Futures vs Perpetual Futures: What Is the Difference in Crypto?

Dated futures are contracts that expire on a fixed date and settle against the spot price, while perpetual futures never expire and use periodic funding payments to stay close to spot. Both let you go long or short an asset with leverage and without owning it. The difference is how each contract keeps its price tied to the underlying market, and that difference changes what it costs to hold a position.

Key takeaways

• Dated futures have an expiry date and converge to spot at settlement.
• Perpetual futures ("perps") have no expiry and use a funding rate instead.
• The holding cost of a dated future is locked in by its basis when you open it; a perp's cost changes every funding interval.
• Dated futures must be rolled to keep exposure; perps can be held as long as margin allows.
• Both are used in cash-and-carry trades, but the return profile is different.

How dated futures work

A dated future is an agreement to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a set date. Crypto exchanges typically list weekly, monthly or quarterly contracts, and most settle in cash. At expiry, the exchange closes every open position at a settlement price derived from the spot index.

Because the contract settles at spot, its price must meet the spot price on the expiry date. Before that, it can trade above or below spot. The gap is called the basis. When the future trades above spot the market is in contango, and when it trades below spot it is in backwardation. See contango and backwardation for why each happens.

The basis shrinks toward zero as expiry approaches. That predictable convergence is what makes dated futures useful for fixed-return trades.

How perpetual futures work

A perpetual future has no expiry, so there is no settlement date to pull its price back to spot. Instead, exchanges use a funding rate: a payment exchanged between longs and shorts at regular intervals.

• If the perp trades above the index price, funding is usually positive and longs pay shorts.
• If the perp trades below the index price, funding is usually negative and shorts pay longs.

These payments give traders a reason to push the perp back toward spot. Many centralized exchanges settle funding every 8 hours, some use 4-hour or 1-hour intervals, and perp DEXs such as Hyperliquid pay hourly. The rate itself is built from the premium index and an interest component, as explained in how funding rates are calculated.

Side-by-side comparison

Feature	Dated futures	Perpetual futures
Expiry	Fixed date (weekly, monthly, quarterly)	None
Link to spot	Converges to spot at settlement	Funding payments between longs and shorts
Holding cost	Set by the basis at entry	Sum of funding payments, which vary
Rolling	Required to keep exposure past expiry	Not needed
Price vs spot	Can sit far from spot, especially far from expiry	Usually stays close to spot
Liquidity	Spread across several expiries	Concentrated in one contract per asset
Typical use	Fixed-rate hedges, basis trades	Directional trading, funding strategies

Worked example: holding cost compared

Assume BTC spot is $60,000, and you want to hold a $60,000 short hedge for about 90 days against a spot holding.

Option A: quarterly future. Assume the 90-day future trades at $61,200.

• Basis = $61,200 − $60,000 = $1,200, or 2.0% of spot
• If you sell the future and hold to expiry, the future converges to spot, and you capture $1,200
• Annualized: 2.0% × 365 ÷ 90 ≈ 8.1%

That $1,200 is known on day one, before fees.

Option B: perpetual. Assume the perp pays an average funding rate of 0.01% per 8 hours to shorts over the same 90 days.

• Payments per day = 24 ÷ 8 = 3
• Total payments = 3 × 90 = 270
• Funding earned = $60,000 × 0.0001 × 270 = $1,620
• Annualized: 0.01% ÷ 8 × 8,760 ≈ 10.95%

In this example the perp pays more, but only if funding stays at that level. If funding turns negative for part of the period, the short pays instead, and the total could end up well below $1,200. The future gives certainty; the perp gives flexibility. You can model the dated-future side in the basis calculator.

Rolling dated futures

To keep exposure past expiry, a trader closes the expiring contract and opens the next one. This is called rolling. Each roll costs trading fees on both legs and exposes you to whatever basis the next contract offers. If the market has moved from contango to flat, the next contract may pay far less.

Perps avoid rolling entirely, which is one reason they carry most of the trading volume in crypto derivatives. The trade-off is that the carry is never locked in.

Common mistakes

• Treating a perp like a fixed-rate instrument. Current funding says little about funding next week. Check the funding history before assuming a rate will persist.
• Ignoring convergence timing. A dated future only converges at expiry. Closing early means you exit at whatever basis exists that day, which can be wider than when you entered.
• Comparing raw numbers. A 2% basis over 90 days and a 0.01% funding rate per 8 hours are different units. Annualize both before comparing.
• Forgetting margin. Both contracts use margin and can be liquidated if the price moves against the futures leg, even when a spot hedge offsets the loss.

How ArbTide helps

ArbTide tracks funding across venues on the live funding rates page, with every rate normalized to APR so you can compare perps directly with dated futures basis. For trades that use expiring contracts, see the futures arbitrage strategy.