A share you can hold at three in the morning
A stock perpetual follows the price of a share and never settles. No expiry to roll, no closing bell, no broker holding the certificate, and a funding payment instead of a dividend.
What Arcus is- Type
- Perpetuals on stocks, gold, crypto and indices, one book
- Markets
- 60+ listed, read live from the venue
- Hours
- 24/7, including when the underlying share is closed
- Our data
- 4M+ order-book snapshots at a 5.5-second cadence
What it is, mechanically
A stock perpetual is a contract whose price is tethered to a share by a funding payment rather than by delivery. You never receive the share and nobody has to hold it for you. The tether works the same way it does on a crypto perp: when the contract trades above the reference price, longs pay shorts, and when it trades below, shorts pay longs.
That single mechanism removes the three things that make traditional equity derivatives awkward for a small account: there is no expiry to roll, no settlement date to plan around, and no minimum contract size inherited from an exchange floor. On Arcus the smallest order is five dollars of notional on any market, equity or not.
- Tethered by funding, not by delivery: nobody holds the share.
- No expiry, no roll, no settlement date.
- Minimum order measured in dollars, not in round lots.
How it differs from a CFD and from a tokenized share
A CFD is a bilateral contract with a broker: your counterparty is the broker, the price is the broker's, and the position exists inside their books. A stock perpetual on a venue like Arcus is an order-book instrument: your counterparty is another trader, the price comes from a public book, and the position is settled by the venue's margin engine.
A tokenized share is a different animal again: it is a claim on a real share held by a custodian, which brings the custody question back and usually the trading hours with it. The perpetual makes no claim on the underlying at all. That is a limitation (no voting, no dividend), and it is exactly what buys the round-the-clock trading.
- CFD: your counterparty is the broker. Perp: your counterparty is the book.
- Tokenized share: a claim on a real share, with custody and usually with hours.
- Perp: no claim on the share, therefore no dividend, no vote, and no hours.
| Stock perpetual | CFD | Tokenized share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counterparty | Another trader on a public book | The broker | The issuer and its custodian |
| Price source | The order book, tethered by funding | Set by the broker | The underlying share |
| Expiry | None | None | None |
| Trading hours | Around the clock, weekends included | Broker's hours, often extended | Usually the exchange's hours |
| Dividend | No | Usually adjusted for | Yes, passed through |
| Shareholder vote | No | No | Sometimes |
| Running cost | Funding, paid between traders | Overnight financing, paid to the broker | Custody and management fees |
| Custody question | None: nobody holds a share | None | Yes: a custodian holds the real share |
What the funding costs
Funding is the running cost of holding the position, and on equity perps it is usually modest. Across the thirty equity markets on Arcus the median rate annualises to about 4.21 per cent at the time of writing, against roughly 10.95 per cent on the crypto markets on the same venue. The number moves with positioning: it is not a fee, it is a payment between the two sides.
Which side pays depends on where the contract sits relative to the reference price. Read it before opening: a rate that has been positive for days means longs have been crowded for days, and joining them means paying that rate for as long as it persists.
- Median annualised funding on equity perps: about 4.21% at the time of writing.
- On crypto markets on the same venue: about 10.95%.
- It is a payment between traders, not a fee to the venue.
What you give up
No dividend, no shareholder vote, no claim on the company. The contract tracks a price and nothing else. If a company pays a dividend, the reference price drops on the ex-date and the perpetual follows it down; there is no distribution to compensate.
The second thing to know is that the book is thinner outside regular hours. Overnight and at weekends the spread widens and the venue asks for more margin, because there are fewer participants and the reference price updates less often. Trading is possible; trading at size at three in the morning is a different question.
- No dividend and no vote: you hold a price, not a share.
- Ex-dividend drops are followed down with nothing to offset them.
- Overnight books are thinner: wider spreads, higher margin requirements.
Questions
What is a stock perpetual?
A contract that tracks a share's price with no expiry date. It is tethered to the reference price by a funding payment between longs and shorts rather than by delivery of the share, so nobody has to hold the underlying stock.
Are stock perpetuals the same as CFDs?
No. A CFD is a bilateral contract with a broker who is your counterparty and sets the price. A stock perpetual on an order-book venue matches you against other traders at a public price, with the venue's margin engine handling settlement.
Do you get dividends on a stock perpetual?
No. The contract holds no claim on the company, so there is no distribution. On the ex-dividend date the reference price falls and the perpetual follows it, with nothing to offset the drop.
What is the minimum to trade a stock perp?
On Arcus the smallest order is five dollars of notional on any market. There is no round-lot minimum inherited from an exchange, which is the practical reason a small account can hold a position in an expensive share at all.