DeFi Derivatives & Perpetuals — Final Exam

This is the capstone. Seven lessons built the on-chain derivatives machine from one idea outward — a futures contract with the expiry torn off, and the puzzle that creates; the funding rate that manufactures convergence and broadcasts crowd positioning; leverage and the exact liquidation price it implies, enforced by keeper bots; the insurance fund and auto-deleveraging that backstop a crash; the three perp-DEX architectures and their decentralization-vs-oracle-risk trade-offs; the convex payoffs of on-chain options and the everlasting gamma of power perps; and finally the cash-and-carry basis trade that turns the funding premium into market-neutral yield. No formula sheet, no hints, no take-backs: every answer locks the instant you submit, the wrong options are the exact traps the lessons warned about, and your score stays hidden until the end.

How this exam works

This is a graded exam. Questions arrive one at a time. Once you submit an answer it is final — there is no going back, no second try, and a wrong answer simply fails that question. Your score stays hidden until the very end, where you need 70% to pass. Read every option before you commit.

Question 1 of 29

What is the single defining feature of a perpetual future?

It can only ever be traded with zero leverageIt settles by physical delivery of the asset every blockIt has no expiry or settlement date, so a position can be held open indefinitelyIt is always priced exactly equal to spot by protocol rule

Select an answer to continue.

You’ve run the gauntlet. Here is the whole topic as one picture to seal it in.

Big picture

DeFi Derivatives & Perpetuals — the whole topic

DeFi derivatives & perps
- The perp
  - Future with no expiry
  - Index (anchor) vs mark (contract)
  - Continuously cash-settled
- Funding
  - Rich side pays cheap side
  - F ≈ premium + small interest
  - On notional, ×3/day, big annualized
- Leverage & liquidation
  - leverage = notional / margin
  - Move ≈ 1/lev − maintenance
  - Keepers enforce; bankruptcy price
- Backstops
  - Insurance fund absorbs bad debt
  - Grown from liquidation surpluses
  - ADL closes profitable opposite side
- DEX designs
  - Order book (dYdX, Hyperliquid)
  - vAMM (Perp v1) — price can drift
  - Oracle/pool (GMX) — oracle risk
- Curvature & carry
  - Options = convexity (gamma)
  - Power perps = everlasting gamma
  - Cash-and-carry = neutral funding yield

A never-expiring contract anchored by funding, governed by leverage and liquidation, backstopped by insurance and ADL, traded on three DEX designs, extended by options and power perps, and monetized by cash-and-carry.