TradingView

In finance, a perpetual futures contract, also known as a perpetual swap, is an agreement to non-optionally buy or sell an asset at an unspecified point in the future . … However, perpetual futures markets have only developed for cryptocurrencies, following their introduction in 2016 by BitMEX.

A perpetual swap is somewhat similar to a futures contract in that it allows traders to speculate on the future price movements of cryptocurrencies . The core difference is that, unlike a typical futures contract, perpetual swaps do not have expiration dates.5 Eki 2021

Futures enable hedging and risk management by providing exposure to many assets . When expecting an adverse price movement, traders can post short positions and take advantage of the downward movement. This case would not be possible if one could just buy and sell spot positions alone.