Robinhood launches perpetual futures in the US: settlement every 15 minutes and a new venue for trades

Robinhood launches perpetual futures in the US: settlement every 15 minutes and a new venue for trades

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev announced at HOOD Summit the launch of perpetual futures for US customers. The product will run through Robinhood Derivatives, and the contract list includes BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, LINK and the Hyperliquid token.

For the US market this is a notable step. Perps were long a mostly offshore instrument, and now one of the country's largest retail platforms is getting them.

Terms

Maximum leverage on bitcoin and ether is 10x. Settlement happens every 15 minutes, and the promotional fee through year-end will be 0.01% versus the standard 0.02% at Coinbase.

There's an important caveat. The product isn't covered by FDIC or SIPC insurance, so money in it isn't protected the way a regular brokerage account is.

How to compare funding

The main trap for an arbitrage trader is different frequencies. Some exchanges pay funding every eight hours, others every hour, and if you compare rates head-on you can see an imbalance where there isn't one.

From what we see, rates can only be compared correctly when normalized to the same period, say an hour or a year. A venue with frequent settlement simply pays less each time at the same annual rate.

Where the trades are

A new venue with a retail audience often lives with its own skew. In our view, in the first weeks funding and price on Robinhood may differ noticeably from offshore exchanges, because customers mostly open longs.

We believe a trade between Robinhood and other venues will be available to far from everyone. The product is US-only, and arbitrage traders outside the States will only be able to watch how the US retail skew shows up in rates on other exchanges.

Our tools

Funding paid at different intervals is easy to compare when rates are normalized to the same period. Our arbitrage screener keeps dozens of venues in one window, refreshes quotes every second and shows each gap together with the volume actually behind it. The spread calculator helps you check what survives fees, network costs and slippage at your size. The bot is fully manual. It never connects to your exchange API keys.

To test the tools on a live market, ArbitrageScanner offers one day of free access to the whole ecosystem.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. What is Robinhood launching?

Perpetual futures for US customers through Robinhood Derivatives. Contracts on BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, LINK and the Hyperliquid token.

2. What are the terms?

Up to 10x leverage on bitcoin and ether, settlement every 15 minutes, a 0.01% promo fee through year-end. No FDIC or SIPC insurance.

3. How do you compare funding paid at different intervals?

Normalize rates to the same period, an hour or a year. Otherwise it's easy to see an imbalance where there isn't one.

4. Can you arbitrage through Robinhood?

The product is US-only. Everyone else can only watch how the US retail skew shows up in rates on other exchanges.

Conclusion

Robinhood is launching perpetual futures in the US: eight contracts, up to 10x leverage, settlement every 15 minutes and a 0.01% promo fee. Perps are reaching the mass-market American customer.

For arbitrage, the key is to compare funding paid at different intervals correctly and to watch the retail skew of the new venue. Without normalizing rates to one period, it's easy to see a false trade.

IMPORTANT! We are software developers. We do not give recommendations or promises of earnings and we do not advise you to invest your money anywhere. Our software is fully manual, all your money stays under your own control. We show examples of how our clients have earned on arbitrage in the past, but we do not advise repeating those actions one to one. Your earnings depend solely on your own actions and on market factors.