Perpetual futures are starting to move beyond their crypto roots and take shape as a broader market-structure product, according to a new report from TD Securities. The bank said the instrument is no longer confined to digital assets and could eventually extend across commodities, equities and private-market exposure.
Unlike traditional futures, perpetual futures do not expire. They stay anchored to the underlying market through funding-rate mechanisms. TD said perps have already become the dominant format in crypto trading, accounting for roughly 80% of global digital-asset trading volume.
U.S. regulatory shifts and institutional demand are expanding the market
TD linked the recent acceleration to regulatory developments in the U.S. and rising institutional demand. Last month, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission allowed bitcoin perpetual futures to trade on prediction market platform Kalshi. Around the same period, Coinbase said it plans to launch U.S. equity-index perpetual futures and moved closer to linking American customers with offshore perpetual futures markets.
The report said institutional interest is spreading beyond cryptocurrencies. Hyperliquid, described by TD as the largest decentralized perpetual futures platform, now lists contracts tied to commodities and private companies. It has also become a venue for pre-IPO contracts connected to firms such as Cerebras and SpaceX, giving traders a way to speculate on valuations before public listings.
Weekend trading put Hyperliquid into the price-discovery spotlight
TD argued that Hyperliquid’s growth is starting to test the traditional role of exchanges such as CME Group in price discovery. During the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict earlier this year, commodity markets were closed for the weekend while Hyperliquid remained open. The report said notional volume in oil-linked perpetual futures on the platform rose from about $25 million to more than $550 million by the third weekend of trading.
TD’s more striking point was the price action. Before CME’s market reopened, Hyperliquid had already priced in about 80% of the subsequent move in West Texas Intermediate crude, according to the report. TD said the key development was not only the volume, but that price discovery was taking place before traditional commodity markets resumed trading.
From oil contracts to pre-IPO names
The report said the pattern is not limited to commodities. Hyperliquid’s pre-IPO perpetual futures tied to companies including Cerebras and SpaceX are being watched as an early test of whether blockchain-based markets can help establish valuations before stocks begin trading publicly. TD’s conclusion was direct: perpetual futures are evolving from a crypto-native instrument into a wider market structure with reach beyond digital assets.