Plain-English definition
A perpetual is a futures contract that never settles. To keep its price tethered to the real asset, traders pay each other a periodic funding rate depending on which side is crowded.
Funding is a sentiment gauge: when longs pay heavily to stay long, the crowd is leaning one way, and crowded leverage is exactly what gets liquidated first.
Why it matters
Perpetuals (Perps) matters because crypto markets can look precise while still being shallow, crowded, or poorly sourced. A useful read is not just the number. It is the number, the size behind it, the context around it, and the part it cannot explain.
Simple example
A simple Perpetuals (Perps) example is a reader comparing two venues with the same headline price but different depth. The deeper venue can absorb more capital before the trade, peg, or yield reading starts to move against the user.
How Bathymark uses this term
Bathymark uses Perpetuals (Perps) to translate open market data into live liquidity readings. When the term touches a live page, the reading links back to the relevant chain, protocol, stablecoin, DEX, perps, or Signal so the source remains checkable.
Common mistake
The common mistake is treating Perpetuals (Perps) as a complete signal by itself. Bathymark treats it as one instrument: useful when read beside liquidity, source, size, and what the number cannot prove.