Dated futures are a type of derivative contract that lets you gain exposure to an asset's price movement without owning the underlying asset.
This article covers our crypto dated futures. For equity index and stock futures, see FAQs: Equity Futures.
At One Trading, our contracts have a five-year maturity. In practice, this means the trading experience is similar to classic perpetual futures: you can open and close positions freely, hold them for as long as you choose, and the contract price continuously tracks the underlying spot price via a funding rate. The five-year horizon is far enough away that it has no meaningful impact on day-to-day trading for most clients.
How dated futures work
Like all futures contracts, dated futures let you take a long position (if you expect the price to rise) or a short position (if you expect it to fall). You can hold a position for as long as you like — provided you maintain sufficient margin — without needing to roll the contract over or manage a near-term expiry.
Unlike traditional short-dated futures, our contracts are designed to behave like perpetual futures: rather than converging toward the spot price at expiry, the contract price is kept continuously aligned with spot through a funding rate mechanism. See What is the funding rate? for details on how this works.
Why traders use dated futures
- Effectively open-ended — with a five-year maturity, positions can be held as long as needed without the overhead of rolling contracts.
- Leverage — eligible clients can access up to 10x leverage. See What leverage is available for dated futures trading at One Trading?
- Two-way trading — gain exposure to rising or falling markets by going long or short.
- Spot price tracking — the funding rate keeps the contract price aligned with spot, giving predictable exposure to the underlying asset.
- Efficient execution — trades settle every 60 seconds, 24/7, on One Trading's Mobius infrastructure.
Investing involves risks. The value of investments can go up as well as down and you may receive back less than your original investment or lose your entire investment. Investing with leverage means the value of your investment fluctuates more than the price of the underlying asset. One Trading does not provide investment advice and investors should make their own decisions or seek independent advice.