Market knowledge · Strategy & analysis · 2026
What are US stock perpetual futures? How they differ from buying stocks directly and from traditional futures
In the past, trading US stocks meant opening a brokerage account, converting currency, and buying and selling within fixed market hours. Now there is a completely different route: US stock perpetual futures — trading the price movement of US stock instruments like Tesla and Nvidia directly with USDT on a crypto exchange, long or short, with no expiry date. This article lays out what they actually are, how they differ from buying the stock or trading traditional futures, where the costs and risks hide, and how they connect to CoinTech2u's strategies.
I. What US stock perpetual futures actually are
Break the name apart and it is three concepts combined: US stock (the underlying is the share price of a US-listed company like Tesla, Nvidia or Apple), futures (what you are trading is the price change, not the stock itself), and perpetual (no expiry date — in theory you can hold it indefinitely, without rolling positions the way traditional futures require).
It originated in the crypto market: perpetual futures were first a derivative format crypto exchanges designed for assets like Bitcoin, and in recent years some major exchanges have carried the same mechanism over to US stock instruments — margin and P&L are both denominated in USDT, and the trading interface and order flow are identical to crypto contracts. For anyone already using a crypto exchange, there is almost no new learning curve.
You trade the movement
You do not hold the stock and get no dividends or voting rights; what you earn is the price difference between entry and exit, and both directions are tradeable.
USDT margin
No brokerage account or currency conversion needed — open a position directly with the USDT in your exchange account, with leverage available.
Never expires
There is no delivery date; the funding rate mechanism keeps the contract price anchored near the stock price instead (see section IV).
II. How they differ from buying US stocks directly
The most important sentence: buying the stock means owning the company; trading the perpetual means trading the price. The difference goes far beyond form:
| Buying US stocks directly | US stock perpetual futures | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Company shares: dividends, voting rights, long-term ownership | Price exposure: only gains and losses from the move, no shareholder rights |
| Profit direction | Essentially long-only (shorting has a high bar) | Long or short — you can open a short position in a falling market too |
| Account and funding | A US brokerage account plus currency conversion, buying whole or fractional shares | A crypto exchange account, USDT margin, leverage available |
| Trading hours | Fixed market hours (with limited pre-market and after-hours) | Mostly still tradeable during market closures (subject to exchange rules) |
| Worst case | You lose exactly as much as the stock falls — there is no liquidation | Under leverage, your margin can be liquidated down to zero |
| Cost of holding | Essentially none (some brokers charge account fees) | The funding rate settles continuously on a cycle (you may pay it or receive it) |
So asking "which is better" misses the point — the real question is what you are trying to do: if you believe in a company for the next ten years, buy the stock; if you are calling a move in some direction, perpetual futures are the tool built for exactly that.
III. How they differ from traditional futures and options
Traditional finance has long had derivatives for going long or short on US stocks — stock index futures, single-stock options, CFDs. Compared with those, perpetual futures differ in three main ways:
1. No expiry date, no rolling positions
Traditional futures have a delivery month: before expiry you have to close the old contract and open a new one (rolling), and every roll carries cost and spread slippage; options also suffer time value decay. Perpetual futures have neither — how long you hold is up to you (and your margin), and the trade-off is a funding rate that settles continuously instead.
2. Completely different barriers to entry
Stock index futures and options usually require opening a dedicated derivatives account and clearing funding and experience thresholds. Perpetual futures are ordered on a crypto exchange just like any other contract — the bar is simply "having USDT." A low bar is an advantage, and it is also a risk — it lets anyone with no derivatives experience flip on leverage with one tap.
3. Settlement stays closed-loop, on-exchange
P&L, margin and fees all settle in USDT on the exchange, inside the same account system as your crypto assets — moving capital between crypto and US stock instruments needs no withdrawal or deposit. That is also why "trade US stocks with USDT while crypto is stuck in a range" actually works in practice.
IV. The funding rate: the perpetual's anchor
With no expiry date, there is no forced convergence to spot at expiration — so what keeps the contract price from drifting away from the stock price? The answer is the funding rate:
Contract price > underlying price (longs crowded)
The rate is positive: longs pay shorts on each cycle, cooling off overheated long demand and pulling the contract price back down.
Contract price < underlying price (shorts crowded)
The rate is negative: shorts pay longs, encouraging longs and propping the contract price back up.
For short-term traders, the funding rate is usually just a small cost; for anyone holding long-term, it is a cost you have to actually work out — it settles repeatedly on a cycle, and in a strong one-way move the rate on the crowded side can climb noticeably, so the cumulative cost over a few weeks of holding can end up bigger than you expected. Settlement cycles and rate caps differ by exchange, so check the contract details page before placing an order.
A practical way to read it: the funding rate is also a thermometer for market sentiment — a rate that stays persistently high tells you longs are already crowded. For how to actually use signals like this, the contract-market analysis framework in The complete guide to crypto futures AI trading bots applies the same logic.
