Que son los Futuros Perpetuos?

Que son los Futuros Perpetuos?

Perpetual futures, often called “perps,” are a type of futures contract that never expires. Unlike traditional futures that have a set settlement date, futuros perpetuos let you hold tu posicion indefinitely. Esto hace them el mas popular derivative product in crypto trading.

How Are They Different from Traditional Futures?

Traditional futures contracts have an expiration date. When that date arrives, the contract is settled and you must close tu posicion or roll it over to a new contract. Esto crea inconvenience for traders who want to maintain long-term positions.

Perpetual futures solve this problem by removing the expiration entirely. You can abrir una posicion today and hold it for minutes, days, or months. There is no settlement date forcing you to act.

Sin embargo, sin an expiration mechanism, there needs to be another way to keep the perpetual contract price aligned with the actual asset price. This is where the tasa de financiacion comes in.

What is the Funding Rate?

The tasa de financiacion is a periodic payment exchanged between long and short traders. Its purpose is to keep the futuros perpetuos price close to the spot (actual) price of the underlying asset.

How it works:

• When the perpetual price is above the spot price, the tasa de financiacion is positive. Long traders pay short traders.
• When the perpetual price is below the spot price, the tasa de financiacion is negative. Short traders pay long traders.

Funding payments typically occur every 8 hours, though some exchanges use different intervals. The rate es generalmente small (e.g., 0.01% per period), but puede spike during extreme condiciones de mercado.

Why it matters for grid bots: Si run a long grid bot and the tasa de financiacion is consistently positive, estas paying a small fee every 8 hours on your open positions. Over time, this can eat into tu ganancias. Monitoring tasa de financiacions is an important part of grid bot management.

What is Mark Price?

On futuros perpetuos exchanges, tendras encounter two prices:

• Last price: El precio of el mas recent trade executed on el exchange.
• Mark price: A calculated fair price that factors in the spot price and a moving average of the basis (difference between futures and spot price).

Mark price is critically important porque se usa para calculate liquidations, not el ultimo price. Esto previene market manipulation where someone could artificially spike el ultimo price to trigger liquidations.

When a grid bot checks the current market price to decide si to place orders, it typically uses the precio mark for accuracy and safety.

Key Features of Perpetual Futures

• No expiry: Hold positions as long as quieres.
• Leverage: Trade with borrowed capital (e.g., 2x, 5x, 10x).
• Long and short: Profit from ambos rising and falling markets.
• Funding rate: Periodic payments that anchor the contract to the spot price.
• Mark price: Fair price used for liquidation calculations.

Perpetual Futures and Grid Trading

Grid bots are particularly well-suited for futuros perpetuos porque el no-expiry feature means el bot puede run continuously. El bot places limit orden de compras at lower nivel de grids and take-profit orden de ventas at higher levels, capturing profits from each price oscillation. There is no concern about contract rollovers or settlement dates disrupting la estrategia.

Resumen

• Perpetual futures are crypto derivatives with no expiration date, allowing indefinite position holding.
• The tasa de financiacion is a periodic payment between longs and shorts that keeps the contract price aligned with the spot price.
• Mark price is the fair price used for liquidation calculations, protecting traders from price manipulation.

Siguiente Paso

Ahora que entiendes futuros perpetuos, let us explore el mas fundamental position type: What is a Long Position?