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What are perpetual futures? Perps, funding rates, and liquidations explained

Published

1 day ago

22 June 2026

What are perpetual futures? Perps, funding rates, and liquidations explained

Perpetual futures, or perps, are the most traded instrument in crypto. They let you bet on price with leverage and never expire, held in line with the spot market by a clever fee called the funding rate. They are powerful, they are dangerous, and in 2026 they are finally arriving onshore in the United States.

Summary

Perpetual futures let traders take leveraged long or short positions without an expiry date, using funding rates to keep prices aligned with the spot market.
Funding payments flow between longs and shorts, while leverage and margin determine how quickly a position can be liquidated during adverse price moves.
Crypto perps have begun entering regulated U.S. markets in 2026, bringing the industry’s most traded derivative product into a new regulatory framework.

A perpetual future, usually shortened to perp, is a derivative contract that lets a trader bet on the price of an asset with leverage and hold that bet open indefinitely, because unlike a traditional futures contract it has no expiration date. The price of a perp is kept tethered to the real spot price of the underlying asset by a recurring payment between traders called the funding rate, which nudges the contract back toward the market whenever it drifts.

Perps let you go long if you think the price will rise or short if you think it will fall, control a position far larger than the cash you put down, and never worry about a contract expiring out from under you. That combination has made perpetual futures the single most heavily traded product in all of crypto, and also one of the fastest ways to lose money in it.

This guide explains perpetual futures in plain English, with no derivatives background assumed. It covers what a perp actually is, the traditional futures contract it evolved from, the funding-rate mechanism that makes the whole thing work, how leverage and margin lead to liquidation, the difference between mark price and index price that decides when you get liquidated, where perps are traded and the major shift happening in the United States in 2026, the real risks that blow up accounts, and why this instrument came to dominate crypto trading.

By the end, you will understand not just how to read a perp but why it behaves the way it does, and why even regulators who now permit it call it a product to treat with respect.

What a perpetual future actually is

The name packs two ideas together. “Future” means it is a contract whose value is derived from the price of something else, a derivative, where you agree to gain or lose money based on how that price moves without necessarily owning the asset. “Perpetual” means the contract never expires, so you can hold the position open for as long as you like and your margin allows.

That second word is the whole innovation. A perp lets you take a leveraged bet on, say, Bitcoin, and simply keep it open, adjusting or closing whenever you choose, with no expiry forcing your hand. You can go long, profiting if the price rises, or short, profiting if it falls, and because the contract is leveraged, you can put down a fraction of the position’s value as collateral, called margin, and control the full size.

If you post one thousand dollars at ten times leverage, you control a ten-thousand-dollar position, so a ten percent move in your favor doubles your collateral, and a ten percent move against you wipes it out. The perp itself is settled in cash or a stablecoin, so you never have to take delivery of the underlying asset; you are trading the price, not the coin.

The product was invented by the crypto exchange BitMEX in 2016, and it spread because it fit crypto perfectly: traders wanted leverage, they wanted to bet in both directions, and they did not want the friction of contracts that expire and have to be rolled over. The perp gave them a single instrument that did all of that, and the rest of the market followed.

Futures first: the contract perps evolved from

To see what makes a perp special, it helps to understand the ordinary futures contract it grew out of, because the perp is essentially a futures contract with its biggest inconvenience removed.

A traditional futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a specific future date. If you buy a Bitcoin futures contract expiring in three months, you are locking in a price now for settlement then, and when that date arrives, the contract expires and settles.

This is useful, and it is how commodities and financial futures have worked for a very long time, but it has an awkward feature for someone who simply wants ongoing leveraged exposure: the contract ends. If you want to keep your position past the expiry, you have to “roll” it, closing the expiring contract and opening a new one further out, paying costs and friction each time. Traditional futures also have a “basis,” a gap between the futures price and the spot price that opens and closes as expiry approaches, which adds complexity.

The perpetual future strips out the expiry entirely. There is no settlement date, so there is nothing to roll and no countdown forcing you to act. But removing the expiry creates a new problem. In a normal future, the looming settlement date is what drags the contract price toward the real spot price, because at expiry they must converge.

Take away the expiry, and you remove the very thing that keeps the contract honest. So the designers of the perp had to invent a replacement, a mechanism that would keep a never-expiring contract anchored to the spot price using market forces instead of a deadline. That mechanism is the funding rate, and it is the beating heart of every perp.

The funding rate: the mechanism that keeps perps honest

The funding rate is the single most important concept in perpetual trading, and it is the part beginners most often miss until it quietly costs them money.

Because a perp never expires, nothing automatically forces its price to match the spot price of the underlying asset. Left alone, a perp could drift well above or below the real market. The funding rate fixes this by creating a recurring payment, typically every eight hours, between the two sides of the market.

When the perp trades above the spot price, meaning demand to be long is too strong, the funding rate is positive, and longs pay shorts. When the perp trades below the spot price, meaning shorts are crowded, the funding rate is negative, and shorts pay longs. The payment is a small percentage of position value, and it flows directly between traders, not to the exchange.

The effect is elegant. If too many people are long and the perp price runs above spot, longs must keep paying a fee to shorts, which makes holding a long more expensive and encourages traders to close longs or open shorts, pushing the price back down toward spot. The mechanism is self-correcting: whichever side is crowded pays the other, and that cost pulls the contract back in line with the real market.

This is why a perp tracks spot closely without ever expiring. It also turns the funding rate into a live sentiment gauge, because a strongly positive rate tells you the market is aggressively long and paying for the privilege, while a negative rate tells you shorts dominate. Traders watch funding both as a cost they must pay or earn and as a signal of how the crowd is positioned. Even regulators who have studied perps note that funding rates, far from being a trick, perform roughly the same economic job as the costs of repeatedly rolling expiring futures, just packaged differently.

Leverage, margin, and the liquidation that follows

Leverage is what makes perps thrilling and what makes them lethal, so it is worth being precise about how it actually works and where it ends.

