What are Quanto-Perpetuals?
Quanto-Settled Perpetuals on Quanto.trade
Quanto Perpetual Contracts
Quanto.trade introduces a novel class of perpetual derivatives known as quanto perps, where all trading pairs are denominated in the platform’s native token, $QTO, regardless of the underlying asset. This means that profits, losses, and liquidations across all markets—including majors such as BTC, ETH, SOL, and meme coins—are quantified and settled in $QTO.
Whether a user deposits BTC, ETH, SOL, USDC, or any other supported crypto asset as collateral, the contract itself remains denominated in $QTO. This design enables cross-collateralized exposure while preserving a consistent risk model across assets. Quanto.trade offers Quanto Perpetual Contracts in US Dollars. This allows exposure to the US Dollar price of an asset, without needing to hold US Dollars / Tether or the asset directly.
The following information assumes usage of the “COIN/USD” perpetual contract as an example. Information is generalisable to all Quanto Perpetual contracts. Please check the contract specifications directly for that information.
A Quanto COIN/USD perpetual contract has a fixed Quanto multiplier regardless of the USD price of COIN. This allows traders to go long or short the COIN/USD exchange rate without ever touching COIN or USD. Traders will post margin in one of the 400+ coins supported as collateral on Quanto.trade, and make or lose QTO as the COIN/USDT exchange rate changes.
How are Quanto Perpetuals Quoted?
The COINUSD perpetual’s underlying is the COIN/USD exchange rate as recorded in the underlying index. The contract is quoted in USD and all margin and PNL calculations are denominated in Quanto.*Assumes USD/USDT rate of 1.
Traders who think that the price of COIN will rise will buy the perpetual contract. Conversely, traders who believe the price will drop will sell the perpetual contract.
Margin and Leverage
All margin is posted in $QTO, which means traders can go long or short this contract using any collateral, but the margin is calculated only in QTO. Most Quanto Perpetuals feature a leverage between 10x and 100x.
Settlement
As this contract is perpetual, there is no settlement (subject to Liquidation).
Note: since this product is a perpetual contract, funding occurs every hour (usually 8 hours). Please see the Funding Section for more information, and for the current rates please see Funding Rates on each pair in the Quanto-Perps trading interface.
Trade Inception
In a quanto perpetual contract, you're trading the price movement of one asset (e.g., ETH/USD), but the profits and losses (PnL) are settled in a different asset—the quanto asset (QTO). This creates a layer of abstraction where:
The contract tracks an external price (like ETH/USD).
The PnL is realized in a fixed multiplier of a separate token (like QTO).
Traders don't need to hold or post margin in the asset being tracked—only in the quanto asset.
Impact of $QTO Denomination on Risk Parameters
The $QTO-denominated structure introduces unique dynamics in liquidation, stop loss, and take profit calculations. Since all PnL and margin metrics are expressed in $QTO, fluctuations in its price directly affect your account’s effective leverage and risk profile.
For example:
If you're long BTC and its price remains flat, but your collateral asset (e.g. ETH) declines in value, the dollar-equivalent value of your collateral shrinks. This leads to less margin and pushes your liquidation price higher.
E.g., A 10% drop in $ETH can reduce your buffer and trigger earlier liquidation even if the underlying asset hasn’t moved. Conversely, if your collateral appreciates while your BTC long remains flat, your collateral becomes more valuable, increasing available margin and lowering your liquidation threshold. E.g., A 10% increase in $ETH can increase your buffer and trigger later liquidation even if the underlying asset hasn’t moved.
This behavior mirrors traditional quanto contracts in legacy finance, where instruments are settled in a different currency than the underlying, often introducing an implicit volatility and correlation premium (or risk).
Additionally, Even though PNL is denominated in $QTO, to make it easier to understand, Quanto frontend converts and displays PNL in USD on the interface.
For example, if you’re long 1 BTC with current $QTO price at $0.01, and your current PNL on this BTC long is +10000 QTO, you’ll be up 100 USD.
Therefore, if QTO price later rallies to 0.011 (up by 10%), your long position becomes 1.1 BTC, and your PNL (10000QTO) becomes 110 USD worth. Alternatively, if QTO price becomes 0.009, your long position will be worth 0.9 BTC and your PNL (10000 QTO) becomes 90 USD.
Key Concepts
Abstracted Exposure You're not directly buying or selling ETH or SOL. You're entering a synthetic position whose PnL is settled in QTO, while exposure follows the tracked asset’s price (e.g., ETH/USDT).
Fixed Multiplier The only constant in a quanto contract is the multiplier (e.g., 0.0001 QTO per $1 move). This multiplier determines how much PnL you earn or lose per unit of price change in the tracked asset.
PnL Comes from Price Movement Only The PnL is determined strictly by the price difference in the tracked asset (e.g., ETH/USDT), multiplied by the contract size and multiplier. The PnL itself is always quantified in QTO, regardless of what asset is being tracked.
Value and Collateral in QTO All margin requirements, liquidation thresholds, and payouts are handled in QTO, not the asset being tracked (e.g., not in ETH or USDT). This means users must understand that even if ETH goes up, their profits are in QTO, which introduces secondary risk if QTO fluctuates.
Implications
Leverage and margin calculations are all based on the QTO value of the position, not the tracked asset.
Risk management must account for both the movement of the tracked asset and the market value of QTO, especially under extreme volatility.
This structure allows platforms like Quanto.trade to offer unified collateral and PnL in a native ecosystem token (QTO), simplifying UX while abstracting asset exposure.