Gate Research Institute: The Perpetualization of TradFi Assets and the Systematic Layering Advantages of Gate's Macro Perpetual Contracts

Summary

• Incorporating macro assets into crypto derivatives trading is becoming a practical demand. Crypto-native traders need stablecoin-denominated, composable, and executable macro exposure tools within broader time windows.
• Gate continues to advance a dual-track strategy: on one hand, using Gate TradFi (MT5 + CFD) to connect with more traditional trading systems; on the other, offering USDT-settled perpetual macro contracts to meet immediate hedging and rebalancing needs within contract accounts, forming an infrastructure-level foundation.
• As of mid-February, Gate’s macro perpetual contracts have built a matrix covering five major categories: stocks, metals, indices, forex, and commodities, with a total trading volume exceeding $33 billion.

1. Introduction

By 2026, integrating macro assets into crypto derivatives trading is becoming a real demand: on one side, crypto-native traders need stablecoin-denominated, composable, 24/7 accessible macro exposure tools for quick hedging and rebalancing during weekend risk events, sudden news, and cross-market volatility; on the other, market makers and platforms require more controllable pricing, risk management, and parameter adjustment mechanisms to enable stable, scalable macro asset operations within perpetual contract frameworks.

Gate not only offers traditional finance (TradFi) trading instruments but also further splits macro trading into two complementary paths, consolidating them into the account infrastructure:

• Gate TradFi (MT5 + CFD): a traditional derivatives system emphasizing rule sets, cost structures, and trading experience aligned with traditional finance. As of mid-February, Gate TradFi’s cumulative trading volume has surpassed $33 billion.
• Macro perpetual contracts (USDT-settled): a crypto-native path within the perpetual contract framework, turning macro assets like stocks, metals, indices, forex, and commodities into USDT-settled perpetual tools directly manageable within contract accounts, with intensive expansion of the asset matrix in January–February 2026.

These are not mutually exclusive: TradFi provides a more traditional market rule-based professional entry point, while macro perpetuals offer a risk management toolbox aligned with crypto trading habits, executable over broader time windows, jointly covering two core user groups and workflows.

2. The Importance of Macro Perpetuals

For crypto traders, the core challenge in macro risk management isn’t information acquisition but the ability to hedge and rebalance at critical moments and execute with low friction within the same account framework.

Liberating macro trading from time restrictions is the direct reason macro perpetuals are being pushed to the forefront. Traditional TradFi (including MT5 + CFD) often involves fixed trading hours and market close rules, which are normal for traditional traders. However, for crypto traders, price feedback on macro events often occurs outside traditional trading hours, such as weekend risk events, sudden geopolitical shocks, key speeches, or rapid market sentiment shifts. In these moments, crypto markets tend to move first, while traditional markets may still be closed, making it difficult for traders to hedge synchronously with familiar derivatives tools.

Therefore, “perpetualizing” macro assets like indices, forex, commodities, and metals essentially accomplishes three things simultaneously:

• Turning macro assets into always-available risk tools: traders can establish exposure, reduce net risk, hedge portfolios, anytime, without being constrained by traditional trading hours. It’s important to note that liquidity and pricing during external market closures may differ from normal, requiring cautious setting of take-profit, stop-loss, leverage, and position size.
• Integrating macro hedging into crypto position management: many crypto derivatives users are accustomed to managing margin, leverage, risk controls, and strategies within a unified account system. Macro perpetuals are easier to incorporate into the same margin and risk framework, significantly reducing friction from opening separate TradFi accounts or learning new rules, making hedging and rebalancing feel like a natural extension within the contract system.
• Transforming macro assets from “occasional glance” into a sustainable trading category: when macro assets are priced in stablecoins and entered into perpetual contracts, they facilitate portfolio hedging (linked to BTC/ETH risk exposure), instant rebalancing driven by events, and strategy reuse with consistent take-profit, stop-loss, risk parameters, and capital management disciplines. This shifts macro trading from a temporary emergency operation to a regular, executable strategy module.

With clear demand and mechanism constraints, whether macro perpetuals can truly scale depends on product coverage and mechanism design.

3. Products and Mechanisms

3.1 Product Matrix

The usability of macro perpetual contracts hinges on having a comprehensive and complete structure—not only covering gold and silver but also indices, major currency pairs, and industrial metals that represent macro cycles and risk preferences.

As of February 11, Gate has launched over 70 USDT-settled macro perpetual contracts across multiple categories, covering five major asset classes:

1. Stocks: 45+ popular stock perpetual contracts
2. Metals: 10+ metals including gold, silver, aluminum, copper, nickel, lead
3. Indices: 10+ major index perpetuals, including Dow Jones, Nasdaq, S&P 500, as well as smaller indices like US2000, regional markets TW88 (Taiwan), AUS200 (Australia), and market sentiment gauges like VIX
4. Forex: 3 major currency pairs, e.g., EURUSD, GBPUSD
5. Commodities: 2 oil perpetual contracts—WTI and Brent

3.2 Key Mechanism Points

The biggest difference between macro assets and crypto assets is that external reference markets often have fixed trading hours. How macro perpetuals handle external market trading hours and price continuity is a key mechanism point. Gate’s approach: for index-like assets, during non-trading hours, the price remains “Quote-Hold,” continuing to use the last valid quote.