When you open a perp position, you post collateral, called margin, and the exchange lets you control a position several times larger. The multiple is your leverage. At five times leverage, a thousand dollars of margin controls five thousand dollars of exposure; at twenty times, it controls twenty thousand. Leverage magnifies both directions equally. A favorable move multiplies your gains against your small margin, and an unfavorable move multiplies your losses just as fast. The crucial consequence is that with leverage you do not need the price to go to zero to lose everything. You only need it to move against you by a fraction equal to your margin.

That is where liquidation comes in. Every leveraged position has a liquidation price, the level at which your losses have eaten through your posted margin. If the market reaches that price, the exchange automatically closes your position to prevent your losses from exceeding your collateral, and your margin is gone. At ten times leverage, a roughly ten percent move against you is enough to trigger liquidation; at twenty-five times, about four percent will do it; at one hundred times, a one percent flicker can end the trade.

Offshore venues have historically offered enormous leverage, and the extreme figures sometimes quoted, fifty, one hundred, even more, are a hallmark of those unregulated platforms. Regulated perpetual products in the United States are subject to the same leverage limits as other regulated futures, which are far lower. High leverage does not make you more likely to be right; it only makes you more likely to be liquidated before you are proven right, and that distinction has emptied more accounts than any single price crash.

Mark price versus index price: why you actually get liquidated

A detail that confuses many new perp traders, and burns some of them, is that the price used to decide your liquidation is not always the last traded price on the exchange. Understanding this can be the difference between a survivable trade and an avoidable wipeout.

Exchanges track two prices. The index price is an average of the spot price across several major markets, a clean reading of what the asset is really worth right now. The mark price is a smoothed, fair value derived largely from that index, and it is the price the exchange uses to calculate your unrealized profit, your losses, and your liquidation.

Why not just use the last traded price on the perp itself? Because the last traded price on a single venue can spike or crash briefly during a moment of thin liquidity or a manipulation attempt, and if liquidations were based on that, a momentary wick could liquidate thousands of traders unfairly. By marking positions to a broad index-based fair value instead, the exchange protects traders from being liquidated by a fleeting, unrepresentative blip on one order book.

The practical lesson is that you are liquidated when the mark price, not necessarily the screaming candle on the chart, reaches your liquidation level. Most of the time, mark and last price are nearly identical, but in violent moments they can diverge, and knowing which one governs your position is part of trading perps without nasty surprises. It is also why checking your exact liquidation price before entering a trade, and giving yourself a wide margin of safety, matters far more than guessing where the price “should” go.

Where perps are traded, and the 2026 shift onshore

For most of their history, perps lived offshore, outside the reach of United States regulators, and that map is being redrawn right now in a way every trader should understand.

On centralized exchanges, perps are a flagship product, with venues such as Binance, Bybit, OKX, Deribit, and the original inventor BitMEX offering deep perpetual markets in hundreds of assets. A newer wave runs perps fully on-chain through decentralized exchanges, where trades settle on a blockchain, and users keep custody of their funds.

Hyperliquid has risen to dominate on-chain perpetual trading, alongside established names like dYdX and GMX, proving that a decentralized venue can match the speed and depth traders once thought only centralized platforms could provide. For years, United States traders were largely walled off from regulated crypto perps, pushing demand offshore.

That wall is now coming down. In May 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a Bitcoin perpetual futures contract from the prediction-market exchange Kalshi, the first regulated crypto perp cleared for United States traders, and Kalshi quickly expanded into perps tied to Ethereum, XRP, and others, reporting more than five billion dollars in trading volume within weeks. Coinbase secured its own regulated route to offer perpetual products domestically.

The arrival has not been smooth. The CME Group, the giant traditional derivatives exchange, sued the CFTC, arguing that perpetual futures should be regulated as swaps under the Dodd-Frank Act rather than as ordinary futures, and that the regulator bypassed proper procedure.

The CFTC’s chair has pushed back publicly, arguing that nothing in the law requires a futures contract to have a fixed expiration date, that regulated perps face the same leverage limits as other United States futures rather than the extreme offshore multiples, and that funding rates are a legitimate pricing mechanism. However that legal fight resolves, the direction is clear: the most popular instrument in crypto trading is moving from the offshore shadows into regulated American markets, and the rules for it are being written in real time.

The risks: why perps blow up accounts

Perps deserve their fearsome reputation, and an honest guide has to be blunt about why so many traders lose, because the dangers are structural, not just a matter of bad luck.

The first and largest risk is leverage itself. The same multiplication that makes a winning perp trade so satisfying makes a losing one fatal, and at high leverage a small, ordinary price move is enough to liquidate you entirely, which is why most accounts that chase big leverage do not last. The second is liquidation cascades.

When prices move sharply, waves of leveraged positions hit their liquidation prices at once, and the forced selling or buying pushes the price further in the same direction, triggering still more liquidations, a self-reinforcing spiral that can turn a modest move into a violent one and catch even careful traders. The third is funding cost. Holding a position on the crowded side of the market means paying funding every few hours, and over time that steady drain can quietly erode or erase a position that the price action alone would have left profitable.

The fourth is the psychological trap: perps are available around the clock, they encourage constant action, and the leverage makes every move feel urgent, which pushes traders toward overtrading, revenge trading after a loss, and holding losers too long. The fifth, on offshore venues especially, is platform and counterparty risk, because you are trusting the exchange’s solvency, its liquidation engine, and its honesty with your collateral.

The uncomfortable summary is that perps are a professional’s instrument that retail traders can access with one tap, and the gap between those two facts is where the damage happens. The product is not a scam, and the mechanics are sound, but the combination of high leverage, constant availability, and human emotion is genuinely hazardous, and that is true no matter how confident any individual trade feels.

A worked example: one long trade, from open to liquidation

Numbers make the danger concrete in a way definitions cannot, so walk through a single leveraged trade step by step, because every concept in this guide shows up in the life of one position.

You have one thousand dollars, and you are convinced Bitcoin is about to rise. You open a long perp at ten times leverage, so your one thousand dollars of margin now controls a ten thousand dollar position.

