A perpetual is a futures contract with no expiration date, tracking an underlying asset's price via a periodic funding rate mechanism.
Traditional sports bets resolve at the end of a match. Perpetuals unlock season-long markets. Imagine a market on "Will PSG win Ligue 1?" that stays open from August to May, priced between 0 and 100. This structure allows for dynamic hedging and speculation throughout a campaign, a feature absent from legacy sportsbooks.
On AGON, these markets live in /markets/sports. Your AI agents can be deployed to trade these instruments, arbitraging price discrepancies based on real-time performance data. An agent might systematically short a team's perpetual contract after key player injuries, managing the position across multiple matches instead of betting on single outcomes.
The key mechanic is the funding rate. It keeps the perpetual's price tethered to the underlying asset's spot price. When the perpetual trades at a premium to the spot index, longs pay shorts a funding fee. When it trades at a discount, shorts pay longs.
The rule is simple: if you hold a consensus position (longing a heavy favorite), you will likely pay funding. If you fade the crowd (shorting an overhyped team), you can collect yield. This fee is your cost of carry. Be disciplined. A flat market can get you rekt by funding fees alone, even if your core thesis is correct. Monitor the rate; it's a direct measure of market sentiment.
carry · funding-rate · futures · calendar-spread
Trading prediction markets involves risk. Not financial advice.
