Polymarket launches 20x perpetual contracts covering cryptocurrencies, stocks and gold

Polymarket launches perpetual contracts covering ten major crypto, stock, index and commodity markets.

Polymarket has officially launched perpetual contract trading services, covering the first batch of 10 crypto assets, stocks, indices and commodities. In the market, eligible international users can trade with a maximum leverage of 20 times.

Core Points

Polymarket Perps supports long-short two-way transactions in the first 10 markets.
Tradable instruments include BTC, ETH, SOL, HYPE, gold, silver, crude oil, as well as two U.S. stock indexes.
Leverage can be up to 20 times, but the specific amount available depends on the jurisdiction where the user is located.
Under Polymarket's current restrictions, U.S. customers cannot use this international perpetual contract service.

Polymarket Perps launches its first batch of 10 markets

Polymarket said in an announcement that this new service provides traders with a unified interface for trading perpetual contracts linked to cryptocurrencies, stocks, market indices and commodities.

The first 10 markets include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Hyperliquid's HYPE tokens. Traders can also take positions on gold, silver, West Texas Intermediate, the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq 100.

SPCX (the contract that tracks SpaceX's share price) was also included in the first batch. Unlike purchasing shares through a stockbroker, holding a SPCX perpetual contract does not give the holder ownership, voting rights, or claims on the company's assets.

Users can open long positions (profit when the reference price rises) or short positions (profit when the reference price falls). Polymarket sets a maximum available leverage of 20 times, but the specific limit will change depending on contract, position size, and platform margin rules.

The company called the product the "most liquid and lowest-cost" trading venue, but did not provide comparative data in the announcement to support this claim. Polymarket also did not disclose complete data on trading volume, open interest or collateral deposited at the time of release.

The difference between perpetual contracts and standard futures is that perpetual contracts have no fixed expiration date. Polymarket's perpetual contract platform says positions can remain open as long as traders continue to meet the required margin levels.

Funding rate payments are made regularly between long and short traders to bring the price of each contract close to its reference price. When the perpetual contract is trading at a price above the underlying index, long traders usually pay short traders; when the contract is trading at a price below the index, the payment is usually in the opposite direction.

Leverage allows users to control positions that are worth more than their collateral. At 20 times leverage, every dollar of margin can support up to $20 in risk exposure, amplifying gains and losses. Polymarket said positions remain active only when margin requirements are met, which means the platform can clear the trade when adverse movements reduce available collateral.

This service extends Polymarket's business beyond event contracts

The launch of perpetual contracts gives Polymarket a second type of trading product, alongside the event contracts on which it started. The forecast market settles based on established results, while new contracts track changes in asset prices and have no expiration date.

For example, a Bitcoin event contract might ask whether BTC will trade above a certain level at a specified time. Its benefits depend on whether the stated conditions occur. The Bitcoin perpetual contract fluctuates with the Bitcoin reference price and remains open until the trader closes the position or the platform liquidates the position.

This difference also applies to macroeconomic transactions. Polymarket's event market allows users to place bets on the outcome of Fed meetings, while index, gold or cryptocurrency perpetual contracts allow users to trade price fluctuations that occur before and after meeting decisions.

Providing two products at the same time allows users to express market views in different ways, but the contract has different revenue structures and risks. Event stocks are usually settled at a set value after the results are confirmed, while leveraged perpetual contracts may generate continued gains or losses as the reference price fluctuates.

Polymarket's move follows similar product expansions from other trading companies. Coinbase opened 23 cryptocurrency futures markets to eligible Canadian professional and institutional investors in September, with contracts supported with leverage of up to 10 times.

Canadian services also include products linked to gold, silver, oil and the COIN50 cryptocurrency index. Coinbase offers these contracts through Coinbase Financial Markets, its U.S. registered futures commission provider, and operates under an international exemption clause that does not open these products to Canadian retail traders.

Faster underlying infrastructure supports higher trading volumes

While introducing derivatives, Polymarket has also been working on improvements aimed at increasing the number of orders processed by the system.

Based on previous reports on its trading infrastructure, the company is working to achieve a processing capacity of 200,000 orders per second. This figure is about 15 times the platform's previous throughput, and the underlying architecture is preparing to eventually process more than 400,000 orders per second.

report showed that p99 latency, a measure of the slowest set of transactions during active periods, increased by 10 to 20 times. Lower p99 latency helps to process orders more consistently when exchange trading volume increases, although Polymarket had not yet released a complete independent performance assessment at the time of the report's release.

When platforms offer leveraged contracts, execution and pricing controls become more important. Minor delays or brief price changes can affect margin calculations, clearing and order execution, especially if the trader controls a position that is much larger than the collateral it supports.

In August, after researchers reviewed activity during the final pricing window for its short-term crypto event contracts, Polymarket changed the settlement method for those contracts. The platform adopted time-weighted average prices after a study found that 821 accounts made a combined profit of $8.2 million during settlement periods that could be deemed manipulation.

Under the revised methodology, 5-minute contracts use a 30-second price average, while 15-minute and 4-hour contracts use a 60-second average. Polymarket said in an August update that pricing information was provided by Chainlink Data Streams.

U.S. user access is subject to different regulatory paths

Polymarket limits the launch of its perpetual contract to international users where the service is legally available. U.S. customers cannot use the company's international operations services, including its leveraged perpetual contract interface.

This restriction stems from a settlement reached by Polymarket with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2022. Regulators found that the company provided event-based binary options without registering as a designated contract market or swap execution facility.

Polymarket agreed to pay a civil penalty of US$1.4 million and liquidate markets that did not comply with U.S. law. Under the settlement, the company must also block U.S. customers from accessing its international platforms.

An independent regulated operation provides Polymarket with access to the U.S. market. Its U.S. platform operates under the supervision of the CFTC, but contracts submitted through the regulatory self-certification process do not represent clear approval by the CFTC.

Self-certification allows a registered exchange to declare that the proposed product complies with the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC rules. The committee can still review filings, request more information, or stop contract trading if regulatory issues are identified.

In June, the CFTC was preparing a new review framework for event contracts, covering products related to sports, political developments, and events involving war or violence. The proposed approach would allow the agency to review certain contracts individually, rather than relying solely on restrictions that cover entire categories.

State regulators have also questioned the treatment of certain prediction products as federally regulated derivatives. Recent court disputes have focused on sports contracts, with state regulators arguing that these products are similar to gambling products and therefore require state licenses.

As of August, lawsuits involving the forecast market have spread to 20 states, and according to recent platform evaluations, Polymarket has generated more than $1 billion in revenue. The company had obtained approval to operate a designated contract market in the United States before opening universal access to U.S. platforms in May 2026.

The international perpetual contract interface remains independent of the US platform. U.S. users seeking leveraged derivatives must use products from exchanges and intermediaries regulated by the CFTC and comply with the contract, margin limits and customer qualification rules stipulated by each registered provider.