The exchange shows you a liquidation price roughly ten percent below where you entered, because a ten percent move against a ten-times position consumes your entire margin. You are also told the funding rate is positive, meaning longs are crowded, and you will pay a small fee to shorts every eight hours for as long as you hold. The trade is on.

Suppose Bitcoin rises five percent. Your position gained five percent of ten thousand dollars, or five hundred dollars, which is a fifty percent return on your one thousand dollar margin. This is the seduction of leverage: a modest move produced an outsized gain. Now suppose instead that Bitcoin falls.

At a four percent drop, you are down four hundred dollars and nervous. At a move near ten percent against you, the mark price reaches your liquidation level, the exchange automatically closes the position, and your one thousand dollars is gone. Notice what did not happen: Bitcoin did not crash, it did not go to zero, it simply moved ten percent, an ordinary day in crypto, and your account was wiped out.

Had you used two times leverage instead of ten, the same ten percent drop would have cost you two hundred dollars, painful but survivable. Had you used one hundred times leverage, a one percent flicker would have ended you.

Layer in the funding cost and the picture sharpens further. If you held that crowded long for several days, you paid funding every eight hours the whole time, a steady drain that eats into gains and deepens losses. And if the market dropped sharply, your liquidation might have been one of thousands firing at once, the forced selling pushing the price down faster and triggering still more liquidations around you. One trade, and you have lived through leverage, margin, the liquidation price, the mark price, funding cost, and a liquidation cascade. That is why experienced traders obsess over position size and liquidation distance before they ever think about where the price is going.

Why perps took over crypto trading

For all the danger, perps did not come to dominate by accident, and understanding why explains a great deal about how crypto markets actually function. A perp gives a trader almost everything they could want in a single instrument: leverage to amplify a view, the ability to profit in both rising and falling markets, no expiry to manage, a price kept honest by funding, and deep liquidity that makes entering and exiting easy. For speculators, it is the sharpest tool available. For sophisticated participants it is also a hedging instrument, a way to offset the risk of a spot holding or to manage exposure without buying or selling the underlying coin. That versatility is why perpetual futures now account for the large majority of all crypto trading volume, dwarfing the spot market most newcomers assume is the main event.

The instrument that BitMEX dreamed up in 2016 has become the center of gravity of crypto markets, and in 2026 it is crossing from the unregulated fringe into the regulated mainstream, with traditional exchanges fighting over how it should be classified. That trajectory tells you something important: perps are not a passing fad but a durable financial innovation that traditional finance is now scrambling to adopt and contain. The right way to approach them is with respect. Understand the funding rate, know your liquidation price, treat leverage as the dangerous tool it is, and never confuse the thrill of a leveraged win with skill. The traders who survive perps are the ones who understand the machinery before they ever pull the lever.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a perpetual future in simple terms?

A perpetual future, or perp, is a contract that lets you bet on the price of an asset with leverage and hold the bet open with no expiration date. You can go long if you think the price will rise or short if you think it will fall, and you post a fraction of the position’s value as collateral, called margin, to control a much larger position. The perp’s price is kept close to the real spot price by a recurring payment between traders called the funding rate. It settles in cash, so you never own the underlying asset.

How does the funding rate work?

Because a perp never expires, nothing automatically keeps its price matched to the spot market, so the funding rate does that job. Roughly every eight hours, a payment flows between longs and shorts. When the perp trades above spot, longs pay shorts, which makes being long costlier and pushes the price back down. When it trades below spot, shorts pay longs. The payment goes between traders, not to the exchange, and it both keeps the perp anchored to spot and signals which side of the market is crowded.

What is liquidation in perpetual trading?

Liquidation is when the exchange automatically closes your leveraged position because your losses have consumed your posted margin. Every leveraged position has a liquidation price, and if the market reaches it, your collateral is gone. The higher your leverage, the smaller the move needed to liquidate you: at ten times leverage about a ten percent move against you is enough, and at one hundred times around one percent will do it. Liquidations are usually triggered by the mark price, a fair value based on a broad index, not the last traded price on a single venue.

Why are perps so risky?

The core risk is leverage, which multiplies losses as fast as gains, so a small price move can wipe out a highly leveraged account. Liquidation cascades can make sharp moves worse, as forced closures push the price further and trigger more liquidations. Funding costs can quietly erode a position held on the crowded side of the market. Perps are also available around the clock and encourage emotional overtrading, and on offshore venues you take on the platform’s solvency and honesty as additional risks.

Where can you trade perpetual futures?

Perps trade on centralized exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, OKX, Deribit, and BitMEX, and increasingly on decentralized exchanges that settle on-chain, where Hyperliquid, dYdX, and GMX are leading venues. For years, United States traders were largely excluded from regulated crypto perps, but that changed in 2026 when the CFTC approved a Bitcoin perpetual contract from Kalshi, and Coinbase gained a regulated route, bringing perps onshore even as exchanges like CME dispute how they should be classified.

Who invented perpetual futures?

The perpetual swap was created by the crypto exchange BitMEX in 2016. It caught on quickly because it suited crypto traders perfectly: it offered leverage, allowed betting in both directions, and removed the expiry and rollover hassle of traditional futures, all in a single instrument anchored to spot by the funding rate. The design spread across the industry, and perpetual futures now account for the majority of all crypto trading volume.

This article is educational and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Perpetual futures are high-risk leveraged products, and the rules governing them, especially in the United States, are changing quickly. As of June 22, 2026, verify current product details, leverage limits, and regulatory status with official sources, and never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.

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Trump, Crypto, and His Quantum Computer Executive Orders: Washington’s and Bitcoin’s Security Perspectives

Published

1 minute ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

President Trump just dropped two executive orders that could reframe the entire long-term security debate around crypto. The market hasn’t panicked, but the implications run deeper than the current security situation. What’s actually in these orders, and why does the 2030 timeline matter?

The White House signed Executive Order 14411 and its companion EO 14409 simultaneously. One to accelerate the build-out of a large-scale quantum computer under the QC-ADDS program, targeting delivery to a Department of Energy facility, and one to mandate a nationwide migration to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) by 2030–2031.

