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Last weekend, Trump did something traders are starting to get very used to – he shared some market-moving intel outside of U.S. trading hours.
His statement, that the U.S. was "getting very close to meeting our objectives" on Iran – caused an S&P 500 futures rally! Then, Saturday night, he flipped – threatening to strike Iranian power plants – the futures sold off! Early Monday, he announced a "complete and total resolution of hostilities" – back up 3.5%. None of these movements happened on the CME or NYSE, which were both closed at the time.
It all happened on Hyperliquid, the predominant perpetuals exchange, where contracts on traditional assets like the S&P 500, oil, and gold are getting hotter and hotter. 2026 has already been full of weekends like this past one that are showing off the power of perps’ 24/7 nature – and it's likely that we'll have more ahead that preach perps to a market filled with traders "monitoring the situation."
David Christopher Jan 15, 2026 • 6 min read
Perp swaps have already caught fire inside crypto – they dwarf spot volume, and have been posting triple‑digit growth year-over-year when most DeFi primitives have stagnated. Every chain is chasing the action. Now, regulation is shifting, Trump-era volatility is validating always-on markets, and retail speculation is structurally elevated.
That convergence has produced a clear proof point: traders are using perpetual markets for traditional assets, showing they are not just “crypto-native” products, but relevant and in some cases superior alternatives to existing financial instruments.
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