Deleting the expiry date doesn't change the leverage.删掉到期日，杠杆并没有变。

In early October, US regulators let exchanges strip expiry dates from index futures that already behaved like perpetuals. The headline reads "true perps arrive onshore." The better question is who pays when one blows up.

The record first. In Letter 26-29, dated 3 October, CFTC staff told Coinbase Derivatives, and any other regulated exchange, that they would not object if it removed expiration dates from its perpetual-style index futures. The relief runs out on 20 October. Conditions: at least five days' notice to holders, a chance to exit, risk disclosures, and no other material term changed.

The letter itself says these contracts had expiries of up to 25 years. Their funding mechanics were described as identical to true perpetuals. The date was a legal costume.

So the leverage engine was already running. Funding payments between longs and shorts keep the price near spot. Margin rules decide when a position is closed. Removing the date touches neither.

What matters is the loss waterfall. On 10 and 11 October 2025, about $19 billion of crypto positions were liquidated, CoinShares reported, adding that the official total is likely understated. When insurance funds ran dry, venues such as Hyperliquid auto-deleveraged, closing out profitable traders to cover the losses.

Regulated clearing works differently. Cleary Gottlieb notes that risk mutualization can expose participants to round-the-clock products they never trade.

A perpetual's risk lives in its margin rules, not on its calendar.

That is the second-order effect: as more perpetuals move into regulated clearing, part of their tail sits with people who never chose them.

The strongest counter is that labels steer distribution. The relief covers any exchange, and a recognized "perpetual" category is easier to list and sell through brokers. If the new label pulls in more leveraged retail flow, total leverage rises even if each position looks the same. Staff also warn the old contracts may price differently from true perps. So our read is narrower: per-position mechanics, and who absorbs the loss.

If a broker offers you one of these, read the margin and liquidation schedule before the product name. A small test: find the maintenance margin and the weekend rule, and write down what a sharp weekend gap would do to your account.

We'd revise if converted contracts show different funding, margin or basis behaviour than before, in exchange filings or data, by 31 December 2026.

Research, not investment advice.