What is Perpetual Futures?

Indian market context (NSE)

Reference levels: Nifty 50 at 24,300, Reliance Industries at ₹1,300, Bank Nifty futures at 55,000 (lot size 30). Examples below show how Perpetual Futures shows up on Indian index, equity, and futures books — update to live quotes in your journal.

Nifty 50 perspective

Nifty at 24,300: weekly/monthly option chains centre on round strikes (24,000 / 24,500). Perpetual Futures on ATM Nifty options shifts quickly into expiry — India VIX and event risk (RBI, budget) reprice premiums independent of spot.

Bank Nifty futures perspective

Bank Nifty futures at 55,000: hedging with options or trading perpetual futures on Bank Nifty weekly contracts — theta and gamma rise sharply into Thursday expiry; futures leg has no time decay but carries overnight gap risk.

How to validate

• Validate Perpetual Futures separately for index weeklies vs stock options.
• Stress-test with expiry-week and event-week subsets (RBI, budget, results).
• Confirm margin and tail-loss scenarios are logged for short premium books.
• Discard readings polluted by untagged discretionary adjustments.

How to track in TradeLyser

• Tag every leg: structure, DTE, moneyness, and whether Perpetual Futures was a primary driver.
• Log planned max loss ₹ on entry for short premium strategies.
• Weekly: list open short ITM/ATM legs before expiry with a written roll/close rule.
• Separate F&O account tags from cash equity for Perpetual Futures statistics.

Best practices

• Size Perpetual Futures trades with margin headroom for gaps and assignment.
• Prefer defined-risk structures when learning a new options concept.
• Roll or close based on written DTE rules, not convenience.
• Keep weekly index and monthly stock books in separate tags.

Common pitfalls

• Short premium without defined max loss while Perpetual Futures risk builds.
• Holding illiquid stock options into expiry without a plan.
• Blending index and stock gamma exposure in one tag.
• Ignoring margin spikes on gap opens.

How to use this in TradeLyser

Tag market (NSE vs crypto) on futures trades — never merge stats.