Spot vs Perpetuals

Brief overview of the difference between spot and perpetuals

What’s the Difference?

Spot

• You buy or sell the actual asset (like HYPE, BTC, ETH).

• You own it directly, and can transfer it out of the exchange to external wallets.

• Profit only when price goes up (unless you sell what you already hold).

Perpetual Futures (Perps)

• You don’t own the asset, you trade a contract tied to its price.

• You can go long (bet price goes up) or short (bet price goes down).

• No expiry date — you can hold as long as you want.

• Uses leverage: trade bigger size with smaller capital (Up to 40x Leverage).

• Funding rates keep perp prices in line with the spot market.

Takeaways

• Spot = owning the coin.

• Perpetuals = betting on price moves, both ways, with leverage.