What Are Perpetual Futures? Crypto and Equity Perps Explained
Learn what perps mean, how long and short positions differ, and where simulated accounts and trading games fit.
By Size team
Perpetual futures, often called perps, are derivatives with no scheduled expiry date. They let a trader take a long or short view on a referenced market without buying the underlying asset. Crypto perps reference crypto prices; equity perps reference equity prices.
The words describe an instrument, not a promise about a platform. A live exchange position, a simulated funded account and a trading game can all involve market prices while giving you different rights, costs, risks and outcomes.
What do long and short mean?
A long position benefits from a rise in its referenced price; a short benefits from a fall, before costs and the contract’s own rules. Neither position gives you the underlying asset simply because you took a view on its price.
For a simplified example, a one-unit long entered at $100 and closed at $105 has a $5 price gain before costs. The same price move produces a $5 price loss for a one-unit short. This example omits fees, funding and other adjustments, and does not describe Size’s game-scoring calculation.
Funding, margin and liquidation
On live perpetual venues, funding payments can help keep a contract aligned with its reference market. Margin supports a position, and leverage increases exposure relative to that margin. If a position no longer meets the venue’s requirements, it can be liquidated.
Check the actual contract’s reference price, costs, funding schedule, collateral, margin mode and liquidation rules. Those settings are not universal. Hyperliquid’s contract specifications describe one venue’s perpetuals; they are not Size’s account rules.
Crypto perps and equity perps
A crypto perpetual references a crypto market. An equity perpetual references a share price or another specified equity benchmark. Market availability and contract terms depend on the provider. Do not assume an equity perp has the ownership rights, dividends or voting rights of an ordinary share.
Reference-market hours also matter. Ask how the provider sources prices when an underlying market is closed, how it handles gaps and corporate events, and when a position can be traded. Compare equity perps, stocks and tokenized stocks before treating them as interchangeable.
What is a simulated perps funded account?
A simulated funded account records trading against a virtual balance under the provider’s rules. At Size, you first win the funded challenge, then trade the selected account. Available simulated markets span crypto, equities, commodities and indices.
The starting balance cannot be withdrawn. Eligible account profits may qualify for real cash payouts under the account’s profit split and payout conditions. Review available markets and funded trading rules, drawdown rules and payout conditions.
How does a trading game differ from a live perps position?
Size is a survival game using live market prices and a simulated balance. Trading performance, boosts and timed eliminations affect your score and rank. In solo play, skill-rated bots are your opponents. A game result is not the same thing as exchange profit.
Choose a cash prize or a simulated funded account before a paid challenge. It is the same game with a different prize. Your entry pays for an attempt and can be lost. Winning requires first place, a positive final score and the selected game’s winning conditions; survival alone is insufficient.
A live perpetual position uses collateral to support exposure and can change value until it is closed, liquidated or settled under the contract rules. A Size game uses a virtual balance inside a scored session. Its outcome is determined by rank, score and winning conditions.
That distinction explains why a cash-prize multiplier is not the same as market leverage. The first calculates a selected award; the second changes exposure. Read Size vs Moon: cash prizes and leverage compared for worked examples, or how tap trading games work for the controls.
Choose the experience you want
Want to understand the game before paying? Try free practice. It has no cash or funded-account prize and does not prove that a strategy will work on a live exchange.
Want to play for an account? Read how account selection works and compare the entry, difficulty, loss limits and payout rules together. Want a selected cash award instead? Read the cash entry and prize rules.