Flux Markets | Perpetuals Skip to main content
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. The vast majority of retail client accounts lose money when trading in CFDs. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Perpetuals

Contracts for difference without fixed expiry dates

Commodity Futures and Swap contracts always have an expiry date. This implies that positions taken in these contracts will inevitably be subject to either settlement or rollover onto the next most prompt contract on the expiry date, with the consequential realisation of the running profit and loss (PnL).

Managing the expiry process can be complex. Flux Markets is taking this burden off your shoulders by introducing perpetual contracts for our most popular Outright and Differential retail products, allowing you to hold a position indefinitely.

Pricing

While all our dated contracts have no overnight holding costs, perpetual contracts do - and it is important to understand how they are priced.

The price of a perpetual contract is built from the prices of the two nearest underlying futures or swap contracts (M1 and M2 going forward), More specifically, it is a weighted average of the prices of these two contracts.

The price of the perpetual, over a specific time period, is expected to be equal to the price of M1 at the beginning of the period, gradually moving towards M2 during the period, and will ultimately equal to M2 at the end of the period.

The chart here shows how as time goes on, the price of our Perpetual Contract moves from the price of M1 towards the price of M2.

 

Example

Let’s use US Gasoline Perpetual as an example to break down this apparently complex mechanism. Below are all the needed data.

Current date = 09/04/2026

M0 = Apr26 Contract (Previous M1)
M1 = May26 Contract
M2  = Jun26 Contract

 

Expiry Date M0 = 30/03/2026
Expiry Date M1 = 29/04/2026

M1 Price = 3.2147
M2 Price = 3.3874

Given all the above data, we can calculate the US Gasoline Perpetual price as follows:

  1. Calculate the number of days within the period for current set of M1 and M2N Days Period =  Expiry Date M1 - Expiry Date M0  =  (29/04/2026) – (30/03/2026) = 30 days
  2. Calculate the weights to attribute to M1 Price and M2 PriceM1 Price Weight = (Expiry Date M1 – Current Date) / N Days Period  =
    = [(29/04/2026) – (09/04/2026)] / 30 = 20/30 = 0.666667

    M2 Price Weight = 1 - M1 Price Weight = 1 - 0.666667 = 0.333333

  3. Calculate the Perpetual PricePerp Price = (M1 Price Weight * M1 Price) + (M2 Price Weight * M2 Price) =
    = (0.666667 * 3.2147) + (0.333333 * 3.3874) = 3.27226

Overnight Holding Costs

All positions in Perpetual Contracts held through 18:00 London Time will be subject to overnight holding costs. There are two components here, the Flux Markets admin fee and the Basis Adjustment. The former is the only actual cost to positions holders, whilst the latter is a zero-sum adjustment. Let’s see how they work.

1. Flux Markets Admin Fee

There are three different types, depending on the nature of the product being traded:

    1. Outrights: 3% of the notional value of the position. Prices are snapped at or around 18:00 UK time for notional calculation purposes.
    2. Differentials in barrels (bbl): When it comes to differential products, a notional based approach is not possible as prices here can be negative or even zero.
      Instead we charge $0.005/bbl for every day the position is held through the cut-off time.
    3. Differentials in metric tonnes (mt): When it comes to differential products, a notional based approach is not possible as prices here can be negative or even zero.
      Instead we charge $0.035/mt for every day the position is held through the cut-off time.

2. Basis Adjustment

This adjustment reflects how the Perpetual price moves between the price of M1 and M2.  (See how this works in in the Pricing section above).

At  end of the day, after the cutoff time, our price will automatically move along the M1-M2 pricing curve. Based on the direction of your position and the steepness of the pricing curve between M1 and M2, you will be either debited or credited with this adjustment:

HOLDING LONG POSITION HOLDING SHORT POSITION
M2 PRICE > M1 PRICE (Positive Steepness) The movement along the curve will have a POSITIVE impact on your position.

We will DEBIT your account with the same amount of such PnL improvement.

 The movement along the curve will have a NEGATIVE impact on your position.

We will CREDIT your account with the same amount of such PnL worsening.
M2 PRICE < M1 PRICE (Negative Steepness) The movement along the curve will have a NEGATIVE impact on your position.

We will CREDIT your account with the same amount of such PnL worsening.

 The movement along the curve will have a POSITIVE impact on your position.

We will DEBIT your account with the same amount of such PnL improvement.

... Continuing our Example

Let's make this concept clearer by breaking down the calculation of the Basis Adjustment and the Flux Markets Fee. Continuing the previous example from the Pricing section above:

 

Current date = 09/04/2026

M1 = May26 Contract
M2  = Jun26 Contract

M1 Price Snapshot = 3.2147
M2 Price Snapshot = 3.3874

N Days Period = 30 days

M1 Price Weight = 20/30 = 0.666667
M2 Price Weight = 1 - 0.666667 = 0.333333

Perp Price TODAY  = (0.666667 * 3.2147) + (0.333333 * 3.3874) = 3.27226

In order to calculate how much the price should be moved along the curve, we calculate:

  1. The price of the perpetual TOMORROW with updated weights:M1 Price Weight Tomorrow = (20 -1)/30 = 0.633333M2 Price Weight Tomorrow = 1 - 0.633333 = 0.366667Perp Price TOMORROW  = (0.633333 * 3.2147) + (0.366667 * 3.3874) = 3.27802
  2. The difference between the price of the Perpetual Tomorrow and Today is the basis adjustment.Basis Adjustment = Perp Price TOMORROW   -  Perp Price TODAY  = 3.27802 - 3.27226 = 0.00576

Now, let’s apply this to an imaginary position for explanatory purposes:

Position Direction = LONG
Position Size = 2 lots
Lot size = 10,000 gallons

 

Flux Markets Admin Fee

  1. Calculate the notional value of the position:
    Notional Value = Perp Price  * Position Size * Lot Size == 3.27226  * 2 * 10000 =  $65,445.2
  2. Apply the Admin fee rate:
    Daily Fee = Admin Fee Rate * Notional / 365 = 65445.2 * 3% / 365 = $5.38

 

Basis Adjustment Credit / Debit

Basis Adjustment Credit/Debit =

Basis * Position Size * Lot Size =

= 0.00576 * 2 * 10000 = $115.2

Since, we are holding a LONG position and the pricing curve between M1 and M2 is positive (Positive Basis),  we will be DEBITED $115.20 to offset the positive impact of the basis on the running PnL of the position.

In a mirrored scenario, if we were SHORT, we would have been CREDITED $115.20 to offset the negative impact of the basis on the running PnL of the position.