Polymarket has opened perpetual futures trading to the public, expanding beyond its event-market roots with leveraged contracts tied to assets such as Bitcoin, gold and Tesla. The launch went live on Thursday on the company’s international platform, where users in the United States are not allowed to place orders.
The new product introduces no-expiry derivatives to a venue better known for prediction markets and places Polymarket into more direct competition with crypto-native perpetuals exchanges such as Hyperliquid as well as other offshore derivatives platforms.
Public launch adds 67 live markets
Polymarket announced the rollout in a post on X at 11:12 a.m. ET, saying its perpetuals product was live with up to 20x leverage across crypto, stocks, commodities and other markets. By 4:25 p.m. ET, the perps page showed 67 active contracts.
Those markets were divided into 36 stocks, 24 crypto assets, four commodities and three indices. The product was also given a prominent place in the site’s top navigation bar alongside categories such as Trending and Politics, signaling that perpetuals are now a core part of the platform’s offering.
Volume centered on major assets, but listings extend far beyond them
Among the contracts shown on the site, Ether led by displayed volume at $9 million, followed by Bitcoin at $7 million and gold at $5 million. Ondo ranked fourth at $4 million, ahead of other tokens including Solana, which showed $607,000. Polymarket displays those figures without specifying the time period they cover.
Across all 67 markets, the displayed volume added up to about $73 million. The lineup goes well beyond the largest crypto assets, including contracts tied to SpaceX and Samsung shares, Micron and SK Hynix, a DRAM market, Brent and WTI crude, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100 and Fartcoin.
Margin and funding terms outline how the product works
According to the platform’s documentation, funding settles hourly and is capped at 4% per hour in either direction. The premium index used for that process is sampled from the order book every five seconds.
Maintenance margin is set at 0.5 divided by the maximum leverage for a given market, which works out to 2.5% on a 20x contract. The documentation also says that if collateral falls below two-thirds of maintenance margin, the position is absorbed by an insurance fund.
Geographic limits and broader market context
The launch is limited to Polymarket’s international venue. The company’s documentation says order placement is not permitted from the United States, Canada, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Crimea, Donetsk or Luhansk.
The move comes three months after Kalshi began offering perpetual futures to U.S. traders under oversight from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to the source article. For now, Polymarket’s new derivatives push is taking place outside the U.S. market, with the key next step likely to be whether the company expands the product lineup or liquidity from its initial 67 contracts.
Source: thedefiant.io