Bitget's Overview of TradFi Perpetual Futures

[Estimated reading time: 3 minutes]

As a leading global Universal Exchange (UEX), Bitget continues to deeply integrate traditional financial assets (TradFi) with crypto derivatives, launching USDT-M perpetual futures across multiple categories, including stocks, Pre-IPO, precious metals, and commodities. These products use USDT as the margin and settlement currency and support leveraged trading with both long and short positions. Most offer near round-the-clock trading, letting crypto users participate in global asset price movements without opening a traditional brokerage account.

This article introduces Bitget's core perpetual futures products and mechanisms, along with links to detailed articles for further reading.

 

1. Introduction to Pre-IPO perpetual futures

Pre-IPO perpetual futures are a derivative product designed by Bitget specifically for unlisted companies. They let users speculate on valuation changes of high-potential targets ahead of a company's official listing, in a USDT-settled perpetual futures format. Typical underlying assets include OpenAI, SpaceX-related products, Moonshot AI, and more.

Key features:

• No expiration date, supporting long-term holding

• Maximum leverage of up to 5x–20x (depending on the specific asset)

• 24/7 trading

• Funding rates are typically settled every 8 hours

• Settlement asset is USDT, and the futures price reflects the market's expectations for future IPO valuations

This lets users trade ahead of major valuation shifts around a listing, without waiting for the official IPO.

 

2. Bitget Quanto perpetual futures

Quanto perpetual futures are an industry-first TradFi derivative structure designed specifically for non-USD-denominated overseas stocks (such as Hong Kong and Japanese stocks). Futures are quoted in local currency (such as HKD or JPY) and closely track the underlying stock's price movements. However, margin, funding fees, and profit/loss are all settled in USDT, using a fixed 1:1 conversion that doesn't involve actual foreign exchange.

Key advantages:

• Avoids exchange rate fluctuation risk

• Maximum leverage of 20x

• 24/7 trading

• Funding rates are settled every 8 hours

Typical underlying assets include MINIMAXHKDUSDT, TENCENTHKDUSDT, XIAOMIHKDUSDT, LENOVOHKDUSDT, and more. Traders only need to focus on stock price movements, without needing to track exchange rate movements at all.

For more details: Bitget Quanto perpetual futures: don't let exchange rates affect your returns

 

3. Stock perps

Stock perps (also known as RWA stock perpetual futures) are USDT-M perpetual futures products that Bitget has launched based on traditional market stocks or tokenized stock indices. Earlier versions were mostly based on composite indices of tokenized stocks, such as xStock and ONDO. Some products have since been upgraded to directly track traditional market quotes, using data sources including Pyth and dxFeed.

Key features:

• Both settlement and pricing are in USDT

• Maximum leverage of up to 25x–100x (depending on the asset)

• Trading hours have expanded from an initial 5×24h to 24/7 for some assets

• Funding rates are typically settled every 4 or 8 hours

• Supports isolated margin, cross margin, and unified trading account modes

• The funding rate mechanism keeps the futures price aligned with the underlying index

Compared to standard crypto perpetual futures, stock perps feature targeted optimizations in areas such as trading hours, index pricing, mark price calculation (using EMA smoothing outside trading hours), and open interest (OI) limits.

For more details: A complete guide to understanding stock perps

 

3.1 RWA stock perps cash dividend settlement

When the U.S. stock underlying an RWA stock perp announces a cash dividend, Bitget completes the dividend payout via the funding rate settlement mechanism: the dividend amount is transferred from short positions to long positions, making the holding experience closer to directly holding the underlying stock.

Key rules:

• Long positions receive the dividend, and short positions pay the dividend (net-zero positions do not participate)

• Settlement time: at the after-hours close on the trading day before the underlying stock's ex-dividend date (T-1), not on the ex-dividend date itself

• Settlement amount = dividend per share × futures multiplier × net position size, settled in USDT

• Positions newly opened on the ex-dividend date do not participate in that dividend

• Recorded separately in Financial Records as Cash Dividend Fee

Currently, this mainly applies to individual U.S. stocks. Some ETFs, Hong Kong stocks, Japanese stocks, and others aren't yet supported.

