Cboe compares Bitcoin perpetual futures with 0DTE options on risk

Cboe Global Markets has weighed in on one of the hottest debates in derivatives: are Bitcoin perpetual futures and same-day options basically the same thing? Its answer, delivered with a market-structure researcher’s restraint, is no. On July 14, 2026, Cboe’s Market Intelligence team published a paper titled “Crossed Wires: Separating Perception from Reality.” It compares Bitcoin perpetual futures, known as perps, with zero-days-to-expiration options, known as 0DTE. The core argument is that options traders can cap their losses with spreads, while perp traders have no equivalent built-in brake. Two instruments, two very different risk shapes A perpetual future is a futures contract that never expires, so traders can hold a leveraged position as long as they keep it funded. A 0DTE option expires the same day it trades, making it a bet on very short-term moves. Cboe’s paper centers on the shape of each product’s payoff. Perps offer what the paper calls linear exposure. Every move in the underlying asset translates proportionally into gains or losses, multiplied by whatever leverage the trader chose. Losses can grow just as fast as gains, and a leveraged position can be liquidated whe...