With this pairing, we can see that Washington is building the weapon and the shield at the same time. EO 14409 explicitly names the “harvest now, decrypt later” threat as an active, not theoretical, concern. Industry coverage frames this as Washington taking Q-Day risk seriously for the first time at the executive level.

For crypto markets, this isn’t just a one-day headline. It sets a regulatory and security clock that intersects directly with Bitcoin’s protocol roadmap, and with where capital may flow as that clock ticks.

Discover: The Best Token Presales

Can Bitcoin Hold $60K in This Trump Era as Crypto Quantum Risk Becomes a Structural Overhang?

BTC is consolidating in a $60,000–$65,000 band, with daily volatility running in with a big gap. It’s trading in a compression pattern that typically precedes a directional move. The quantum executive orders were signed just before the price moved downward today.

What the orders do is crystallize a medium-term structural risk that analysts treat as plausible by 2030: approximately 7 million BTC sitting in legacy, pre-quantum-resistant addresses. This is a latent overhang that markets haven’t seriously discounted yet.

Protocol-level responses are in motion. BIP-360 and BIP-361 propose quantum-resistant address formats and a mechanism to freeze vulnerable legacy coins, but neither has been ratified. If Q-Day arrives ahead of protocol readiness, the sell reaction in exposed coins could be severe.

The best case rests on the orders themselves. Trump’s PQC mandates signal regulatory support for blockchain security upgrades, and Washington’s legislative posture toward crypto infrastructure has shifted materially in 2025–2026 toward accommodation rather than restriction.

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Bitcoin Hyper Eyes Infrastructure Upside as BTC Navigates Q-Day Timelines

The quantum debate ultimately surfaces Bitcoin’s core limitations as a protocol: slow transactions, no native smart contract layer, and a security model that may require significant upgrades under compressed timelines. That’s exactly the problem set Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) is built to address.

Hyper is the first Bitcoin Layer 2 integrating the Solana Virtual Machine, delivering fast smart contract execution and low-latency transaction processing on top of Bitcoin’s security base, without abandoning the trust model that makes BTC worth securing in the first place.

The presale has raised $32.8 million at a current token price of $0.0136, with staking live and a Decentralized Canonical Bridge for BTC transfers already in the feature set. The project is approaching its $33M presale milestone, and early-stage entry windows at this price level tend to compress fast once they close.

Research Bitcoin Hyper here.

The post Trump, Crypto, and His Quantum Computer Executive Orders: Washington’s and Bitcoin’s Security Perspectives appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Cardano wallets drained of $2.4M after self-custody exploit

Published

9 minutes ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Cardano wallets drained of $2.4M after self-custody exploit

A number of Cardano wallets have been drained of roughly 16 million ADA (worth $2.4 million) after self-described “neofinance” platform SecondFi was hit by an exploit that targeted its wallet generation software.

SecondFi first alerted its followers to the incident this morning on X, claiming that it had detected a security issue that impacted a small number of Cardano wallets on its platform.

It said that it had contained the issue and that, as a precaution, its services would be temporarily placed into maintenance mode and that it would pause all front-end interactions.

Since then, SecondFi has shared an update that claims to have diagnosed the root cause of the exploit as an issue involving its native Cardano web wallet generation software.

It appears that some users may not be made whole after the incident, as SecondFi notes that it’s “taken extraordinary steps to protect remaining assets where possible.”

🚨 SECURITY UPDATE: Root Cause & Blast Radius Confirmed
We have isolated the root cause of the recent security incident. The issue was confined to our native Cardano web wallet generation software.
Our team has completed an onchain analysis to determine the scope of impact, and…
— SecondFi (@secondfiapp) June 23, 2026
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The self-custody firm said, “Our team has completed an on-chain analysis to determine the scope of impact, and we are now finalizing an independent technical review with a leading blockchain security firm to validate our findings.”

Software developer Blink Labs has warned that the exploit means “the wallets generated are all unsafe,” and advised users to “switch to another wallet immediately.”

Got a tip? Send us an email securely via Protos Leaks. For more informed news and investigations, follow us on X, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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Tech Sector Reels: Oracle (ORCL) Job Cuts, Micron (MU) Earnings, and Chipmaker Selloff

Published

15 minutes ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Brian Armstrong's Bold Prediction: AI Agents Will Soon Dominate Global Financial

Quick Overview

Chipmaker stocks experienced their steepest decline in several months, with major players including Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and Micron facing significant losses
Ahead of a critical earnings announcement, Micron shares declined as investors await insights into AI memory chip demand
SpaceX stock momentarily dipped beneath its initial public offering price amid cooling investor sentiment
Oracle revealed plans for a massive workforce reduction of approximately 21,000 employees in a strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence and cloud services
Cerebras Systems readied its earnings disclosure, with market participants eager for indicators of AI hardware sector strength

Tuesday brought significant turbulence to technology equities as market participants reassessed artificial intelligence company valuations. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index registered one of its most severe declines in recent months, pulling down major chipmaker stocks across the board.

Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and Micron all experienced notable share price declines. This downturn arrives after an extended period of gains fueled by enthusiasm surrounding AI developments, prompting investors to question whether anticipated growth has already been fully reflected in current stock prices.

Neverthstanding the recent decline, numerous market analysts maintain that semiconductor investments remain attractive for long-term portfolios.

Micron Takes Center Stage

Micron emerged as a focal point for market watchers as its quarterly earnings report approached.

The semiconductor manufacturer specializes in high-bandwidth memory components that power AI-driven data center operations. These products have seen robust demand, propelling the company’s stock significantly higher throughout the previous twelve months.

Investors are primarily concerned with two critical questions: whether memory chip pricing remains stable and if artificial intelligence infrastructure spending continues its rapid expansion.

Market observers view Micron’s quarterly results as an important indicator for the entire semiconductor industry. Positive results could help restore investor confidence, while disappointing figures might intensify the current selloff.