This allows traders to manage risk during market close, but liquidity and price jumps must be anticipated, requiring closer monitoring of external market states and more cautious setting of stop-loss, take-profit, and position sizes to handle deepening spreads and volatility during closures. Meanwhile, 24/7 trading isn’t simply a replication of spot continuous quotes but prioritizes tool usability. When risk occurs, traders should have at least one executable hedge or rebalancing tool within the contract framework. However, during market closures, price continuity and depth structures differ from normal, so strategies should reduce leverage, tighten positions, or enforce stricter risk controls accordingly.

Beyond pricing mechanisms, position organization also determines the feasibility of hedging, rebalancing, and risk management. Gate offers a split-position mode: within the same contract market, traders can hold both long and short positions simultaneously, in full or isolated margin modes. In isolated margin mode, longs and shorts can have different leverage settings, allowing more precise risk budgeting and execution. Specifically:

1. Up to 4 concurrent positions per market: full long, full short, isolated long, isolated short.
2. Support for mixed full and isolated margin positions within the same market, with independent leverage settings for longs and shorts in isolated mode.

This mechanism makes macro perpetuals more suitable for integration into portfolio risk management and strategy systems, enabling simultaneous positioning and hedging within the same asset, with independent leverage management to better handle event risks, liquidity, and price jumps.

3.3 Cost Structure

Cost is a primary concern for contract users. Gate provides a familiar, strategy-friendly fee calculation and deduction rule:

• Fee formula: Trading fee = position value × (Maker/Taker rate)
• Maker / Taker: Makers provide liquidity, takers consume liquidity; maker fees cannot be deducted with Points, taker fees can be.
• Gate perpetuals adopt tiered fee rates (varying with VIP level); VIP0 base rates are: Maker 0.020%, Taker 0.050%. Taker fees can be deducted with Points, which are fixed at 0.075%. Under certain discounts, the combined fee rate can be as low as 0.0225% (subject to display).

3.4 Core Advantages

In the industry, many platforms’ macro asset layouts tend to extremes: either only a few assets for display or a full set but with trading frameworks, costs, and risk controls unsuitable for real trading. For macro perpetuals to truly operate effectively, at least three elements are needed: comprehensive asset coverage, a usable trading framework, and manageable costs and risk controls. Gate’s approach is to simultaneously solidify these three aspects.

• Complete structure: covering major macro assets—stocks, indices, forex, commodities, metals—enabling systematic rotation and hedging, not just single assets like gold.

• Familiar framework: USDT settlement + perpetual contracts align with crypto traders’ habits, with unified margin, order, risk management, and position logic, making macro trading a natural extension of the contract system.

• Cost control and transparency: leveraging Gate’s existing fee system facilitates strategy scaling and replication.

4. Typical Uses of Macro Perpetual Strategies

Using Gate perpetual contracts, traders can implement several strategies aligned with contract trading habits (not investment advice):

4.1 Portfolio Drawdown Hedging: Managing Risk Temperature via Indices or Volatility

• Entering risk-averse phases: short indices + long volatility (e.g., VIX/BVIX/EVIX) for systemic risk hedging.
• When crypto volatility rises but direction is unclear: volatility contracts can serve as “insurance,” but leverage and liquidity must be carefully managed.

4.2 Weekend Event-Driven Hedging

During weekend major events, when traditional stock index futures cannot be traded, Gate macro perpetuals provide an emergency hedging channel within the contract framework. However, traders must respect Price-Hold and liquidity risks, using it mainly as a risk management tool rather than high-frequency execution for maximum fill.

4.3 Cross-Region Rotation

Treat “regional markets” as a factor in strategies. When indices expand to Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong (AUS200, TW88, HSCHKD), they no longer represent a single market exposure but can be used for regional rotation, risk preference shifts, and correlation trading with crypto assets.

5. Summary: Parallel Dual-Track Systematic Overlay

While many platforms attempt macro asset trading, most either follow traditional market rhythms (24/5 + market close/holidays) or offer scattered new derivatives. Gate’s unique advantage is systematic overlay: building macro trading into a comprehensive account infrastructure—covering both traditional trading (MT5 + CFD) and 24/7 macro perpetual tools, with clear fee and cost disclosures—making macro trading a long-term capability module for users. Additionally, Gate provides project channels and fee incentives for market-making teams, supporting long-term liquidity supply. Some macro contracts are also synchronized with Gate Perp DEX, indicating Gate’s extension of macro risk tools into broader on-chain trading scenarios.

Disclaimer
Investing in cryptocurrency markets involves high risks. Users are advised to conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of assets and products before making any investment decisions. Gate is not responsible for any losses or damages resulting from such investment decisions.