Welcome to our guide to trading perpetual futures prediction markets. Essential reading for anyone looking for a whole new way to make their predictions.
Here we will see how perpetual futures are starting to appear at more and more prediction markets sites, and explain exactly what this means. You’ll learn how to trade crypto perpetual futures, and we’ll give you some handy tips for managing risk in this fascinating kind of speculation.
Also known as a ‘perp’ a perpetual futures contract allows you to predict what the price of something will be with no opening or closing date.
This means that you could do something like guess what the value of Bitcoin will be, and then the amount you profit or lose by will move directly in line with the price movements of that cryptocurrency. So if the value of Bitcoin rises, you’ll make a profit, but if it drops, you’ll make a loss.
Perpetual futures are different from regular prediction markets where there is a specific end date that will resolve the prediction. Plus your prediction will be directly tied to the price movement of an asset, rather than the success of a Yes or No binary prediction.
There is also the issue of leverage with perps which means that you can open a larger position with less of an investment that can trigger larger profits or losses. This contrasts with prediction markets where you simply buy a contract at a fixed price and won’t lose any more money than what you initially paid.
Finally, we should just note that you may also have to be verified differently for perpetual futures and you’ll likely have a different account for making your deposits into.
We should also clarify that crypto perpetual futures are something very different from actually buying a cryptocurrency. After all, perps are when you take a position that links your investment to the price movements of the cryptocurrency, and you won’t actually own the asset at any point. This ultimately makes for a much more convenient trading experience and it could work out to be safer too.
Let’s say that you had a feeling that the value of Bitcoin was going to rise over the next 24 hours. You would therefore buy $10 of contracts with a leverage of 5x giving you $50 of exposure to Bitcoin.
Note that while you have that contract, you will either be paid or have to pay a certain amount every few hours depending on the price movements.
So why should you bother trading perpetual futures rather than sticking with regular crypto prediction markets? Here are the pros and cons of taking the perps approach:
We’ve taken a good look around our shortlist of the best prediction markets apps to see who has added perpetual futures. To be honest, this is still a relatively recent addition to the prediction markets industry, but here are the three best places to check out:
| Prediction markets brand | Types of perpetual futures |
| Kalshi | Over a dozen cryptocurrencies |
| Polymarket | Early access features commodities like gold, stock and cryptos |
| Crypto.com | Everything from cryptos to pre-IPO perpetuals |
You’ll probably already know that Kalshi is perhaps the biggest prediction markets site in the US, and it was also one of the first brands of its kind to introduce perpetual futures back in early 2026. Since then, you have been able to sign up to Kalshi in all 50 states and predict the price movements of well over a dozen cryptocurrencies.
These include all of the major coins that you’d expect such as BTC, ETH and XRP, but there’s also room for some of the less common cryptos such as NEAR and ZEC. Each of these coins will have its own maximum leverage that ranges from just 2.0x for Shiba Inu to as much as 6.0x for Bitcoin.
What’s best is that Kalshi gives you access to some simple educational tools that you can use to understand how perpetual futures work, and this makes it a good option for anyone new to this kind of trading. Plus you can also check out the brand’s vast range of regular prediction markets if you prefer a simpler way to trade.
OK, so Polymarket hasn’t officially launched its perpetual futures product yet, but it’s already shaping up to be very interesting. This is because there is an early-access version that you can sign up to right now that offers a fascinating insight into what will soon be available.
It looks like you’ll shortly be able to predict the price movements of anything from commodities like gold through to some of the biggest stocks like Nvidia. As well as this, there looks to be all of the regular cryptos available that’ll offer you exposure to their famous volatility.
Plus with a massive leverage of up to 20x, you could soon be enjoying making some significant returns from some small investments. Just remember that perpetual futures are risky by nature, so be sure to apply sensible limits on how much you are willing to trade.
Chances are that you already know that Crypto.com is one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world, and therefore it’s no surprise to find that it would have a vast range of perpetual futures. These cover all of the cryptocurrencies that you’d expect, as well as some more interesting options like the price of pre-IPO perpetuals such as SpaceX and OpenAI.
While the brand’s site might initially feel a little overwhelming for newbies, everything is clearly organized and there are a range of useful articles in the help section that are specific to perpetual futures. Crypto.com is probably targeted more at the experienced trader rather than the rookie investor, but it’s still a good place to look regardless of your level of trading experience.
Sponsored by Crypto.com – Not investment advice. Trading prediction markets and crypto involves risk, including potential loss of your stake. Consider your risk tolerance before participating. Crypto.com connects U.S. users to CDNA (regulated by CFTC) for derivatives trading. CDNA membership required. Trading may not be suitable for all—you could lose your entire investment plus fees. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. This is not a solicitation or recommendation to trade.
So let’s walk you through the basics of how you can sign up to one of our recommended prediction markets brands and trade perpetual futures. While each brand will have their own quirks, you’d usually just have to do something like the following:
Click on any of the links for the recommended prediction markets brands in the banners of this page to launch their site from the browser of your computer, smartphone or tablet
Register your account by filling in the form with the required personal information such as your name, email address, mobile number, date of birth and home address
Log into your newly-created account and verify your identity with some government-issued photo ID such as your driver’s license or passport. Make sure that this allows you to access perpetual futures and not just regular prediction markets.
