> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.variational.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.variational.io/omni/trading/rwa-perpetuals.md). # RWA Perpetuals This documentation covers RWA perpetuals, or perpetual futures for real world assets like stocks, commodities, ETFs, and indices. RWA perps largely mirror crypto perps (e.g., cross margin, 24/7 trading). This page highlights only the differences. For all unlisted mechanics, assume standard crypto perp behavior outlined elsewhere in the documentation. ## Index Prices The index price represents the real-time price of the underlying market, and is sourced from the [Variational Oracle](/variational-protocol/key-concepts/variational-oracle.md). The underlying market may be a spot asset, a future, or an index. | Symbol | Underlying Index | | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ANTHROPIC |

Anthropic PBC
Estimated share count: 1 billion shares

| | BZ | Brent Crude Oil futures | | CBRS | Cerebras Systems Inc. Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: CBRS) | | CL | WTI Crude Oil futures | | COPPER | COMEX High Grade Copper futures | | EWJ | iShares MSCI Japan ETF | | EWY | iShares MSCI South Korea ETF | | INTC | Intel Corp. Common Stock (Nasdaq: INTC) | | MRVL | Marvell Technology, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: MRVL) | | MU | Micron Technology, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: MU) | | NATGAS | Henry Hub Natural Gas futures | | NBIS | Nebius Group N.V. Class A Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: NBIS) | | OPENAI |

OpenAI Group PBC
Estimated share count: 1 billion shares

| | QCOM | QUALCOMM Incorporated Common Stock (Nasdaq: QCOM) | | QNTX |

Quantinuum Inc.
Estimated share count: 253.9 million shares

| | QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | | RKLB | Rocket Lab Corporation Common Stock (Nasdaq: RKLB) | | SOXL | Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X ETF (NYSE Arca: SOXL) | | SPCX |

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
Estimated share count: 11.87 billion shares

| | TSLA | Tesla Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq:TSLA) | | TSM | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd ADR (NYSE: TSM) | | US500 | An ETF composed of a basket of the leading 500 US stocks | | XAG | Silver spot price | | XAU | Gold spot price | | XPD | Palladium spot price | | XPT | Platinum spot price | ### Roll Mechanism When the underlying index are dated futures, the index price is computed of a combination of two different futures contracts, and at certain days of the month, the index price rolls to the next dated future contract. The daily shifting of weights occurs during the market's end of day maintenance hour (typically beginning at 17:00 ET). #### Continuous Month Roll Applicable to energy commodities (like Crude Oil and Natural Gas) where liquidity is excellent across consecutive calendar months. * **Roll window:** The 5th to the 9th trading day of the same calendar month as the near-month contract's LTD. *Example: WTI Crude rolling from May to June* *(Assuming the May contract's LTD is April 20th, the roll occurs in April)* | **Trading Calendar Window** | **Near Weight (May)** | **Far Weight (June)** | **Index Price Composition** | | ------------------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------------- | | **Before April 8** | 1.0 | 0.0 | 100% Pegged to May | | **April 8 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.8 | 0.2 | Roll Phase 1 | | **April 9 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.6 | 0.4 | Roll Phase 2 | | **April 10 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.4 | 0.6 | Roll Phase 3 | | **April 13 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.2 | 0.8 | Roll Phase 4 | | **April 14 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.0 | 1.0 | Roll Complete | | **After April 14** | 0.0 | 1.0 | 100% Pegged to June | #### Jump Month Roll Applicable to metals and agricultural commodities (like Metals and Agriculture) where liquidity is concentrated in specific quarterly or bi-monthly cycles. * **Roll window:** The 5th to the 9th trading day of the calendar month prior to the near-month contract's LTD. *Example: Copper rolling from May to July* *(Assuming the May contract's LTD is May 27th, the roll occurs in the prior month: April)* | **Trading Calendar Window** | **Near Weight (May)** | **Far Weight (July)** | **Index Price Composition** | | ------------------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------------- | | **Before April 8** | 1.0 | 0.0 | 100% Pegged to May | | **April 8 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.8 | 0.2 | Roll Phase 1 | | **April 9 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.6 | 0.4 | Roll Phase 2 | | **April 10 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.4 | 0.6 | Roll Phase 3 | | **April 13 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.2 | 0.8 | Roll Phase 4 | | **April 14 (Maintenance Hour)** | 0.0 | 1.0 | Roll Complete | | **After April 14** | 0.0 | 1.0 | 100% Pegged to July | ### Index Smoothing The underlying market may have non 24/7 trading hours. During the off hours, the index is smoothed as follows: * **Standard Mode (Regular Hour)**: The index is updated every second as a weighted average of all constituents. * **Fast-Decay EWMA Mode (Pre-Market and After-Hours):** The weighted average index is smoothed using an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) to adapt to lower liquidity and higher volatility in extended hours. * **Slow-Decay EWMA Mode (Overnight):** The index is smoothed more gradually to ensure stable and continuous pricing during overnight sessions when liquidity is limited. * **Fixed Mode (Daily Maintenance, Holidays and Weekends)**: * Fixed Mode is applied on Equity-based RWA Perps. * No recalculation occurs, the Price Index remains fixed at the last available value. * **Orderbook EWMA Mode (Daily Maintenance, Holidays and Weekends):** * Orderbook EWMA Mode is active on Commodity-based RWA perps. * Instead of using prices from vendors, index price uses Impact Mid Price derived from the orderbook as index price, where Impact Mid Price is the average of Impact Bid Price and Impact Ask Price. * The index is also smoothed using an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA). * Also the movement of index price is limited within the orderbook EWMA mode. ## Funding For the most part, funding works the same way as crypto perpetuals, with two key differences. First, the interest rate is set to 0%. Second, the funding formula is slightly adjusted as follows: `Funding Rate (F) = Average Premium Index (P) + clamp (interest rate - Average Premium Index (P), -0.0005, 0.0005) / (8 / N)` where `N` is the funding interval in hours. ### Dividend Funding Some underlyings, such as stocks and ETFs, pay dividends to their shareholders. To account for this, holders of the perpetual future will receive a special funding payment according to the procedure below. Generally speaking, short holders will pay long holders, and this will be represented as a negative funding rate. The dividend adjustment process spans from the previous business day (*ex\_date - 1*) to the morning of the ex-dividend date (*ex\_date*). Because the perpetual contract trades 24/7, *ex\_date - 1* specifically refers to the last traditional market business day prior to the ex-dividend date. *\*All times are in Eastern Time (ET).* | Date | Time (ET) | System Action | | ------------ | ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ex\_date - 1 | 15:30 | The funding interval is modified to 1 hour (takes effect at 16:00). | | ex\_date - 1 | 18:00 | The contract is placed into *reduce\_only* mode. | | ex\_date - 1 | 20:00 | Special Dividend Funding is executed immediately following standard funding. | | ex\_date - 1 | Post-Funding | *reduce\_only* mode is disabled. | | ex\_date | 00:00 | The funding interval is restored to its standard duration (takes effect at 00:01). | [^1]: This is a pre-IPO listing. See Pre-IPO Perpetuals. [^2]: The estimated share count is provided for informational purposes only. The actual total share count post-IPO may differ from our estimates. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## 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.variational.io/omni/trading/rwa-perpetuals.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. 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