Introduction: The Rise of Perpetual Contracts
Perpetual contracts have transformed crypto derivatives by giving traders the opportunity to speculate on digital assets with no expiry or contract rollover. Thanks to decentralized exchanges (DEXs), they make up the majority of the crypto derivatives market. On some exchanges, more than 90% of the trading activity involves trading perpetual contracts. One of the functions of perpetual contracts is the innovative funding rate mechanism, which allows contracts to be leveraged and held and positions to be changed indefinitely, anytime, anywhere, and most importantly, connects contracts to the actual underlying spot market.
Technical Mechanics: How Perpetuals Work on DEXs
Perpetual contracts do not have an expiration date unlike traditional futures contracts because of the periodic funding rate. The other contract holder, long or short, pays the other for the funding rate. The key features are:
Contributes to price alignment between the contract and the spot market.Fulfilled every 8 hours and operates with an incentive structure. If the contract price is above the spot market, the longs pay the shorts and vice versa when the price is below the spot market.Continuous leverage and position holding with no expiry.Each DEX has a different structure. Dexlyn uses the Supra L1 blockchain and integrates with other chains for real-time settlements, while dYdX uses a central limit order book for deep liquidity.Transparent settlement and risk management protocols are in place to mitigate systemic risks.
Case Focus: Dexlyn Trading Game Season 2
Dexlyn demonstrates how perpetual DEXs continue to innovate by gamifying derivatives trading. Remarkable aspects of the ongoing Trading Game Season 2 include:
A $2,000,000 DXLYN prize pool has drawn in lots of retail and professional traders.Competitors are trading on the real Dexlyn Perpetuals Testnet, engaging in live practice trading with no risk.An updated reward scoring system makes it easier to track and distribute rewards.Each closed position, whether long or short, with any amount of leverage, earns a participant 25 base points.Bonus points for winning trades are awarded on a sliding scale based on profit made.Points earned can be turned in for game tokens after the Token Generation Event (TGE).There are minimal gas fees, and users have the ability to advanced sort, track, and analyze trading and price movement with the system in real-time.
Available and interesting derivatives that appreciate skill instead of bankroll size.
A Comparative Glance: dYdX, GMX, and the Expanding Perps Landscape
Other major DEXs also highlight the growth and diversification of perpetuals:
These platforms demonstrate how decentralized perp markets are evolving to become more streamlined and more responsive than their centralized counterparts.
The Driving Force of DeFi Crypto Derivatives
Incorporating perpetual contracts has made crypto derivatives more liquid, dynamic, and inclusive. As Dexlyn iterates and adds innovative features and competitive gamification, such as Trading Game Season 2, perpetuals are positioned to dominate the derivative markets by:
Driving capital efficiency and a continuous trading cycle
2. Facilitating cross-chain integration
3. Improving user experience via gamification and clear on-chain visibility
4. Building AI-driven analytics and decentralized autonomous organization frameworks
This ongoing progress is what keeps perpetual contracts at the leading edge of DeFi.
How Perpetual Contracts are Shaping the Future of Crypto Derivatives was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.