Perpetual vs Quarterly Futures: What's the Difference

A perpetual future has no expiry date, so you can hold it as long as your margin lasts, and you pay or receive a funding fee to keep its price near spot. A quarterly (dated) future has a fixed settlement date, and it closes at a price tied to the index on that day. That is the whole difference between perpetual vs futures with an expiry: one never ends, the other always does.

Everything below comes from the exchanges' own help pages, checked on 15 Oct 2026. Rules change, so read the live contract page before you trade.

How a perpetual works

Bybit describes its USDT perpetual as a futures contract with no expiration date. You can open a long or short at any time and hold it while margin requirements are met.

Because nothing forces the price back to spot at a set date, the exchange uses funding. Binance says funding payments are designed to anchor the perpetual price to the spot index price. Bybit says the same: funding keeps the perpetual price closely aligned with the global spot price.

Funding moves between traders, not to the exchange. On Binance, when the funding rate is positive, longs pay shorts, and when it is negative, shorts pay longs. Binance states it does not charge fees on funding payments. Bybit describes the same direction of payment. You only pay or receive funding if you hold the position at the funding time.

How a quarterly or dated future works

A dated future has a fixed settlement date. Bybit's help center puts it simply: you can close any time before settlement, or hold until the settlement date, when the position is settled using the average index price over the last 30 minutes before expiration.

On Bybit, USDT expiry contracts settle at 08:00 UTC on Fridays, and the symbol carries the date, for example BTCUSDT-25SEP26. For BTC and ETH, Bybit lists weekly, monthly and quarterly tenors: current week, next week, third week, current month, next month, current quarter and next quarter. Other pairs get the shorter list up to the current month.

Binance lists quarterly delivery contracts too. Its API documentation names the contract types PERPETUAL, CURRENT_QUARTER and NEXT_QUARTER, among others. In its 2024 listing announcements, Binance states that quarterly contracts expire and settle at 08:00 UTC on the delivery date, and that you cannot open new positions in the ten minutes before delivery.

The figure is an illustration with made-up prices. The perpetual (blue) stays close to spot because funding pulls it back. The quarterly (lime) can trade away from spot during its life, but it is settled against the index at expiry, so the gap closes by the final candle. How large that gap gets in practice depends on the market, and we did not use any real quote here.

The rules side by side

The table uses Bybit's specification. Bybit lists trading fees and funding fees for perpetuals, and trading fees plus settlement fees if you hold to expiration for expiry contracts. We left out the size of any settlement fee because we could not confirm it from the primary page. Check the fee table on your exchange.

Funding and settlement times

Both products cluster around the same hours. The default funding interval on Binance is every 8 hours at 00:00, 08:00 and 16:00 UTC (03:00, 11:00 and 19:00 MSK), and Binance can change it during extreme volatility. Bybit says each pair can have its own interval and funding limits. If a Bybit perpetual's funding rate hits its preset limit at settlement, the system can switch that pair to hourly funding.

The 08:00 UTC slot is both a funding time and the expiry time on Bybit. The averaging window for an expiry contract runs from 07:30 to 08:00 UTC, so the settlement price is built from the last half hour of the index, not from one tick.

Which one fits what

• Short-term trades. A perpetual has no date to manage. You pay funding only if you hold across a funding time.
• Holding for weeks. Funding accrues every interval and can go either way, so check the current rate before you hold. A dated contract has no funding listed on Bybit, but you take on the expiry date.
• Known end date. A dated contract settles for you on a schedule. A perpetual needs you to close it.

Liquidation risk exists in both. A leveraged position can be liquidated whichever type you trade. Estimate your level with the liquidation price calculator, and size the position with the position size calculator. To understand which price triggers liquidation, read mark price vs last price.

Common mistakes

• Holding a perpetual for weeks without checking funding, then finding the cost in your PnL history.
• Missing the expiry on a dated contract. If you hold through the settlement time, the exchange settles the position for you, and fees may apply.
• Assuming a dated contract is safer. Leverage and liquidation work the same way.
• Trading a contract without reading its symbol. On Bybit, the date is part of the name.

To compare two exchanges on fees and rules, see Binance vs Bybit for futures. For your first order, follow the step-by-step Binance futures guide. More guides are in the Trader's Handbook.

FAQ

What is the difference between perpetual and quarterly futures? A perpetual has no expiry date and uses funding payments to stay near spot. A quarterly future has a fixed settlement date and settles against the index price on that day.

Do quarterly futures have funding fees? Bybit's specification lists funding fees for perpetuals and settlement fees for expiry contracts, not funding for expiry contracts. Binance's funding page covers perpetual contracts only. Check the contract page of the product you trade.

When do Bybit expiry contracts settle? At 08:00 UTC on the expiry date. The settlement price is based on the average index price over the last 30 minutes before expiration.

Can a perpetual be liquidated? Yes. Perpetuals and dated futures can both be liquidated when margin runs out. The price that triggers it is the mark price, not the last price.

Sources: Bybit: Introduction to USDT Perpetual and Expiry Contracts, Bybit: Funding Fee Calculation, Binance: Funding rates FAQ, Binance: Quarterly 0927 delivery contracts announcement, Binance API: contract types.