# What is Perpetual Trading? ### **What are Perpetuals?** Perpetuals, perpetual swaps, or perps are a special type of futures contract without an expiration date. Futures trading allows users to enter positions on margin (leverage) using borrowed funds to optimize capital. Using leverage allows a user to enter a position with a larger size than their account balance. For example, a user could take 10× leverage and trade 100 CAKE for the price of 10 CAKE — in this case, the initial margin would be 10 CAKE, used to collateralize the leveraged position. In addition to leverage, futures open the possibility of trading in both directions — buying (long) and selling (short). Perpetual contracts don't expire and allow the holder to trade the price action of an underlying asset without owning it. ### **Perpetuals on PancakeSwap** PancakeSwap has offered perpetuals trading since V1. Our latest version — PCS Perps — is powered by Aster's orderbook infrastructure and represents a full rebuild of the experience: CEX-grade execution, up to 200× leverage, and a PCS-native frontend accessible directly from your wallet. Previous versions (V1 and V2) are now legacy products. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.pancakeswap.finance/trade/perpetual-trading/what-is-perpetual-trading.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.