The product
A conventional future has a delivery date and has to be rolled. A perpetual removes the date: the contract stays anchored to the underlying market through funding instead.
Hold a position indefinitely. There is no delivery date and nothing to roll into the next contract.
No overnight charge at rollover. The holding cost is the funding payment, which can be paid or received.
When the perpetual trades above spot, longs pay shorts; below spot, shorts pay longs. That is what keeps the price close to the real market.
Lots, margin, stop loss, take profit and pending orders behave as on every other instrument on your MetaTrader 5 account.
Instruments
| Symbol | Underlying | 1 lot | Price step | Order size | Initial margin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
XAUUSDPERP Gold Perpetual | Gold in US dollars | 100 troy ounces | 0.01 | 0.01 – 20 lots | 1% | Gold Perpetual |
BTCUSDPERP Bitcoin Perpetual | Bitcoin in US dollars | 1 bitcoin | 0.1 | 0.01 – 10 lots | 3% | Bitcoin Perpetual |
Figures shown for the standard account group. The symbol specification inside the trading platform prevails.
Holding cost
Every eight hours, at 00:00, 08:00 and 16:00 UTC (03:00, 11:00 and 19:00 platform time in summer), a funding rate is set for each perpetual. Only positions open at that moment pay or receive.
Funding = position value × funding rate, where position value is net lots × contract size × the market price at the funding time. The rate for each side is fixed at the funding time and shown in the client area.
A positive rate means long positions pay and short positions receive; a negative rate reverses the direction. A fully hedged position pays nothing, since funding applies to the net position only.
Each funding payment is booked to your balance as a separate entry within minutes of the funding time. It is not part of the position's floating profit and does not change your open price.
| Position | Buy 0.04 lots XAUUSDPERP (4 ounces) |
| Gold price at 08:00 UTC | 4,430.00 |
| Position value | 0.04 × 100 × 4,430 = 17,720 USD |
| Funding rate for longs | 0.013% |
| Charged to the account | 17,720 × 0.013% = 2.30 USD |
The same position held short, with a receiving rate of 0.007% at that funding time, would receive 1.24 USD. Sell at 09:10 UTC and buy back at 15:40 UTC the same day and no funding time falls inside the window, so nothing is paid or received.
Side by side
| Perpetual | Spot CFD | |
|---|---|---|
| Expiry | None | None |
| Holding cost | Funding three times a day, paid or received | Swap once a day at rollover, usually paid |
| Price reference | Perpetual market, anchored to spot by funding | Spot market |
| Gold lot size | 100 ounces | 100 ounces |
| Weekend gold trading | Yes | No |
| Trading hours | 24/7, Saturday 12:00–13:00 platform-time break | Market sessions of the underlying |
Trading hours
Both perpetuals quote and trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including the hours when the spot gold market is closed.
One scheduled break each week (09:00–10:00 UTC), reserved for maintenance. No quotes stream and no orders execute; open positions and pending orders are untouched and trading resumes automatically at 13:00.
The platform runs on platform time, GMT+3 in summer and GMT+2 in winter. Funding is set on UTC and never moves, so in winter the platform-time equivalent of every UTC figure is one hour earlier than shown here.
When the spot gold market is closed, prices come from the perpetual market alone and can be thinner and move further than spot. Margin calls apply as usual, and funding charges reduce free margin.
Common Questions
Perpetuals are leveraged products. Losses can exceed your initial margin and accumulate through funding payments. Only trade with funds you can afford to lose and make sure you understand the funding mechanism before holding positions across funding times.
Get started
Open an account, or rehearse on a demo account where funding applies exactly as on live.