Imagine trading oil or stocks on a crypto platform anytime you want, not limited by traditional market hours. This is exactly what’s driving a sharp rise in perpetual contracts tied to traditional financial assets on crypto exchanges. Since late May, the open interest in these contracts has jumped from under half a billion dollars to over $2 billion, a staggering increase that signals growing interest.
Perpetual contracts differ from standard futures by not having a fixed expiry date. Instead, they use funding payments to keep their prices aligned with the underlying asset. Traders now use these to gain continuous exposure to things like metals, oil, and equities without leaving the crypto ecosystem.
Binance leads this charge, holding roughly 35% of the TradFi perpetual market with about $720 million in open interest. Bybit and Gate follow, each controlling close to $380 million. These three exchanges combined make up around 70% of this emerging segment, showing how big crypto players are leveraging their liquidity and infrastructure to tap into traditional asset markets. When you add OKX and Bitget, the top five exchanges dominate 93% of this space.
The rise of TradFi perpetuals allows crypto venues to compete more directly with conventional platforms by offering 24/7 trading, even during hours when stock and commodity markets are closed. Still, this market segment is small compared to crypto’s own perpetual contracts, which hover near $65 billion about 30 times larger.
Such developments highlight crypto exchanges’ ambitions to expand beyond digital assets, blending traditional financial products with the flexibility and accessibility of crypto markets.
This article provides informational content and does not constitute financial advice.