V. Trading hours and market closures
US stocks trade only within fixed hours each day, closed on weekends and holidays; on most exchanges, US stock perpetual futures keep trading through those hours — which is its most obvious appeal to crypto market users: the market almost never closes. But you need to see the other side of that coin clearly:
No spot anchor during market closures
While the underlying stock is not trading, the contract price is formed purely by buying and selling within the contract market itself — liquidity is usually thinner, spreads wider, and the price is easier for a single large order to move.
Major news hits the contract first
Earnings and breaking news are often released outside market hours — the underlying stock has to wait for the open to react, but the contract price moves sharply immediately. For trend traders that is an opportunity; for anyone holding high leverage, that is the moment most likely to trigger liquidation.
Rules vary by exchange
Exact trading hours, closure schedules, and how edge cases are handled (like what happens to the contract when the underlying stock is halted) are not identical across exchanges. Go by your own exchange's contract rules page, and do not assume one exchange's behavior applies to another.
VI. Risk checklist
A low barrier to entry does not mean low risk. Before trading US stock perpetual futures, you should be able to answer "I know this, and I accept it" to every one of these five points:
Leverage and liquidation
The worst case for a contract is not "you lose exactly as much as it falls" — it is your margin being liquidated down to zero. For how to actually think about leverage, read the leverage and position sizing guide first.
A single stock swings harder than an index
A single earnings report can move one stock double digits percent overnight, and with leverage stacked on top, that is far beyond what most people picture. Size a single-stock contract position for event risk, not for everyday volatility.
The cumulative cost of the funding rate
For a long-held position, the rate that settles repeatedly on a cycle is a hidden cost, especially pronounced on the crowded side of a one-way move (see section IV).
Liquidity risk during market closures
Wider spreads, thinner depth, and sharp news-driven jumps all concentrate in the hours when the underlying stock is not trading (see section V).
Differences in instruments and compliance
Not every exchange offers US stock contracts, and the list of tradeable instruments varies; regulatory requirements for this kind of derivative also differ by region, so confirm your local compliance status before trading.
VII. How it fits into CoinTech2u
CoinTech2u's strategies place orders through the API in your own exchange account, so whatever markets your exchange supports, the strategy can trade. In the Select Coins panel, instruments are grouped into categories including Crypto, TradFi and Commodities — US stock instruments sit under TradFi, and gold and silver sit under Commodities (see step 9 of the illustrated tutorial).
In practice, this connects most directly to Extreme Series: Extreme Series makes money from a big trend and is hurt by standing still — when crypto is stuck in a range and a particular US stock is sitting in a dense stretch of catalysts, picking the right battlefield becomes part of the strategy itself. The volatility a stock shows around earnings season is exactly the fuel this kind of trend strategy needs.
But the warning comes first
Extreme Series has no per-trade stop loss; the only backstop is the account-level Equity Guard you set yourself. Running it on a more volatile US stock instrument cuts both ways: faster gains with the trend, and just as much no per-trade stop against you when it turns. Before starting, read the full Extreme Series risk guide — the three conditions in its one-minute self-check only get stricter on US stock instruments, never looser.
VIII. FAQ
Q: US stock perpetual futures or buying US stocks — which suits me?
It depends on what you are trying to do: to hold a company long-term and collect dividends, buy the stock; to trade a move (in either direction) and you can manage leverage risk, consider perpetual futures instead. The two are not mutually exclusive — plenty of people run a long-term stock position and a short-term contract position side by side.
Q: Do I need to open a US brokerage account?
No. US stock perpetual futures trade in USDT on the crypto exchanges that support them, with no brokerage account opening or currency conversion involved. But whether a given exchange offers them, and which instruments, depends on that exchange's own contract list — and confirm your region's compliance requirements as well.
Q: Can I still trade on weekends and during US market closures?
On most exchanges, yes — that is one of the defining features of perpetual futures. But there is no spot anchor during market closures, liquidity is thinner, and volatility can get sharper, and a highly leveraged position carries the most risk during those hours (see section V).
Q: Roughly how much is the funding rate?
There is no fixed number — it moves in real time with the balance of long and short demand, and differs by instrument and by cycle. For short-term trading the impact is minor; if you plan to hold for more than a few days, check the current and historical rate for that instrument on its contract details page and work out the cost yourself.
Q: Can CoinTech2u's strategies auto-trade US stock perpetuals?
Yes, provided the exchange your portfolio is bound to supports the relevant instrument. Just tick the US stock instrument under the TradFi category in the Select Coins panel. Before running Extreme Series on a US stock instrument, be sure to read the risk guide first — a strategy with no per-trade stop loss running on a highly volatile instrument means Equity Guard has to be turned on, and you have to think through exactly where to set it.
Further reading
- • Extreme Series explained: the three strategies and the three settings that matter
- • Extreme Series risk guide: who it suits, who should avoid it, and what the worst case looks like
- • What leverage actually is — and why changing it does not change your risk
- • The complete guide to crypto futures AI trading bots