Here's the short version: perpetual futures have no expiry date and stay anchored to spot price through a funding rate that settles every 8 hours; delivery futures (Delivery / Quarterly) have a fixed expiry date (usually the end of a quarter) and settle automatically at a settlement price when they expire. Perpetual is flexible and suits short-to-medium-term trading; delivery saves on funding costs and suits longer holds. Beginners should default to perpetual. Start at the Binance Official Site, Android users can grab the Official Binance App, and iPhone users should check the Download Page.
Below we'll compare the mechanics, use cases, and liquidity gap between the two contract types in detail.
Perpetual futures are a product invented by the crypto market — traditional finance has no exact equivalent.
Feature one: no expiry date. Positions can be held indefinitely and, in theory, never expire.
Feature two: the funding rate anchors the price to spot. Every 8 hours, longs and shorts pay each other to pull the perpetual price back toward spot.
Feature three: the best liquidity. Daily volume on BTC/USDT perpetual far exceeds delivery futures.
Feature four: the highest leverage. Binance's maximum 125x leverage is only available on perpetual contracts for major coins like BTC and ETH.
Feature five: the most trading pairs. Most coins have a perpetual contract available — around 300+ pairs.
Delivery futures (Delivery Futures / Quarterly Futures) resemble traditional finance's futures contracts.
Feature one: a fixed expiry date. Binance delivery contracts typically expire at the end of the current quarter (the last Friday of March, June, September, or December) or the following quarter.
Feature two: no funding rate. Delivery contracts don't charge a funding rate, so long holds don't carry that particular cost.
Feature three: automatic settlement at expiry. On the expiry date, positions are automatically closed at a "settlement price" (usually a spot price average) taken over a specific time window.
Feature four: lower liquidity. Binance only offers delivery contracts for a handful of major coins like BTC and ETH, with much shallower depth than perpetual.
Feature five: fewer trading pairs. Binance generally only offers current-quarter and next-quarter delivery contracts for BTC and ETH — about 4 pairs total.
Difference one: expiry mechanics
Perpetual: no expiry date, held in place by the funding rate.
Delivery: fixed expiry date, forced settlement at expiry.
Practical impact: perpetual positions can be held indefinitely (at the cost of the funding rate); delivery positions must be closed or rolled over (moved to the next quarter) before expiry.
Difference two: cost structure
Perpetual: funding rate (every 8 hours) + trading fees
Delivery: trading fees + basis cost (the gap between your entry price and the spot price)
Practical impact:
Difference three: liquidity and depth
Perpetual: BTC/USDT perpetual trades $30-50 billion daily, with excellent depth.
Delivery: BTC current-quarter delivery trades $0.5-2 billion on expiry day — good depth, but a tier below perpetual.
Practical impact: large capital tends to prefer perpetual (to avoid slippage); retail traders can use either.
| Comparison | Perpetual | Delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Expiry date | None | Fixed (end of quarter) |
| Funding rate | Yes (every 8 hours) | None |
| Trading pairs | 300+ | Only BTC/ETH and a few others |
| Max leverage | 125x | 125x |
| Liquidity | Excellent | Good |
| Best suited for | Short to medium term | Medium to long term |
| Beginner friendliness | High | Medium |
Scenario one: intraday or overnight short-term trading
Choose perpetual. Low fees, good liquidity, and the funding rate has minimal impact.
Scenario two: 1-2 week holds
Choose perpetual or current-quarter delivery. Perpetual pays a few rounds of funding but is more hands-off; delivery skips funding but requires you to forecast direction for several months out.
Scenario three: 1-3 month trend trades
Choose current-quarter delivery. At this time horizon, delivery's funding savings become meaningful.
Scenario four: 3-6 month long-term trades
Choose next-quarter delivery (or roll the current-quarter position). This can save up to 6 months of funding rate cost.
Scenario five: hedging spot holdings with futures for arbitrage
Choose a perpetual short (to collect funding). Basis arbitrage is typically built around perpetual contracts.
Scenario six: trading obscure altcoins
Perpetual is your only option. Obscure coins don't have delivery contracts.
Perpetual's hidden cost: the funding rate. BTC running at a long-term +0.01% (every 8 hours) works out to roughly 11% annualized (for longs).