For more details: RWA stock futures: cash dividend settlement mechanism

 

3.2 RWA stock perps stock splits, reverse splits, and stock dividends

When the underlying company undergoes a stock split, reverse split, or stock dividend, Bitget automatically processes the position, with no manual action required from users.

Processing steps:

1. Futures trading is subject to a special halt around the ex-rights date.

2. The system freezes the position value using a snapshot of the last mark price before the halt.

3. The position size and average entry price are automatically adjusted according to the adjustment ratio (position value and profit/loss remain unchanged).

4. Normal trading resumes once the adjustment is complete.

Example adjustment formulas:

Corporate action	Example	Adjustment ratio	New position size	New average entry price
Stock split	1-for-2 split	2	Original quantity × 2	Original average price ÷ 2
Reverse split	3-for-1 reverse split	1/3	Original quantity × 1/3	Original average price ÷ (1/3)
Stock dividend	10%	1.1	Original quantity × 1.1	Original average price ÷ 1.1

During the trading halt, positions cannot be opened or closed, unfilled orders are automatically canceled, funding rate accrual is paused, and any related trading bot positions are terminated. The adjustment itself does not incur any fees.

For more details: RWA stock perps: how stock splits, reverse splits, and stock dividends are handled

 

4. Precious metal perps

Precious metal perps are part of Bitget's TradFi RWA perpetual futures series, settled in USDT and supporting 24/7 trading year-round.

Underlying asset types:

• Traditional price indices: XAU (gold), XAG (silver), and others, with data sourced from multiple authoritative providers such as Pyth and dxFeed

• Precious metal tokens: on-chain pegged tokens such as XAUT and PAXG

Key differences (compared to standard crypto perpetual futures):

• Maximum leverage is typically 50x–100x

• Funding rates are typically settled every 4 hours

• Mark prices use EMA smoothing outside regular trading hours to reduce the impact of abnormal volatility

• No need to hold physical assets, and no exposure to the trading hour restrictions of traditional precious metals markets

Suitable for crypto users looking to hedge against inflation or capture precious metals price movements.

For more details: A complete guide to understanding precious metals perps

 

5. Commodity perps

Commodity perps are also USDT-M perpetual products, currently mainly covering commodities such as crude oil and natural gas (e.g., BZUSDT, NATGASUSDT). Price data comes from authoritative sources such as Pyth and dxFeed, supporting high leverage (up to 100x) and 24/7 trading.

Key features:

• No expiration date, so there's no need for the manual rollovers traditional futures require

• Funding rates anchor the contract price to the spot/index price

• A weighted index from multiple data sources ensures transparent pricing

• Part of the same TradFi perpetual futures system as stock and precious metals perps, allowing funds to be managed efficiently within a unified account

Suitable for users looking to participate in commodity price movements using crypto funds.

For more details: A complete guide to understanding commodity perps

 

6. Commodity perps rolling index

Some commodity perps adopt a rolling index design. As the underlying reference is a futures contract with an expiry date, the platform will automatically roll the futures as it approaches expiry, smoothly transitioning the price to the following month's futures.

Rollover logic overview:

• Weighting is typically adjusted gradually within a specific window of business days each month (for example, shifting from 100% in the current month to 100% in the following month)

• Positions carry over automatically during the rollover, with no manual action required from users

• Profit and loss are automatically adjusted based on the price transition, avoiding friction caused by forced liquidation at expiry

This mechanism allows commodity perpetual futures to truly deliver a "perpetual" experience while maintaining price continuity with traditional futures markets.

For more details: Commodity perps rolling index: how the rollover mechanism works

 

Risk warning

Traditional asset perpetual futures are high-risk leveraged derivatives, and prices may be affected by factors such as gaps in traditional markets, holiday trading halts, corporate actions, and funding rates. Please make sure you fully understand the product rules, manage your position size prudently, and only trade with funds you can afford to lose. Specific parameters, trading hours, and rules are subject to Bitget's official real-time announcements and trading pages.