What is the difference between a perpetual CFD and a standard CFD?
Verdict
- At Pepperstone, our recommended broker, the practical difference is how you pay to hold the trade: a standard CFD charges an overnight swap at each daily rollover, while a perpetual CFD charges a funding rate fixed a week in advance and applied daily at 5 pm New York time.
- Perpetuals also trade 24/7, while a standard index or share CFD follows its market's hours, and on Pepperstone's Australian schedule perpetuals carry a 0.015% commission per side where index CFDs carry none.
- Neither has an expiry; the product that does expire is Pepperstone's forward CFD, such as US500-F.
- Singapore residents trade through Pepperstone Markets Limited (SCB SIA-F217), with no MAS licence, and its retail table lists five perpetuals.
Both are contracts on a price, both use margin, and neither makes you own the asset. The differences are in holding cost, trading hours and fees, which matter more the longer you keep a position.
The difference at a glance
| Standard (cash) CFD | Forward CFD | Perpetual CFD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol example | US500 | US500-F | US500-PERP |
| Expiry | None | Yes | None |
| Holding cost | Overnight swap at daily rollover | Check the forward terms; it expires | Funding, set weekly, applied daily |
| Hours | Market hours | Market hours | 24/7 |
| Minimum spread (AU data) | 0.4 points | 1 point | Quoted live |
| Commission | None on index CFDs | None on index CFDs | 0.015% per side |
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Holding cost: swap versus funding
A standard CFD is priced off the live market, and if you keep it past the daily rollover you pay or receive an overnight financing adjustment. A perpetual replaces that with a funding rate Pepperstone sets a week in advance and charges once a day at 5 pm New York, which is early morning in Singapore. The advantage is predictability: on Monday you know what each day of the week will cost.
A worked example on the Nasdaq 100
Take a US$20,000 position, opened and closed the same week.
- Standard NAS100 CFD: no commission; you pay the spread (minimum 1 point on Pepperstone's published data) and overnight swap for each night held.
- NAS100-PERP: commission of 0.015% each side, US$3 to open and US$3 to close, plus the spread and one funding charge per day held.
- For a trade opened and closed within one session, the standard CFD is usually cheaper because it has no commission.
- For weekend exposure, only the perpetual can be traded while the cash market is shut.
Which to use from Singapore
Use the standard CFD for intraday and short swing trades during market hours, and on any market that has no perpetual version, which is most of Pepperstone's 1,350+ CFDs. Consider the perpetual when you want to react at weekends or prefer a funding cost you can see in advance. Remember the Bahamas retail table lists perpetuals only on gold, NAS100, US500, WTI and Brent, and Pepperstone's perpetuals are for professional clients only in the UK.
Sources
Product terms and spreads as Pepperstone publishes them.
Does a standard CFD expire?
A cash CFD such as US500 has no expiry. Pepperstone's forward CFDs, marked -F, do.
Is a perpetual CFD more expensive than a standard CFD?
For short intraday trades on indices, usually yes, because of the 0.015% commission. Over longer holds it depends on the week's funding rate versus the overnight swap.
Can I trade both in the same Pepperstone account?
Yes. Both run on MT5, cTrader, TradingView and the Pepperstone app.
Standard and perpetual CFDs are both leveraged, complex products with a high risk of rapid losses. Figures are as published by Pepperstone and can change. Not investment advice.