Perpetual Futures: What They Are, How They Work, and Where to Trade Them

When you trade perpetual futures, a type of derivative contract that never expires and is designed to track the price of an underlying asset like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Also known as perps, they let you go long or short without ever having to own the actual coin. Unlike regular futures that expire on a set date, perpetuals keep going—forever. That’s why they’re the most popular way traders bet on crypto price moves today.

How do they stay tied to the real price? Through a funding rate. Every 8 hours, longs pay shorts (or vice versa) based on how much demand is skewed one way. If everyone’s buying, longs pay shorts to keep the price in line. It’s a clever system that stops the contract from drifting too far from Bitcoin’s actual value. This makes perpetual futures perfect for short-term traders who want leverage without worrying about expiration dates. You can trade 10x, 50x, even 100x leverage on platforms like Kine Protocol or BigONE—but remember, higher leverage means higher risk. One bad move and your position gets liquidated.

Perpetual futures are mostly traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and centralized platforms that support derivatives. You’ll find them on Kine Protocol, which offers zero gas fees and no KYC, or on BigONE, which gives you access to 100x leverage but had a $27M hack in 2025. Not all platforms are equal. Some, like PancakeSwap v2 on zkEVM, have zero trading pairs and aren’t usable yet. Others, like SoupSwap, are dead with no volume and no updates. If you’re looking to trade perps, stick to platforms with real liquidity, active users, and clear audit records. Avoid anything that looks like a ghost platform.

Why do traders love perpetual futures? Because they let you profit whether the market goes up or down. You don’t need to wait for a bull run—you can short Ethereum during a dip and still make money. This flexibility turns them into a core tool for both retail speculators and professional market makers. But they’re not for beginners. If you don’t understand funding rates, liquidation levels, or how leverage works, you’re just gambling. Most people who lose big in crypto lose it trading perps.

The rise of Layer 2 chains like Unichain and Polygon zkEVM is making perps cheaper and faster to trade. On Ethereum, gas fees used to eat into small profits. Now, with 95% lower fees on Unichain, even small traders can use perps without getting crushed by costs. This shift is changing who can play—and how often they trade.

What you’ll find below are real reviews of platforms that actually support perpetual futures, plus warnings about fake or dead exchanges pretending to offer them. You’ll see how sanctions, hacks, and regulatory shifts have reshaped the landscape in 2025. Some platforms vanished overnight. Others adapted. This isn’t theory. It’s what’s happening right now, on the ground, with real money on the line.