Orca Crypto
DeFi term

Perpetual (perp)

A futures contract with no expiry, kept in line by a funding rate.

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Updated 2026-08-303 min readDefinition
Definition

A futures contract with no expiry, kept in line by a funding rate.

Perpetuals let you take leveraged long or short exposure indefinitely. A funding payment passes periodically between longs and shorts to keep the contract price near spot.

Funding is a useful sentiment gauge. Persistently high positive funding means longs are crowded and paying to stay in, which often precedes a flush.

In practice

Hyperliquid and dYdX offer perpetuals onchain. Most crypto derivative volume is in perps, not spot.

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