Perpetual Contracts Complementary to Traditional Futures, Not Zero-Sum Replacement

A new report from Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) concludes that perpetual contracts are complementary to traditional futures, rather than a replacement. The study found no evidence of significant harm to benchmark futures markets.

The research analyzed natural experiments between weekend trading hours in traditional markets and perpetual markets. For 205 Bitcoin trading weekends and 19 on-chain crude oil perpetual samples, the report compared costs associated with margin calls for expiring futures contracts. The results showed that a $1 million position would incur a $950,000 margin call on Monday but only $110,000 by Friday.

The HPC also provided an example of how perpetual contracts can mitigate losses in traditional markets. On March 6, 2026, the oil market saw a 15.8% weekend rebalancing due to the traditional market's closure. By using on-chain crude oil perpetual contracts, a $1 million position loss could be reduced to approximately $620,000 (including all costs).