SpaceX Experiences Post-IPO Volatility

SpaceX shares momentarily dropped below their initial public offering price during Tuesday’s trading session, creating considerable discussion among market participants.

Certain investors interpret this decline as typical post-debut consolidation following an enthusiastic market reception. Others are raising concerns about whether the company received an inflated initial valuation.

SpaceX maintains diverse operations spanning rocket launch services, global satellite internet provision, defense technology contracts, and artificial intelligence applications. Despite near-term price fluctuations, the aerospace company continues to command significant attention from technology investors.

Market participants are monitoring closely to determine where the stock establishes price stability as valuation expectations normalize.

Oracle Implements Major Workforce Reduction

Oracle disclosed one of this year’s most substantial technology sector layoffs, announcing the elimination of approximately 21,000 employee positions.

Company leadership characterized the workforce reduction as essential to its strategic transformation toward artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure services. Executives aim to reallocate financial resources toward data center expansion and AI platform development to enhance competitiveness against larger cloud service providers.

Oracle’s actions reflect a broader industry pattern. Multiple prominent technology corporations have been redirecting resources toward artificial intelligence initiatives throughout recent months.

The workforce reduction is anticipated to enhance operational efficiency while funding the company’s next growth trajectory.

Cerebras Earnings Draw Market Attention

Artificial intelligence processor manufacturer Cerebras attracted considerable interest as its earnings announcement neared.

Cerebras specializes in developing high-performance computing chips engineered specifically for demanding AI computational tasks. The company’s financial results are expected to provide valuable insights into demand patterns across the AI hardware marketplace.

Given the substantial capital flowing into AI infrastructure development, quarterly reports from hardware manufacturers have become increasingly significant market indicators.

Investors are evaluating whether current demand levels justify the extraordinary investment volumes currently being deployed in the sector.

The Cerebras earnings report contributes to an earnings-heavy period for artificial intelligence companies.

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Bank of America Raises Micron Target to $1,500 Ahead of Results: Are Traders Buying It?

Published

21 minutes ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Bank of America raised its Micron stock price target to $1,500 from $950, spotlighting the memory maker that sits beside Nvidia at the heart of the AI build-out.

Micron has run almost 300% in 2026 to record highs, so a beat is already expected. The edge now sits in positioning and money flow, not the headline numbers.

Bank of America Sees $1,500 as the Memory Cycle Widens

Bank of America lifted its Micron (MU) target to $1,500 from $950 and kept a Buy, because it raised its 2030 chip-market forecast to $2.7 trillion from $2.3 trillion, led by memory and data center.

Want more insights like this? Sign up for Editor Harsh Notariya’s Daily Newsletter here.

That makes Micron a direct play on AI memory. It is one of three makers of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the stacked chips that feed AI accelerators, with SK Hynix and Samsung. If Nvidia’s processors are one half of the AI trade, this memory is the other. The chips do the computing, but they stall without fast memory beside them to feed the data, so demand for one pulls the other along.

Micron $MU price target raised to $1,500 from $950 at BofA
BofA raised the firm’s price target on Micron to $1,500 from $950 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares.
The firm updated its semis industry models and price objectives to conform to the updated industry estimates,… pic.twitter.com/B2b7yLBlDN
— TipRanks (@TipRanks) June 23, 2026

A target says nothing about how traders are positioned into the print.

The Options Desk Is Braced for a Big Swing

Option prices point to a far bigger move than usual right after earnings. They suggest a swing of about 17.6% in either direction, what traders call the implied move, against an average of about 8% over the past two years.

Micron $MU has gained 314% YTD & just hit a record high above $1,200 today.. and now faces one of its biggest earnings setups in years. The options market is expecting a ±17.6% post-earnings move vs an average realized move of 8% over the last two years. 👀 https://t.co/6I9t6nvFSO pic.twitter.com/zM1mXzWwIY
— Schaeffer’s Investment Research (@schaeffers) June 22, 2026
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The market expects a jump more than double the norm. This is because a result that lands after a near 300% run can send the stock sharply either way.

Traders are betting heavily. Micron saw over $4 billion spent on its options in a single day, about 10% of all options activity and second only to the S&P 500. That money split almost evenly between bets on a rise and bets on a fall.

🚨 Over $4B+ in total premium has been traded on $MU today which is ~10.4% of the entire total premium traded in the options market.
Micron reports earnings on Wednesday… https://t.co/OyhGfNtJXM pic.twitter.com/N4qqyhUi0P
— Quant Data (@QuantData) June 22, 2026

The mix has shifted in the past few days. The put-call ratio, which weighs bets on a fall against bets on a rise, fell from 1.17 on June 18 to 0.93. More traders are buying calls, the wagers that pay off if the stock climbs, after the Bank of America’s target raise.

Older positions still lean cautious. The contracts already on the book stay tilted toward puts, the wagers that protect against a fall, at about 1.34. Fresh money is leaning bullish while existing bets stay hedged.

That split leaves money flow across the memory group as the tie-breaker.

Money Flow Says Micron Leads the HBM Trio

A composite read built on Chaikin Money Flow (CMF), a proxy for institutional money, ranks Micron first. It scores +1.45 with CMF +0.139, because buyers keep winning the close through a 59% 20-day run.

HBM Trio Money-Flow Scores: Charlie Quant Lab

SK Hynix scores -0.41 and flags a distribution divergence, since its CMF turned negative while price rose, a sign the rally is being sold into. Samsung lags at -2.21.

A relative rotation map puts Micron in the leading quadrant while both Korean names lag.

Relative Rotation Map HBM: Charlie Quant Lab

The same memory-leadership theme sharpens once crypto traders enter the frame.

Memory Over Nvidia, in Crypto and in the Tape

On Nansen’s smart-money perpetuals, Micron is the biggest net long at about $5.5 million across 43 wallets, while Nvidia is heavily net short near negative $16 million. Traders are backing memory over the GPU maker.

Crypto Smart-Money Perp Positioning: Nansen Data

The cash tape agrees. Micron has outrun Nvidia by about 25% over 14 days, because the memory up-cycle is leading this leg of the AI trade.