Make an opening deposit with one of the accepted payment methods such as a card, ewallet, bank transfer or cryptocurrency. Note that there may be a separate account used for perpetual futures and not prediction markets.
Go to the perpetual futures section and browse the various assets
Once you’ve done your research, click on either the Long or Short button to select whether you think the price of the asset will rise or fall
Enter in how much you want to spend on your prediction
Make your purchase
From here your investment will be tracked according to the price movement of the relevant asset, and you’ll either receive returns or have to pay a certain amount of money every few hours in correspondence to this.
Learning to trade perpetual futures can represent a steep learning curve for many people, but once you get past some of the more confusing terminology, it’s actually a pretty simple concept. So here are some handy tips to keep in mind for anyone starting out with perp trading:
The first thing that you want to do is to set a budget of how much you are willing to lose. This means that you can be hit with even the nastiest shock and still walk away without too much damage. The good news here is that each of these featured prediction markets brands will offer you a variety of tools that you can use to keep your perp trades in check.
So be sure to use tools like ‘Take profit’ to lock in whatever gains you make, or even use the ‘Stop loss’ tool that puts a cap on how much you can potentially lose. The latter will let you set a percentage loss limit and it’ll automatically close the position if the price hits that amount. This means that you don’t necessarily have to keep watching the market like a hawk but instead can relax knowing that any potentially devastating losses will be covered.
One mistake that many traders make is to rush to go to the sites that offer the greatest amount of leverage. This is because by having more leverage, you will be able to have a larger position compared to the amount that you actually invest.
While this can lead to producing some pretty spectacular returns, it can also lead you into being hit with some dramatic losses too. As such, it might be smarter to stick with those perpetual futures with a more reasonable leverage so as to ensure that any losses don’t get too painful.
Note that some sites like Kalshi will also allow you to trade with an ‘isolated margin’ which basically means that if you suffer a loss on one trade, the losses won’t affect the rest of your account. Well worth a look when adding a touch of safety to your perps trading.
Chances are that you will be trading perpetual futures for cryptos and therefore you will need to take the time to carefully research the coin that you are tracking. After all, certain coins like Bitcoin and Dogecoin are hugely volatile meaning that you could enjoy soaring highs as well as crushing lows. In contrast, stablecoins are pegged to regular currencies and therefore should offer a little more stability.
The good news is that each prediction market site will let you check back over the price movements of each coin so that you can see how volatile it has been over the past few days, months or even years. Just remember that even if a crypto has been steadily rising in value for the past few weeks, there’s nothing to say that it won’t suffer a huge fall tomorrow.
The value of all assets from cryptos to stocks and commodities will be affected by market conditions that are, in turn, affected by the world around them. This means that you should be careful to pay close attention to the news to try and be aware of any significant events that could cause the value of your asset to shift.
Key things to be aware of include economic factors such as changes in the interest rates, as well as big political decisions regarding anything from wars to elections. By carefully monitoring these developments, you should be in a good place to close your position should the fate of your investment suddenly take a turn for the worse.
The key thing to remember about perpetual futures is that your trading will be locked into the real-time price movements of the asset with no fixed end date. This ultimately means that it is up to you to decide when to exit your trade, and therefore you’ll want to be flexible and yet realistic about your investment goals.
Remember that markets will go up and down and this is especially applicable to cryptos, so you’ll need to time your trades so as to buy at the bottom of a curve, and yet get out before the value of the asset takes another dip. So keep your eye on the price movements and use those stop loss tools to trade safely.
We have shown you that perpetual futures offer you an intriguing way to make your predictions about the price movements of various assets. While this concept is still pretty limited to cryptos at just a few prediction markets sites for now, it’s something that is gaining traction and it sure to become more widespread.
The key thing to remember from all of this is that perpetual futures are hugely risky, and while they can produce huge returns there is also the potential for being hit with massive losses. So make sure that you only use the trusted prediction markets brands in the banners of this guide, set your limits and trade responsibly.
Perps refer to perpetual futures, and in regard to crypto this means taking a position that the price of a particular crypto will rise or fall. Your investment will be tied to the movement of that crypto and you’ll either be paid or have to pay accordingly every few hours depending on market conditions.
You will usually have to be at least 18 years old to use the prediction markets sites that feature perp trading. As a result, you will be expected to verify your identity with some government-issued photo ID before you can make your trades.
Yes, you should be able to as most prediction markets sites are available in all 50 states across the nation. This is because such trading is regulated on a federal level by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
No, you will always be expected to make an investment of your own cash to trade perpetual futures. After all, prediction markets sites don’t really do special offers that give you free trading credit.
Yes, some commodities prediction sites will let you trade perpetual futures for things like the price movements of oil, gas, gold and so on. While these might not usually be quite as volatile as cryptos, they are still a risky form of investment.
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