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Polymarket is no longer just a place to bet on outcomes — it now wants to be a trading platform. The company announced Thursday it has launched Polymarket Perps, a perpetual futures product that lets international users trade crypto, stocks, indices and commodities with leverage up to 20x.
The launch marks a significant shift for a platform best known for letting users wager on real-world events. With Perps, Polymarket is stepping directly into territory long dominated by exchanges like Binance, Coinbase and Hyperliquid.
How Polymarket Perps Works
The new product is live in jurisdictions where it’s legally permitted, according to the company’s announcement on X. Traders can open long positions if they expect an asset’s price to rise, or short positions if they expect it to fall — all through a single interface.
The first batch of ten markets covers a mix of crypto and traditional assets: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, HYPE, gold, silver, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, WTI crude oil and SPCX. Unlike traditional futures contracts, perpetuals carry no expiry date, so positions can remain open indefinitely as long as traders maintain the required margin.
Polymarket is pitching the product on liquidity and cost, claiming it offers some of the deepest liquidity and lowest fees available for this kind of trading. The company is also positioning Perps as a tool for reacting to major market catalysts, such as Federal Reserve rate decisions or sharp swings in equity indices.
Scaling Up for Heavier Trading Volume
Launching a leveraged trading product means Polymarket also needs infrastructure that can keep up. The company says it’s targeting throughput of 200,000 orders per second — roughly 15 times what its system currently handles — with an eventual goal of surpassing 400,000 orders per second.
Early testing has reportedly delivered a 10x to 20x improvement in p99 latency, a metric that tracks how long the slowest orders take to process during high-traffic periods. Faster processing at that end of the spectrum typically translates into a smoother experience when trading activity spikes.
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US Traders Still Face Regulatory Limits
The international rollout doesn’t automatically extend to the United States. Derivatives offered to US customers remain governed by Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules, and Polymarket’s self-certification of its contracts doesn’t equal CFTC approval — the agency retains the authority to review or block contracts before they can trade domestically.
Polymarket is also drawing a clear line between Perps and its existing crypto price event contracts, which ask whether an asset will land above, below or within a set price range at a specific time. Perps, by contrast, are built for continuous, leveraged exposure.
The timing lines up with broader industry momentum: Coinbase recently expanded its futures lineup in Canada, adding leveraged products tied to crypto and commodities. Polymarket’s entry into perpetuals adds a new revenue line alongside its prediction markets, positioning the company to compete more directly with established derivatives platforms.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The author’s views are personal and may not reflect the views of Chain Affairs. Before making any investment decisions, you should always conduct your own research. Chain Affairs is not responsible for any financial losses.
I’m the cryptocurrency guy who loves breaking down blockchain complexity into bite-sized nuggets anyone can digest. After spending 5+ years analyzing this space, I’ve got a knack for disentangling crypto conundrums and financial markets.
