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Perpetual and delivery futures specifications

Updated


Overview of perpetual and delivery futures

Perpetual futures and delivery futures are two types of derivatives offered by the platform. Users can take long or short positions on both.

 
Perpetual futures
Delivery futures
Expiration date
None. They can be held indefinitely.
They have fixed expiry dates and are settled automatically at expiry.
Price anchoring method
Anchored through the funding fee mechanism.
Naturally converges to the spot price as expiry approaches.
Settlement method
Funding fees are paid and received periodically.
Automatically closed and settled at the delivery price upon expiry.
Settlement currency
USDT
USDT

 

General rules

Futures trading rules

The platform sets limits on the minimum order amount, minimum price movement, and other parameters for user trading. The following is an example of futures trading rules.
To view trading rule information for all currency pairs, go to Trading Guide - Derivatives trading rules.
The following are examples of BTC perpetual futures and ETH perpetual futures:

Futures
Minimum order amount
Tick size
Limit order price cap/floor ratio
Max market/limit order amount
Max open orders
Liquidation fee
Market order price cap/floor ratio
BTCUSD perpetual futures
0.0001 BTC
0.1 USDT
5%/5%
60/1,000 BTC
500
2%
5%/5%
ETHUSD perpetual futures
0.001 ETH
0.1 USDT
5%/5%
1,000/10,000 ETH
500
2%
5%/5%


Position limit mechanism

Position limits are set for futures trading to control risk and prevent users from holding an excessively large share of positions. The position limit mechanism is used to reduce the impact of large positions on market liquidity and platform risk, and to prevent concentrated liquidation risk under extreme market conditions.
  • Position limits in the futures tier schedule
    When your risk limit exceeds the maximum tier, you can no longer open new positions.
    When an existing position exceeds the risk limit tier due to price changes, the margin used and maintenance margin for the portion exceeding the maximum tier will be calculated based on the maximum tier.
    *Tiered position limits only apply to multi-currency cross margin mode. Portfolio margin mode doesn't have tiered position limits.
     
  • Position size limits
    When a user's position size on the platform exceeds a certain threshold, the platform will limit their position size based on the position limit ratio.
    When (Position size + Order amount on the same side) / Platform's total position size ≥ Position limit ratio, the user can no longer open new positions.
    For main accounts and sub-accounts, when (Position size + Order amount on the same side) / Platform's total position size ≥ Position limit ratio, neither the main account nor sub-accounts can open new positions.


Perpetual futures trading rules

Perpetual futures funding fee mechanism

Since perpetual futures do not have an expiry delivery date, the funding fee mechanism is needed to anchor the futures price to the spot price.
  • When the perpetual futures price is higher than the spot index, the funding rate is usually positive, meaning longs need to pay funding fees to shorts.

  • When the perpetual futures price is lower than the spot index, the funding rate is usually negative, meaning shorts need to pay funding fees to longs.

Premium index

The premium index measures how far the perpetual futures price deviates from the spot index price.
  • Premium index formula: [max(0, Impact bid price - Index price) - max(0, Index price - Impact ask price)] / Index price
    Impact bid price: Average price to fill the impact margin amount on the bid side.
    Impact ask price: Average price to fill the impact margin amount on the ask side.
    Impact margin amount = 200 USDT / Initial margin ratio of the highest leverage tier

  • Average premium index: A weighted average of premium index readings from the previous settlement period to the current time.
    Example: Average premium index at Tn = (1 × Premium index at T1 + 2 × Premium index at T2 + ... + n × Premium index at Tn) / (1 + 2 + ... + n). For a contract with an 8-hour funding interval, the funding rate at 14:59 is calculated using the premium index sampled every 5 seconds from 7:00 to 14:59, where n = 5,760.

Funding rate calculation

  • Core formula: Funding rate = clamp[Average premium index + clamp(Comprehensive interest rate – Average premium index, -0.05%, 0.05%), Premium deviation upper limit, Premium deviation lower limit]
  • Comprehensive interest rate = 0.03% / (24 / Settlement cycle) - Example: The settlement cycle for BTCUSDT perpetual futures is once every 8 hours, where the interest rate = 0.01% 
  • Premium index: The premium index is used to measure how far the perpetual futures price deviates from the spot index price.
*High-leverage futures are higher risk, so the system applies stricter funding rate limits to reduce market risk under extreme market conditions.


Settlement

  • Calculation cycle: Calculated every minute. When funding fees are settled, the most recently calculated funding rate is used. 
    Example: Funding fees paid and received at 16:00 use the funding rate calculated at 15:59. 
  • Settlement cycles:
    Every 8 hours at 00:00, 08:00, and 16:00 (UTC+8)
    Every 4 hours at 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00, and 00:00 (UTC+8) 
  • Settlement principle: Only users who hold positions at the funding fee settlement time need to pay or receive funding fees. If a position is closed before fees are charged, no funding fee is required. 
  • Settlement currency: USDT

 

Delivery futures settlement

Delivery time and price

  • Delivery time: Futures automatically enter the delivery process on the specified expiry date and time, usually 16:00 (UTC+8).
  • Delivery method: Settled at the delivery price. Delivery price = Average index price over the 30 minutes before the delivery time (see index and price mechanisms below for details).

Delivery fee calculation

  • Delivery fee: abs(Number of contracts in the position) × Face value × Delivery price × Delivery fee rate. Only a delivery fee is charged for delivery. No additional trading fee is charged. 
  • Settlement currency: USDT


Early settlement mechanism

Under extreme market conditions or special circumstances, delivery futures may be delivered early. The specific delivery time is subject to the platform announcement.
Early delivery settlement price = Average index price over the 30 minutes before the delivery time.

 

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