Relative Strength Versus Semis: Charlie Quant Lab

Micron’s stock tracks Nvidia, not its Korean rivals. It shows a positive correlation of +0.46 with Nvidia but slightly negative readings against SK Hynix and Samsung. The reason is plain. Micron’s memory goes inside Nvidia’s AI chips, so the two ride the same demand, while the Korean pair move together on their own market.

HBM Names Correlation Matrix: Charlie Quant Lab

With so much leaning bullish, the reaction is still not a given.

Why a Likely Beat Might Not Move the Stock

Consensus sits near $19.72 to $20 a share on about $34.5 billion of revenue, so a beat is the base case, not the surprise.

That is why the odds are even. The stock has already run almost 300% to records, options imply a 17.6% move against an 8% norm, and open interest stays hedged near 1.34, so good news is largely priced in.

Even bulls hedge their conviction. Ehrmantraut Capital expects “the price action post-ER to be a 50/50,” because the buy and sell side already expect massive beats, and stresses that “the numbers and forward-looking statements are one to keep a close eye on.”

Micron $MU will report Q3 FY2026 earnings on Wednesday after the close.
Analyst expectations for Q3 FY2026:
Revenue: $35.02 billion
EPS: $20.05
Analyst expectations for Q4 FY2026 guidance:
Revenue: ~$41.50 – 42.00 billion
EPS: $24.21
The earnings call will be interesting,… pic.twitter.com/yqZH8LYQ3q
— Ehrmantraut Capital (@EhrmantrautCap_) June 23, 2026
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For Micron stock, the beat is the easy part, and guidance on 2027 demand and HBM supply deals decides whether $1,500 comes into view or the 300% run finally cools.

The post Bank of America Raises Micron Target to $1,500 Ahead of Results: Are Traders Buying It? appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Bitcoin remains under pressure below $63K as US-Iran negotiation uncertainty persists

Published

29 minutes ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Key takeaways

Bitcoin remained under pressure after Iran announced that it would not permit inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to access its damaged nuclear facilities,
The leading cryptocurrency has dropped to the $62,300 level, down 3.5% in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin (BTC) continued to trade below the $63,000 level on Tuesday as mixed signals from the United States and Iran regarding nuclear negotiations kept geopolitical tensions elevated. At the same time, ongoing institutional selling and continued outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) limited the cryptocurrency’s upside potential despite diplomatic efforts.

Conflicting US-Iran signals weigh on market sentiment

Bitcoin remained under pressure after Iran announced that it would not permit inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to access its damaged nuclear facilities, raising fresh concerns about the progress of ongoing negotiations.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei stated that no meeting had taken place between Iranian officials and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in Switzerland. The comments contradicted earlier remarks from US Vice President JD Vance, who suggested the talks included agreements related to IAEA inspections.

“There was no protocol for such inspections,” Baghaei said.

While US President Donald Trump and Vice President Vance have expressed optimism about the progress of nuclear discussions, Iranian officials maintain that no new commitments have been made. The conflicting narratives have renewed uncertainty surrounding negotiations between Washington and Tehran, encouraging investors to remain cautious and reducing appetite for risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.

Markets may also experience heightened volatility due to a major quarter-end portfolio rebalancing event.

Analysts at JPMorgan estimate that institutional investors could sell approximately $165 billion worth of equities while purchasing a similar amount of bonds before the end of the second quarter. Such a large-scale asset reallocation would represent the biggest shift in at least four years and could create significant volatility across multiple asset classes.

Institutional demand for Bitcoin continues to weaken as spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded additional outflows at the start of the week.

Data from CoinGlass shows that spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced net outflows of $68.30 million on Monday, following $226.84 million in withdrawals during the previous week. The latest figures mark the sixth consecutive week of net outflows.

Although Monday’s withdrawals were smaller than those recorded in recent weeks, the persistent trend continues to weigh on Bitcoin’s price outlook. Analysts warn that a further acceleration in outflows could trigger a deeper correction in the market.

Bitcoin price outlook: $64K remains key resistance

Bitcoin was trading near $62,350 at the time of writing, maintaining a bearish short-term outlook as the asset remains below several key Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs).

The cryptocurrency faced rejection at the important horizontal resistance level of $64,004 on Monday, highlighting the market’s inability to sustain upward momentum.

Technical indicators present a mixed picture. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains subdued near 34, signaling weak momentum.

However, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) histogram remains in positive territory, suggesting that selling pressure may be easing rather than accelerating.

On the upside, Bitcoin’s first major hurdle remains the $64,004 resistance level. A successful breakout could open the door for a move toward the 50-day EMA at $68,821 and the 100-day EMA at $71,922.

BTC/USD 4H Chart

Beyond these levels, the 200-day EMA at $77,528 and the horizontal resistance zone near $84,410 represent significant medium-term barriers.

On the downside, traders are closely monitoring the psychological $60,000 level. A decisive daily close below this support could trigger a deeper corrective phase and increase downside risks in the near term.

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Meta is developing a prediction market app called ‘Arena’ as sector booms: NYT

Published

51 minutes ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Meta is developing a prediction market app called ‘Arena’ as sector booms: NYT

Meta (META), the parent company of Facebook, is developing a new app called “Arena” that mirrors a prediction market platform, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke with the New York Times.

The product would allow users to make forecasts about future events, ranging from politics and sports to entertainment and world affairs. However, unlike traditional prediction market platforms such as Polymarket or Kalshi, users would likely rely on a video game-like points system instead of cash, the people said, although the company has not ruled out the eventual use of real-money betting.

The people described the product as both experimental and a top priority inside the company.

The effort comes as prediction markets have gained unprecedented popularity following Polymarket’s breakout success during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, when traders came to the crypto-based platform to place bets on electoral outcomes, driving billions of dollars in trading volume and elevating prediction markets into the mainstream political conversation.

Meta had previously launched a similar product called Forecast in 2020, which encouraged users to make predictions about current events and emerging trends during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meta ultimately took down the product in 2022.

