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What Is a Perpetual Contract and Does It Expire?

A perpetual contract follows the price of an asset, like a US stock, cryptocurrency, index or commodity, but never expires. You can hold your position as long as your margin covers it.

Prerequisites & Limits

  • No expiry: unlike regular futures, perpetual contracts have no fixed expiry date.

  • Margin required: your position stays open only while you meet the margin requirement.

  • Funding: because perps never expire, a small periodic funding payment keeps the contract price in line with the real market price.

  • Same across markets: Global Futures, crypto, indices and commodities are all perpetual contracts.

Step-by-Step Navigation

  1. Open any contract from Market.

  2. Check the contract details and funding info shown on the trading screen.

  3. Open a position and keep an eye on your margin in the Positions tab.

Common Failures & Troubleshooting

  • My position closed on its own: Perps don't expire, so this was likely liquidation because margin ran low. See the Liquidation articles.

  • I'm paying charges while holding: That's funding, charged every 1, 4 or 8 hours depending on the symbol.

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