Futures
Contracts to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a future date, often traded with leverage.
A futures contract locks in a price today for settlement later. In crypto, most are cash-settled: no coins change hands, just the profit or loss in dollars or stablecoins. They let traders speculate on direction or hedge existing holdings without touching the underlying asset.
Futures are the deepest part of crypto markets, with daily volume that dwarfs spot trading. They almost always involve leverage, which means liquidation risk. Traditional futures expire on a fixed date; crypto's most popular variant, the perpetual swap, never does.
Related terms
A futures contract with no expiry date, kept aligned to spot price by recurring funding payments.
DerivativesFinancial contracts whose value comes from an underlying asset rather than from holding the asset itself.
LeverageBorrowed money used to control a larger position than your own capital would allow, amplifying gains and losses.
LiquidationThe forced closing of a leveraged position when losses drop its collateral below the required minimum.