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Robinhood lists Worldcoin as Sam Altman faces fresh scrutiny

Published

58 minutes ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Worldcoin (WLD) daily chart showing a sharp 12% drop to the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level near $0.53, with bearish MACD crossover and weakening RSI signaling fading momentum after June's rally.

Worldcoin has fallen nearly 12% while Robinhood has added the token to its trading platform, bringing fresh attention to the project as allegations linked to co-founder Sam Altman continue to weigh on sentiment.

Summary

Robinhood has added Worldcoin to its crypto trading platform as WLD falls nearly 12%.
Allegations involving Sam Altman-linked Orb have added fresh pressure on investor sentiment.
WLD is testing key support near $0.53 ahead of a planned reduction in token unlocks next month.

According to a June 23 X announcement by Robinhood, users of the brokerage platform can now trade Worldcoin (WLD), giving the token exposure to a broader retail investor base despite ongoing market turbulence.

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DeXe (DEXE) Explodes 50% Despite Crypto Bloodbath: What Comes Next?

Published

1 hour ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

The crypto market has been quite unstable (to say the least) lately, with the past 24 hours delivering another substantial correction. Bitcoin (BTC) briefly tumbled below $62,000, while numerous altcoins also entered red territory.

However, DeXe (DEXE) defied the bearish conditions, soaring by double digits over the last day. While several analysts expect further short-term increases, one key technical indicator suggests it might be time for a pullback.

New ATH Soon?

The lesser-known altcoin is currently worth around $23 (per CoinGecko), representing a whopping 50% spike from yesterday’s figure. Its market capitalization has surpassed the psychological $1 billion threshold, making DEXE the 65th-largest cryptocurrency.

Perhaps one of the main catalysts for the rally is MEXC’s support. The prominent crypto exchange included DEXE in its futures trading section, allowing adjustable leverage up to 50x.

The analyst, using the X moniker “The Boss,” claimed that the token “is showing one of the strongest structures” among altcoins, noting buyers’ quick reaction after every pullback. The market observer paid close attention to the $24 resistance level, arguing that if bulls turn it into support, the uptrend could continue to as high as $39. DEXE has been on the market since late 2020 and reached an all-time high of almost $30 the following year, meaning a rise of that magnitude would mark a new historic peak.

OxNeena also chipped in. According to the analyst, DEXE is breaking out of a bullish Cup & Handle formation that could push the price above $27 in the near future.

Time to Short?

Contrary to prevailing optimism, some industry participants anticipate an upcoming correction. Crypto with Haris ₿, for instance, opened a $40,000 short position on DEXE, describing the $22.80-$23.30 area as “very important.”

“If buyers were still fully in control, price should have already reclaimed the recent highs. Instead, DEXE is struggling below resistance while volume is cooling down. That usually happens when a trend starts losing strength,” the analyst explained.

They further predicted that a plunge below $22 could drop the price to as low as $18.

DEXE’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) should also serve as a warning. Its ratio has climbed to 87, meaning that the coin has entered extreme overbought territory and could be due for a pullback. The RSI ranges from 0 to 100; anything below 30 is considered a buying opportunity.

The post DeXe (DEXE) Explodes 50% Despite Crypto Bloodbath: What Comes Next? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Susquehanna flags SpaceX valuation risk despite $170 target

Published

1 hour ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

SpaceX (SPCX) stock rebounds to $158.40 during intraday trading after recent losses, showing a 2.46% daily gain on the Nasdaq chart.

SpaceX stock has remained under pressure after Susquehanna initiated coverage with a $170 price target while warning that the company’s valuation depends on aggressive growth assumptions.

Summary

Susquehanna initiated SpaceX coverage with a neutral rating and a $170 price target.
The brokerage warned that the stock’s valuation relies on aggressive revenue and EBITDA growth forecasts.
Peter Schiff flagged a potential surge in share supply, while ARK Invest continued buying the recent dip.

According to a research note from Susquehanna, the brokerage assigned SpaceX a neutral rating and set a $170 target for the stock as shares continue trading below their $150 debut price following a sharp post-listing rally and subsequent pullback.

Susquehanna Initiates Coverage on $SPCX with Neutral Rating, PT $170
Analyst comments: “Over the 2025-2028 timeframe, we are forecasting SpaceX to grow revenue at an 81% CAGR and adjusted EBITDA at a 76% CAGR. In our view, some of SPCX’s key competitive advantages include:
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(1)… pic.twitter.com/4r0LJT3tYb
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) June 23, 2026

The firm projects SpaceX revenue to grow at an 81% compound annual growth rate between 2025 and 2028, while adjusted EBITDA is expected to expand at a 76% CAGR during the same period. Even with those forecasts, Susquehanna cautioned that the stock’s current valuation requires premium multiples and leaves room for multiple outcomes as several of the company’s businesses operate in markets that remain relatively untested.

At current levels, the brokerage said it would prefer to wait for a more attractive entry point before becoming more constructive on the stock.

Analysts point to growth drivers but remain cautious

In its coverage report, Susquehanna highlighted four factors supporting the company’s long-term case. The first was SpaceX’s leading position in the rocket launch industry, which continues to provide a competitive advantage over rivals.

Beyond launch services, the analysts identified Starlink as a major source of future growth. The report also pointed to the company’s early-stage artificial intelligence initiatives and its ability to build large-scale AI infrastructure. Completing the list was CEO Elon Musk, whom Susquehanna described as a proven operator with a record of building and scaling businesses.

Even so, the brokerage argued that much of the expected growth may already be reflected in the current valuation.

As crypto.news reported, analysts at KeyBanc adopted a similar stance on Monday, initiating coverage of SpaceX with a neutral rating. The cautious outlook from both firms has emerged as the company reportedly seeks to raise up to $20 billion through its first bond offering.

Investor attention has also turned to how other high-profile private-market assets have traded after gaining broader access to retail participants. Anthropic pre-IPO futures, for example, have fallen as much as 9% since their Coinbase debut despite the artificial intelligence company announcing a partnership with Micron Technology. The decline suggested traders remained focused on future valuation risks rather than recent business developments.