Delivery's hidden cost: basis. For example, if spot BTC is at 67,000 and the quarterly delivery contract is priced at 68,500, the basis is 1,500, or about 2.2%. Holding for a quarter means you're "automatically paying" that 2.2% basis cost.
Which is more economical:
In the 1-2 days before expiry, delivery contract volume drops sharply as everyone rolls into the next quarter. You need to actively close your position and open a new one for the next quarter — this is called rolling.
The process:
Step one: 3-7 days before expiry, start watching the next-quarter contract.
Step two: pick a good moment to close your current position.
Step three: open a new position in the next-quarter contract.
Step four: pay double the fees (once to close, once to open).
Cost: each roll costs about 0.1% of position value (with BNB discount applied). Rolling 4 times a year adds up to about 0.4% in annual rolling cost.
If you don't roll proactively: on the expiry date, the system automatically closes your position at the settlement price, which may not be favorable.
Binance's delivery contract expiry dates:
For example, 2026's delivery dates:
Volume spikes heavily in the 30-60 minutes before expiry, and price swings can get sharper. Beginners are better off closing their positions 24 hours ahead of time to avoid this window.
Binance's delivery contract settlement price is typically the average mark price over the last hour before expiry.
The mark price is an index price Binance derives from multiple spot exchanges combined, so it can't be manipulated by a single source.
Once the settlement price is determined:
Yes. They're independent contract markets, so you can hold positions in both simultaneously.
Typical combinations:
This is a classic basis arbitrage setup used by professional traders. Beginners shouldn't try this casually.
In theory, perpetual and delivery prices should be close, but in practice there's often a gap:
Positive basis (delivery > perpetual): the market is bullish. It means traders are willing to pay a premium to lock in a future price.
Negative basis (delivery < perpetual): the market is bearish.
No basis: the market is neutral.
The size of the basis reflects market sentiment. It can tell you:
Perpetual order books are extremely deep — a $1 million market order on a major coin typically slips less than 0.05%.
Delivery order books are comparatively thin — a $1 million market order on a major coin can slip 0.1%-0.5%.
This means:
Suited to group one: trend traders who are long-term bullish on a coin
Willing to hold for 1-3 months to save on funding rate costs.
Suited to group two: basis arbitrageurs
Traders profiting from the price gap between perpetual and delivery.
Suited to group three: traders who want to avoid funding rate volatility
Traders who don't want to be hit by extreme funding rate swings.
Suited to group four: large-position whales
Traders locking in a future execution price through delivery for large-scale hedging.
99% of beginners don't fall into any of these groups, so perpetual is the default choice.
Q: What happens if I don't close a delivery position before it expires? A: It's automatically force-closed at the settlement price, with the profit or loss settled directly into your futures wallet. There's no "physical delivery" involved — everything is cash-settled (USDⓈ-M contracts settle in USDT, COIN-M contracts settle in the underlying coin).
Q: How far can perpetual contract prices diverge from spot? A: Under normal conditions, the gap stays under 0.5%. In extreme markets it can briefly reach 1%-2%, and the funding rate will quickly pull it back.
Q: Is there a big risk of perpetual contract price manipulation? A: BTC/USDT perpetual is the deepest futures market in the world, so manipulation is extremely expensive. Smaller altcoin perpetuals can be more vulnerable.
Q: How do I check the remaining days on a delivery contract? A: The contract page shows the "expiry date" and "days remaining". Binance's "Derivatives" → "Delivery Futures" section also has a detailed list.
Q: Can I convert a perpetual position directly into a delivery position? A: No, not directly. You need to close the perpetual position first, then open a delivery position — which involves additional trading fees.
Q: Do delivery contracts also get the BNB fee discount? A: Yes, though the discount may be smaller than on perpetual. Check "Futures Settings" → "Use BNB to Pay Fees" for specifics.
Q: Why is the funding rate on delivery contracts always zero? A: Delivery contracts stay anchored to spot through their expiry mechanism, so they don't need a funding rate to maintain that anchor. This is the most fundamental difference between perpetual and delivery.
Beginners should remember: default to perpetual, it's simple and flexible. Consider delivery only once you want to hold long-term and save on funding costs.