Dated Futures vs. Perpetual Contracts
Compare expiry and rolls with perpetual funding using exact product specifications.
Key takeaways
- Check dated contract terms.
- Check perpetual funding mechanics.
- Compare total carrying costs.
Dated Futures vs. Perpetual Contracts: the decision context
Dated futures expire or settle under a schedule and require rolling for continued exposure. Verify multiplier, settlement, and last trading time.
Perpetuals lack scheduled expiry and commonly use venue-defined funding. Check cadence, formula, caps, and actual ledger transfers.
What evidence deserves attention
Both use margin, but collateral, mark, and liquidation rules vary. Dated futures can have basis without perpetual-style funding.
A repeatable review workflow
Compare a three-month future quoted at 102 with spot at 100 against a perpetual near 100 that funds every eight hours. For the intended holding period, annualize the dated basis only as a labeled convention and separately sum observed funding, fees, collateral yield, and roll assumptions.
Limits, failure modes, and risk
Roll costs and cumulative funding create different operational burdens. Model total costs over the intended horizon while treating future values as unknown.
The contracts may use different indices, multipliers, margin currencies, settlement rules, and trading hours. Future funding and roll prices are unknown, basis can widen before convergence, and liquidation can prevent realizing the apparent carry.
Frequently asked questions
What is the first thing to distinguish in Dated Futures vs. Perpetual Contracts?
Start with this article's central checkpoint: Check dated contract terms. Then verify the definition and scope against the cited sources.
How can I check Dated Futures vs. Perpetual Contracts in practice?
Use the worked procedure in the article and keep these two checks together: Check perpetual funding mechanics. Compare total carrying costs.
What is the most important limitation?
Both products can produce leveraged loss, forced liquidation, and unexpected carrying costs.
How this article was prepared
This educational article was prepared with AI assistance, then reviewed editorially for clarity and checked against the cited source material.