Think twice before playing with Perpetual Futures.

Source: Decrypt

Authors: Ryan S. Gladwin, Guillermo Jimenez

Original Title: “Crypto Perps Are Easier to Access Than Ever Before—Is That A Good Thing?”

Compiled and organized by: BitpushNews

Perpetual contracts are sweeping through the cryptocurrency trading circle, becoming the hottest investment strategy at present. A large number of traders are flooding into this field on an unprecedented scale, placing higher-risk bets on high-risk assets.

However, just as these investment products have become easily accessible—now anyone can easily participate with just a crypto wallet or Telegram account—analysts have issued a warning: this seemingly sharp “double-edged sword” is bringing new risks to the entire crypto market.

As a type of derivative contract with no fixed expiration date, perpetual contracts allow investors to borrow funds and use leverage to bet on the future price movements of assets such as Bitcoin. Once the judgment is correct, the investor's returns will grow exponentially with the leverage multiple.

If the bet is wrong, your position may be liquidated - just like the chain liquidation that occurred on October 10, which led to a record-scale evaporation of $19 billion in funds within a few hours.

For many years, high-risk, high-reward trading that offers leverage of 10 to 1001 times has typically been available only on offshore centralized exchanges outside the United States.

But now the situation has changed, which is not only due to the lenient regulatory environment faced by the cryptocurrency industry under the leadership of U.S. President Trump, but also attributed to the rise of decentralized trading solutions like Hyperliquid, which allow any user with a crypto wallet worldwide to participate.

Popular crypto wallets MetaMask and Phantom have now directly integrated perpetual contract trading into their mobile and browser applications through Hyperliquid. Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange focused on perpetual contracts, with its own exclusive blockchain. This means that millions of new users can access this previously highly restricted trading product without having to open an account with a centralized exchange or provide personal identification information.

According to DefiLlama data, perpetual contract trading has accounted for 16% of Phantom's annual total revenue of $195 million, and 6% of MetaMask's revenue of $81 million—despite both wallets having launched this feature only in July and October of this year, respectively.

Telegram mini app Blum has also begun offering perpetual contracts with up to 100x leverage, and the company predicts that by early 2026, such trades will account for 80% of its total trading volume. MetaMask is equally enthusiastic about this opportunity.

“We have seen outstanding early growth momentum,” said Mike Lwin, Senior Product Director at MetaMask, to Decrypt, “perpetual contracts are our key focus area, and more broadly, trading is at the core of MetaMask's future development.”

According to statistics from DefiLlama, perpetual contracts have become an important business in the cryptocurrency industry this year, generating over $1.27 trillion in trading volume in the past 30 days. Decentralized exchanges focusing on perpetual contracts, such as Hyperliquid and Aster, have been particularly successful as they have lowered the barriers to entry.

However, the lower threshold has also brought a broader and less experienced user base, who may not understand how these products work and the associated risks.

Blum co-founder Gleb Kostarev revealed to Decrypt that a large number of his followers on X and Telegram are not aware of the definition, operation, or risk exposure of the automatic liquidation mechanism — which is the fundamental risk control mechanism of perpetual contract exchanges used to reduce exchange risk.

“This example actually shows that many users do not have a deep understanding of the details of these products,” Kostarev explained, “It is crucial to help them understand this, and we need to strengthen user education. Users should have a clear understanding of market dynamics, potential changes, and risks.”

Blum is trying to educate users through social media channels. However, unlike centralized exchanges, Blum and similar applications do not require users to pass a risk assessment test or prove their understanding of the basics of perpetual contracts and leverage before trading.

Phantom introduces contract trading, leverage, and liquidation mechanisms through a concise guided process in the wallet when users open perpetual contract products. MetaMask also provides a multi-step tutorial when users first use this feature.

Market analysts had previously warned Decrypt that the proliferation of perpetual contracts and the competition for leveraged services may be breeding systemic risks within the crypto market. Earlier this month, a historical record was set with $19 billion in leveraged positions liquidated in a single day.

Messari research analyst Matthew Nay told Decrypt that the addition of perpetual contract features to wallet and messaging applications has only a “marginal” impact on systemic risk, as the main risks come from whales holding leverage positions worth millions or even billions.

Blum's Kostarev pointed out that offering high leverage is aimed at attracting retail users rather than whales. As a Telegram mini-app, Blum's target users are industry newcomers and groups from developing countries, which is also why its interface is simplified for new traders to use.

Lwin from MetaMask believes that lowering the participation threshold for perpetual contracts can “unlock a larger user base” for crypto, thereby “deepening liquidity, narrowing spreads,” and “accelerating” the migration of users from centralized products to decentralized products.

But Messari's Nay calls this low threshold a “double-edged sword”: on one hand, it allows retail traders to access “innovative tools that can only be realized through cryptocurrency”; on the other hand, if insufficient education leads to new users suffering losses, it may also “discourage some traders”.

Amberdata's Director of Derivatives, Gregoire Magadini, stated in an interview with Decrypt that products like perpetual contracts are perfectly suited for traders who are accustomed to “one-click ordering and hands-off management,” while high-leverage positions are particularly averse to this operational mode.

He sharply pointed out that passive investors, if they recklessly use perpetual contracts, are likely making a “fatal error”—because this type of high-leverage strategy requires continuous monitoring and active risk management, rather than passive holding.

“Leverage trading must set clear profit targets and stop-loss lines, supported by real-time data monitoring and risk warning systems, in order to effectively control risks,” Magadini reminded, “although lowering the trading threshold has indeed driven innovation (such as Robinhood's success in options trading), my advice for beginners is very clear: before entering the market, please do your homework first.”