Perpetual futures tied to traditional finance (TradFi) assets grew from an average daily trading volume of $3 billion in January 2026 to $8.6 billion by March, according to a Binance Research report written by researcher Lim Kim Tie.
Important points:
- Binance Research reports that from January to March 2026, the average daily trading volume of TradFi-perps increased from $3 billion to $8.6 billion.
- Permanent silver reached around 40% of COMEX SI contract volume at its peak, indicating serious traction in crypto-native commodity trading.
- Over the weekend, TradFi-perps correctly predicted the direction of Monday’s futures gap 89% of the time, pointing to the role of new price discovery.
Permanent buying and selling of gold and silver attracts US traders, with Binance controlling 41% of TradFi-Perps market
In its report, Binance Research defines these products as TradFi-perps, which apply the perpetual futures structure invented by BitMEX in 2016 to assets such as gold, silver, oil, and stocks. Unlike standard futures contracts, perpetual contracts do not have an expiration date. The analysis explains that a funding rate mechanism that is settled periodically between long and short holders locks the contract price to the spot price of the underlying asset.
According to Binance Research, perpetual futures already account for more than 70% of total crypto futures trading volume. Extending that structure to traditional assets gives traders continuous access to commodities and stock indices without the rollover friction associated with monthly or quarterly contracts.
According to a report by Binance Research, centralized exchange (CEX) platforms process around 70% of TradFi-perps trading volume. At the same time, Binance accounts for approximately 41% of the total market share, a position consistent with its position in the broader crypto derivatives market as a whole. Decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms account for the remaining 30%, held back by thin liquidity, according to the study.
Silver Perpetual has become the leading product in this category, Binance researchers explained. Approximately $240 billion of silver perp has been traded since November 2025. According to the data, peak silver perp reached about 40% of comparable contracts on the COMEX SI contract, the world’s largest silver futures exchange, which accounts for 70% to 85% of all silver futures traded worldwide.
The study explains that perpetual gold already significantly outperforms gold futures trading volumes on some regional commodity exchanges. According to the data, the gap has been widening every month.
In researchers’ analysis, weekend trading cases have received a lot of attention. Traditional futures markets close on Friday and reopen on Sunday night, leaving participants exposed to geopolitical events, tariff announcements, and policymaker communications occurring on Saturday and Sunday.
According to Binance Research, over the weekend of February 28 to March 1, amid the outbreak of the US-Israel-Iran war, trading volume on TradFi-perps reached $8.1 billion, which was 116% of the previous average weekday trading volume and 862% higher than the average weekend trading volume ever recorded. The authors attribute this spike to geopolitical escalation in the Middle East and cite it as evidence that participants are actively seeking a platform for action when important events occur outside of market hours.
Weekend perp trading is becoming a legitimate price signal
Lim argues that this trend is structural. According to data from Binance Research, average weekend trading volume increased by about 300% from January to March, and has stabilized at about 38% of weekday trading volume in the last four weeks. Gold’s persistent price movements over the weekend accurately predicted the direction in which Monday’s futures would open the gap 89% of the time, analysts found.
Binance Research reported that the correlation between weekend gold and purp price changes and Monday gap openings was 0.80, with a median recovery rate of 57%. This means that roughly half of the price adjustment between Friday’s closing price and Monday’s opening price had already occurred on the permanent market before traditional exchanges reopened.
Overall allocation of 50/20/20/10 $BTCAccording to portfolio construction data compiled by Binance researchers, SPY, gold, and oil have improved total returns from 59% to 67% since 2024, reduced annualized volatility by 18%, and reduced maximum drawdowns from 36% to 28% compared to pure Bitcoin positions.
For traditional investors, instead of a traditional 60/40 portfolio, we offer SPY, US 10-Year Bond, $BTCthe data shows that the commodity index has more than doubled its total return since 2020, from 73% to 153%, while raising its Sharpe ratio from 0.75 to 1.25.
In March 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at enabling integrated financial platforms to operate across product types under a single compliance framework.
Binance research identifies this development as a significant regulatory tailwind that removes structural barriers for companies seeking to offer TradFi-perp alongside storage, lending, and payments. While counterparty risk, regulatory uncertainty, and liquidity depth remain major concerns, volume trends, price discovery data, and portfolio performance numbers point to a consistent case for this asset class.
