Perpetual contracts sound sexy on paper: trade crypto (or other assets) with leverage, no expiry dates, and profit from every little price swing.
But here’s the question no one wants to ask out loud: can you actually make money with them—or are perpetuals just casinos with better branding?
What Makes Perpetuals Different
Unlike traditional futures contracts, perpetual contracts don’t expire. That means you can hold your position forever (in theory).
But there’s a catch: the funding rate.
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If you’re long and the market is overheated, you pay funding.
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If you’re short in a bearish frenzy, you might be the one collecting.
This tug-of-war is what keeps perpetuals tethered to spot prices. But it’s also where traders get burned—slowly, silently, over time.
The Illusion of Easy Money
Perpetuals lure you in with leverage. 10x. 20x. Sometimes 100x if you’re feeling self-destructive.
And yeah, on paper, turning $100 into $10,000 in a day sounds like a dream. In reality?
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Volatility wipes out overleveraged positions in seconds.
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Funding eats away at “long-term” holds.
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Emotional tilt makes you double down after losses.
The house doesn’t even need to cheat—the math does the work.
So, Can You Actually Profit?
Here’s the unconventional truth: yes, but not the way most people think.
The traders who consistently make money with perpetual contracts aren’t “YOLO-ing” 50x longs on meme coins. They’re:
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Playing both sides of the market with hedging strategies.
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Arbitraging funding rates between exchanges.
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Using small, calculated leverage—not chasing moonshots.
In other words, the pros aren’t gambling. They’re engineering.
Down-to-Earth Insight
Perpetuals are like power tools. In the right hands, they build houses. In the wrong hands, they take off fingers.
Most retail traders lose money because they treat perpetual contracts like lottery tickets. The irony? The contracts were designed more for market makers and hedgers than for adrenaline-chasing rookies.
The Real Question
It’s not “Can perpetual contracts make money?”
It’s “Can you manage risk better than the crowd that keeps losing?”
If the answer is no, perpetuals will drain you faster than you can say “liquidated.”
Final Thought
Perpetual contracts are neither a goldmine nor a scam. They’re a mirror. They reflect your discipline—or lack of it.
So if you’re thinking about diving in, remember: the tool isn’t the danger. Your habits are.
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