How Does Perpetual Trading Work on Pluang?
Perpetual contracts on Pluang are priced using Mark Price — a weighted average price calculated across major global crypto exchanges — and this figure, not the last traded price, is what determines your unrealized profit-and-loss and what triggers liquidation. A funding rate is then exchanged between long and short position holders every 8 hours to keep the contract price aligned with the underlying spot price. Unlike spot trading, which only profits when prices rise, perpetual trading lets you profit in both rising and falling markets by opening a long or a short position, and because Pluang offers perpetual contracts exclusively, there is no expiration date forcing you to close or roll over a position. Managed carefully, this combination of continuous pricing and two-way profit potential is what makes perpetual contracts different from a traditional dated futures contract.
How a perpetual contract's price is anchored:
Mark Price is a weighted average price across major global crypto exchanges, used for unrealized PnL calculations and liquidation triggers — distinct from the last traded price, which only reflects the most recent executed trade. A funding rate mechanism, exchanged every 8 hours, periodically nudges the contract price toward the underlying spot price, allowing the contract to trade indefinitely without ever expiring.
The two position types:
- Long position — open when you expect the price to increase; close to realize profit once the price rises, or hold a loss if the price falls instead.
- Short position — effectively borrow the crypto asset to sell at the current price, then buy it back lower and return what was borrowed; the difference is your profit.
Related questions:
Q: What is Mark Price used for in perpetual trading?
Mark Price is used to calculate unrealized PnL and to trigger liquidation. It's a weighted average price across major global exchanges, which makes it distinct from the last traded price on Pluang. Because liquidation is triggered off Mark Price rather than the last executed trade, a sudden spike on a single exchange doesn't automatically force your position to close. This distinction matters most during periods of high volatility, when a brief price spike on just one exchange could otherwise trigger an unnecessary liquidation if pricing relied on a single source alone.
Q: Do perpetual contracts on Pluang have an expiration date?
No. Perpetual contracts have no expiration date, unlike traditional futures contracts that settle on a fixed date. This is the only contract type Pluang offers, so every Crypto Futures position you open, long or short, can technically stay open indefinitely as long as your margin covers it. That said, an open position without an expiration date still needs an exit plan, since nothing about the contract forces you to close it before losses accumulate.
Q: How does a short position generate profit?
You sell the borrowed crypto asset at the current price, buy it back later at a lower price, and keep the difference as profit. If the price rises instead of falling after you open the short, the same trade moves into a loss, so a short still carries the same margin and liquidation risk as a long. This is why a short position requires the same discipline around margin and Margin Level monitoring that a long position does, rather than being treated as a lower-risk trade.
Q: Can I profit in perpetual trading when the market falls?
Yes. Opening a short position lets you profit from a price decline, unlike spot trading which only profits from price increases. This two-way profit potential is one of the main differences between perpetual trading and holding a Crypto Assets (spot) position. It also means perpetual trading can be used to offset losses elsewhere in your portfolio, for example hedging a Crypto Assets (spot) holding during a downturn.
Q: What keeps a perpetual contract's price aligned with the spot price?
The funding rate mechanism, exchanged every 8 hours, periodically transfers payments between long and short holders based on the price gap to spot. Without this mechanism, a contract with no expiration date could otherwise drift indefinitely further from the underlying spot price over time. The direction of the payment flips depending on whether the contract is trading above or below spot, so which side pays and which side receives can change from one 8-hour period to the next.