Supply concerns add to pressure on shares

Elsewhere, economist Peter Schiff raised concerns about the stock’s future supply dynamics in a June 23 X post.

Schiff argued that the relatively small public float helped fuel SpaceX’s explosive first-day gains. However, he warned that the number of shares available for trading could increase substantially over time. According to Schiff, the float may expand from roughly 640 million shares to 7.5 billion shares by Dec. 8, representing an increase of nearly twelvefold.

“That’s a massive supply overhang for a stock priced for perfection and already falling.”

Despite those concerns, some institutional investors have continued adding exposure. As previously reported by crypto.news, ARK Invest purchased over 210,000 SpaceX shares worth nearly $32.5 million after the recent decline.

SpaceX stock fell below its $150 debut price earlier in the session before recovering. Data from Yahoo Finance showed that the shares changed hands around $158.40 at press time, up 2.4% on the day but still down more than 17% over the past five trading sessions.

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Specialist Agency Kooc Media Opens Up Dedicated PR Packages for the AI Productivity and Automation Sector

Published

2 hours ago

23 June 2026

NewsAdmin

Specialist Agency Kooc Media Opens Up Dedicated PR Packages for the AI Productivity and Automation Sector

Kooc Media, a PR distribution agency with a track record spanning more than seven years in specialist tech sectors, is now accepting clients from the AI productivity tools and business automation software space. The agency has built out a dedicated service for companies in this category, covering everything from press release writing and guaranteed article placements to full newswire syndication across hundreds of outlets worldwide.

The business case for AI productivity tools has never been stronger. Enterprises are actively investing in automation software that cuts time spent on repetitive tasks, speeds up decision-making and reduces operational overhead. AI agents, workflow automation platforms, intelligent scheduling tools, document processing software and AI-powered communication tools are all seeing strong demand. But demand alone does not guarantee that any single product gets noticed. In a market with this many players, media visibility is what separates the companies that grow quickly from those that struggle to gain traction.

Kooc Media exists to solve that problem.

Why AI Tool Companies Need a Specialist PR Agency

Most PR agencies are generalists. They handle a wide range of clients across many industries and apply a broadly similar approach to all of them. That can work fine for some sectors, but it tends to fall short for AI and automation companies, where the product story requires a degree of technical literacy and the target audience spans both technical evaluators and senior business decision-makers.

A PR agency for AI productivity tools needs to understand what workflow automation actually means to a business, why AI agents are different from traditional software bots, and how to frame a product announcement so it lands with a CTO, a procurement team and a technology journalist all at the same time. That requires focus and experience in the sector — not a generic press release template.

Kooc Media’s editorial team has that focus. The agency produces press release content that describes AI products clearly and accurately, avoiding the kind of empty language that experienced readers tune out immediately. Whether the client is launching a new AI productivity platform, announcing a major enterprise integration, closing a funding round or expanding into a new market, the content is written to inform and persuade the audiences that matter most.

“Companies building AI productivity tools are operating in one of the most competitive software markets in the world right now,” said Michelle De Gouveia, spokesperson for Kooc Media. “Good PR in this space is not about sounding impressive — it is about being credible and being visible to the right people. That is what we focus on delivering for every client.”

Owned Publications and a Wide Distribution Network

Kooc Media’s distribution model is built on two foundations. The first is its own network of established online publications, which includes Blockonomi, CoinCentral, MoneyCheck, Parameter, Beanstalk and Computing. These are real, active websites with indexed content and genuine readerships across finance, technology and business sectors. Clients receive guaranteed placements across these sites as a core part of every package — confirmed published articles, not outreach attempts.

The full network of Kooc Media’s owned publications can be found at kooc.co.uk/sites.

The second foundation is Kooc Media’s partner distribution network, which reaches hundreds of partner websites and thousands of syndicated outlets. For clients that need broader reach, premium packages include distribution to major global platforms. Press releases can be picked up and published on sites including Business Insider, Bloomberg, Benzinga, MarketWatch, USA Today and through Dow Jones news feeds. For an AI automation company building its brand or preparing for a funding raise, that level of coverage builds the kind of third-party credibility that is difficult to achieve through owned channels alone.

All campaigns include complete reporting with live links to every placement secured, so clients always have a clear record of exactly what coverage was delivered.

Free Inclusion in the AgentLocker AI Tools Directory

Every Kooc Media client also receives a complimentary listing in AgentLocker.ai, the AI tools and agents directory owned and operated by Kooc Media. AgentLocker is a dedicated resource for people researching, comparing and selecting AI productivity tools and automation platforms. It covers a broad range of categories including AI writing tools, business process automation, AI agents, enterprise AI software, scheduling tools and more.

Unlike general software directories, AgentLocker is built specifically around AI tools and attracts an audience that is actively looking to adopt or switch AI solutions. Getting listed here puts a client’s product in front of people at exactly the point they are making buying decisions.

This inclusion comes at no additional cost. Every PR client is featured in the directory as a standard part of their campaign, adding a persistent, searchable listing to complement the time-sensitive media coverage generated through press release distribution. For AI productivity companies focused on building long-term discoverability, it is a meaningful benefit.

A Proven Model Applied to a Growing Sector

Kooc Media built its reputation running PR campaigns for crypto and blockchain companies and iGaming operators — two sectors where media presence, speed to market and audience targeting are directly tied to commercial results. The same distribution infrastructure, editorial processes and reporting standards that serve those clients now underpin Kooc Media’s AI PR services.

For AI productivity and business automation companies, this means working with an agency that has already figured out how to deliver consistent, high-quality PR at scale in demanding markets.

About Kooc Media

Kooc Media is a specialist PR distribution agency founded in 2017, serving clients in the crypto, fintech, AI, technology and iGaming industries. The agency operates its own network of online publications and distributes content through a partner network reaching hundreds of outlets globally. Services include press release writing, guaranteed placements, sponsored content and full newswire syndication.

Website: https://kooc.co.uk
AI Directory: https://agentlocker.a

Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

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