial instruments, specifically derivatives, that allow traders to speculate on the future price of an asset. Derivatives in DeFi, or synthetic assets, allow for speculation on the price of an underlying asset without directly owning the asset itself, which opens the way to greater degrees of leverage and is often much more liquid than spot markets.

When compared to traditional futures, perpetual futures have one key difference, which is that it does not have an expiration date and can be held indefinitely.

Centralized vs. Decentralized Futures Exchanges

Perpetual futures were first introduced in crypto by a centralized exchange, BitMEX, back in 2016. Currently, the majority of perpetual futures trading is done in centralized exchanges.

Decentralized futures exchanges are growing in popularity, as unlike centralized futures exchanges, they allow traders to maintain full custody of their assets. As it is permissionless and non-custodial, decentralized futures exchanges also do not require KYC, allowing for a high degree of anonymity. Lastly, decentralized futures exchanges tend to have lower fees due to lower overhead costs.

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Continue exploring the Academy to learn more about how a decentralized future exchange like Horizon Protocol works, or jump right into trading futures on Horizon Protocol Dapp.