Hyperliquid Policy Center: Perpetual Contracts are an Effective Supplement to Traditional Delivery Futures
The Hyperliquid Policy Center released a research report titled "Perpetual Futures as a Supplement to Date-Specific Futures," stating that perpetual contracts are an effective supplement to traditional delivery futures. This conclusion was drawn from the analysis of 205 Bitcoin weekend trades and 19 on-chain crude oil contract samples.
The report utilized a natural experiment comparing traditional benchmark futures (such as CME Bitcoin and WTI crude oil contracts) that are closed on weekends with the continuous trading of perpetual markets, contrasting weekend prices of perpetual contracts with benchmark reopening prices. Data shows that perpetual contracts eliminate forced rollover costs; for instance, in April 2026, the rollover cost for a $10 million position on Monday is about $950,000, while on Friday it is only about $110,000, and perpetual positions do not require such trades.
The median transaction size for on-chain crude oil perpetual contracts during non-trading hours is about $1,300, roughly 1/100th of the median trading size for traditional WTI, reflecting a new demand for risk transfer rather than diversion from the benchmark market. Across 205 Bitcoin weekends, the benchmark reopening prices almost completely confirmed the weekend prices of perpetual contracts; the same pattern was observed in the 19 crude oil samples.
During extreme market conditions, on March 6, 2026, the weekend repricing of crude oil was 15.8% while the benchmark market was closed throughout; using on-chain crude oil perpetual contracts for hedging could reduce a potential loss of $1.58 million on a $10 million position to about $62,000 (including all costs). The report states that the growth of the perpetual market has not statistically harmed the existing benchmark market, as the spread for the benchmark WTI narrowed slightly after the launch of crude oil perpetual contracts, with normal trading resuming about 46 minutes faster.
The design of perpetual contracts concentrates liquidity in a single contract rather than a ladder of expiration dates, supporting more accessible contract sizes and round-the-clock trading, expanding the risk management tool options for hedgers and traders.
From a market mechanism perspective, the perpetual market accommodates new small and continuous hedging demands during traditional market closures, with capital flows providing a 24/7 price discovery on-chain platform; event-driven impacts are not significant, benefiting participants who can access low-barrier continuous exposure, with no significant liquidity loss or spread deterioration observed in the traditional benchmark market.
Source: Public Information
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The Hyperliquid Policy Center has previously voiced its stance on the regulatory framework for on-chain derivatives, emphasizing that public ledgers naturally suppress insider trading and manipulation, while promoting compliance pathways for the U.S. market; its research continues to empirically position the relationship between perpetual tools and traditional markets rather than merely advocating for alternatives.
The capital pathway is reflected in mechanisms like HIP-3 that bring traditional assets into on-chain perpetuals, concentrating resources on pricing and hedging services during weekends and non-trading hours, motivated by filling the gaps left by traditional futures market closures and lowering participation thresholds, with specific actions including the release of data-driven reports to support regulatory dialogue and market expansion.
Similar cases can be seen in traditional exchanges managing term structures in commodity and crypto futures, as well as the early role of crypto perpetuals in supplementing spot price discovery; currently, on-chain perpetuals are in an expansion phase from crypto-native to traditional assets, with empirical support for weekend price discovery capabilities.
Essentially, this is a technological substitution: the perpetual structure eliminates rollover friction and extends tradable hours through no expiration and continuous trading, liberating the risk transfer function from fixed calendars and high-threshold contracts, allowing price signals to form and be validated even during traditional market closures.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
Market closures are not voids; they are pricing vacuums.
A one-hundredth reduction in the threshold does not increase substitution demand but creates new demand.
No-expiration contracts turn time from a cost into a tool.