SushiSwap Head Alex McCurry: Perpetual Contracts Superior to Options, Will Become Hedge Funds' Preferred Directional Bet
Alex McCurry, head of the SushiSwap protocol, stated that perpetual contracts still have the potential for 1000 times growth in open interest and trading volume. Global hedge funds will gradually recognize that perpetual contracts are the best tool for making directional bets on price, far superior to options. He called for the expansion of the perpetual mechanism to the entire known financial sector.
This view is based on the structural advantages of DeFi perpetual contracts in leverage trading, capital efficiency, and continuous holding, which have been validated in the crypto market.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
This judgment reveals a long-term trend of the derivatives market shifting from traditional options to perpetual contracts. Perpetual contracts achieve positions without expiration through a funding rate mechanism, significantly reducing the costs and complexities of rolling positions, allowing hedge funds to efficiently establish directional positions on highly volatile assets. This design directly enhances capital efficiency, driving simultaneous expansion of trading volume and open interest, while compressing the pricing power differences between traditional options in retail and institutional markets.
From a financial structure perspective, this reflects capital's search for risk management tools that better match the characteristics of digital assets. Options rely on time decay and volatility pricing, while perpetual contracts are closer to a continuous form of spot leverage, adapting to the 24/7 trading and high leverage demands of the crypto market. This migration accelerates the global capital reallocation from traditional over-the-counter derivatives to on-chain mechanisms, further blurring the boundaries between centralized and decentralized markets.
The event is placed within a broader financial historical cycle. Each time new technology reduces trading friction, there is a rapid iteration of derivatives forms. The popularity of perpetual contracts reflects DeFi's substitution for traditional finance and may also exacerbate systemic leverage concentration risks. Once adopted by global institutions, pricing power will concentrate on platforms that provide the best execution and clearing infrastructure, driving the next round of wealth and influence redistribution.