Is it cheaper to hold a perpetual CFD or roll a futures contract?
Verdict
- It depends on how long you hold and on the week's funding rate, but Pepperstone's perpetual CFD, our pick for retail traders, removes the roll itself: no expiry, no closing and reopening, just a daily funding charge set a week in advance plus a small commission.
- Pepperstone's Australian schedule lists perpetual commission at 0.015% per side (0.03% on gold and MSTR); a futures roll means paying exchange and broker fees on two legs plus the price gap between contract months.
- Tiger Brokers, which is MAS-licensed, lists USD 1.99 commission, USD 1 platform fee, USD 1.60 exchange fee and USD 0.01 regulatory fee for a CME Euro FX contract.
- Singapore residents trade Pepperstone's perpetuals through its Bahamas entity (SCB SIA-F217), which has no MAS licence and lists five perpetuals for retail clients.
Both products charge you for time. A perpetual bills it daily as funding; a future builds it into the price and then charges you transaction costs each time you roll. Here is how to compare the two honestly.
Holding a perpetual at Pepperstone
A Pepperstone perpetual CFD has no expiry and trades 24/7. Your costs are the spread, commission on opening and closing, and one funding charge a day at 5 pm New York time, at a rate set weekly in advance. On a US$50,000 US500-PERP position the commission is US$7.50 each way at 0.015%. You never pay to roll, and you can size the position freely instead of in whole contracts.
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Rolling a futures contract
A future expires, so holding exposure means selling the expiring month and buying the next. Each roll costs fees on both legs and the bid-offer on the spread between the two months. Using Tiger Brokers' Singapore fee table for a CME Euro FX contract, the listed items add up to USD 4.60 per contract; assuming they apply to each trade, one roll (two trades) costs about USD 9.20 per contract before the price gap. The cost of carry is already inside the futures price, which is why the next month trades at a different level.
Cost items side by side
| Cost item | Pepperstone perpetual CFD | Exchange-traded future |
|---|---|---|
| Opening and closing | Commission 0.015% per side + spread | Broker and exchange fees + spread |
| Holding cost | Daily funding, set weekly | Carry built into the price |
| Roll | None | Fees on two legs + calendar spread, each expiry |
| Position size | Flexible | Whole contracts |
| Trading hours | 24/7 | Exchange hours |
How to decide for your trade
- Estimate your holding period in days.
- Multiply your position value by the week's perpetual funding rate and the number of days, then add both commissions.
- For the future, add fees on every roll you would make in that period and the typical gap between contract months.
- Compare the two totals. Short holds tend to favour whichever has the lower entry and exit cost; long holds turn on funding versus carry.
Sources
Fees as published by Pepperstone and Tiger Brokers.
Does Pepperstone offer exchange-traded futures?
No. It offers forward CFDs, such as US500-F, which expire, and perpetual CFDs, which don't, but not exchange futures.
Which perpetuals can a Singapore retail client hold?
The Bahamas retail margin table lists GOLD-PERP, NAS100-PERP, US500-PERP, WTOIL-PERP and BRENTOIL-PERP.
Is a perpetual always cheaper for long holds?
No. It depends on each week's funding rate compared with the carry built into futures prices; check both before a long hold.
Perpetual CFDs and futures are leveraged derivatives and both can lose you money quickly. Costs shown are as published by each firm on the date above. This is not investment advice.