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Glossary entry

Equity Perpetual Future

Also known as: equity perps · stock perps · perpetual swap · HIP-3 perps

An equity perpetual future is a crypto-style perpetual contract whose price references a public equity, settled in stablecoins with funding payments instead of expiry.

Perpetual futures (perps) are a crypto-native derivative that replicate the economics of a futures contract without an expiry date. A funding rate periodically transfers value between longs and shorts to keep the perp price close to the underlying spot reference. Hyperliquid's HIP-3 standard extends this construct to public equities — a tokenized synthetic exposure to TSLA, NVDA, COIN etc., quoted and settled in USDC.

Unlike a tokenized stock, an equity perp is not backed by an actual share. It is a synthetic contract — the long pays funding to the short when the perp trades above the index reference, and vice versa. The reference price typically combines a TWAP of multiple exchange feeds during regular US hours and an alternative price source (xStocks, ADR markets) when the US session is closed.

Equity perps offer leverage (typically up to 5x-10x), 24/7 trading, and no overnight gap risk in the sense that the position settles continuously. They are not available to US persons under current US derivatives rules and are concentrated on a small set of liquid US large-caps where the underlying spot reference is robust.

See also

  • Tokenized Stock — A tokenized stock is a blockchain-issued token whose price tracks an underlying public equity, typically fully or partially backed by the actual share held in custody.
  • Contract for Difference (CFD) — A CFD is a leveraged derivative contract between a trader and a broker that pays the difference in price between contract open and close — economically similar to an undelivered margined long or short.
  • 24-Hour Trading — 24-hour trading lets retail investors place orders on US equities outside the standard 9:30am-4:00pm ET session, typically Sunday evening through Friday evening.