For a while, perpetual futures felt like an advanced feature only veteran traders messed with. Complex funding rates, 100x leverage, and liquidation risks made it seem like a space reserved for the high-stakes crowd.

But somewhere between the bull runs, the bear dips, and the rise of offshore exchanges, perps went mainstream.

Today, perpetual contracts aren’t just a niche product, they’re the default play for millions of crypto traders trying to ride short-term price action. On Binance, Bybit, and other major platforms, perpetuals now account for the majority of daily trading volume, outpacing spot trades by a wide margin.

And it’s not just whales or institutions pushing this trend. Retail users are driving open interest across BTC, ETH, and even top meme coins, often without realizing they’re skipping the spot market altogether.

What Makes Perpetual Futures So Addictive?

It starts out simple, you want to long Bitcoin. You’re not ready to buy a full coin, and you don’t want to wait days for price movement. So you open a small position with 10x leverage. No expiry, no strings attached. It’s just you, the market, and a funding rate ticking every eight hours.

That’s the hook.

Perpetual futures offer something the spot market doesn’t: speed, flexibility, and the ability to scale exposure without owning the asset. You can go long or short in seconds, hold a position indefinitely, and ride intraday volatility with leverage most stock platforms would never allow.

Unlike traditional futures, these contracts never expire. Instead, they rely on something called a funding rate, a small, recurring payment between longs and shorts designed to keep the price of the contract aligned with the spot market. It’s this mechanism, along with the absence of expiry, that makes perpetual futures the go-to trading instrument on most major exchanges.

If you’re new to the space, perpetual futures are essentially crypto derivatives that let you bet on price movement without actually holding the coin, and without any expiration date. Here’s a clear breakdown of how they work, including examples of leverage, liquidation risk, and funding rate calculations that catch many beginners off guard.

It’s the kind of product that sounds complicated at first, but once traders understand the basics, it’s easy to see why they rarely go back to spot.

Exchanges Are Doubling Down on Perpetuals

For crypto exchanges, the rise of perpetuals isn’t just a product trend, it’s a business model. These contracts are fast, fee-generating, and deeply sticky. Once traders get a taste of the leverage, the 24/7 markets, and the ability to go long or short at will, spot trading feels slow by comparison.

Platforms have noticed.

On Binance, perpetual futures routinely account for over 60% of daily trading volume. Bybit built its entire identity around derivatives before even offering a spot market. Kraken recently reported a 28% surge in futures activity, despite overall market volumes shrinking. Meanwhile, BTCC, Phemex, and MEXC are pushing out mobile-first experiences optimized entirely around perpetual contracts, often with ultra-fast onboarding and leverage limits north of 100x.

This isn’t a sideshow. Perpetuals are now the core engine of user engagement and revenue for many exchanges, not just a high-risk product buried in a submenu. Some platforms have even ditched traditional futures altogether, focusing solely on perpetuals as their flagship trading pair.

The incentive is obvious: funding rates generate revenue, liquidations generate volume, and traders, win or lose, come back for another shot.

And with the right interface, even beginners feel confident placing leveraged bets. That’s what makes perpetuals so potent: they’re deceptively simple to access, even if they’re not always simple to manage.

The Risks Are Real, But So Is the Demand

If perpetuals have a downside, it’s that they’re almost too easy to use.

With a few taps, anyone can open a 50x position on Bitcoin or Solana, no expiry date, no delays, no questions asked. And that simplicity comes at a cost. Liquidations happen fast. Funding fees add up. Leverage amplifies gains, but it also turns a small dip into a blown-up account.

It’s not just pro traders getting caught either. Beginners are entering the space through perpetuals, often without fully understanding how margin, liquidation, or funding rates work. Exchanges know this. Interfaces are clean. Position sizes auto-fill. It feels accessible… right up until it isn’t.

But even with all the risk, the demand hasn’t faded. In fact, it’s growing.

More traders are using calculators. More exchanges are integrating position trackers, alerts, and built-in risk warnings. The tools are evolving, not because perpetuals are going away — but because they’ve already taken over.

In 2025, the crypto speculator isn’t checking coin prices and waiting for a bull run. They’re in perpetual mode, leveraged, mobile, and one trade away from doubling up or getting wiped out.

That’s not hype. That’s just where the market is now.

Featured image by Yiğit Ali Atasoy on Unsplash