Perpetual futures tied to tokenized stocks, commodities and other real-world assets generated almost as much weekly trading volume as Bitcoin perpetuals across Hyperliquid and Binance, according to data compiled by institutional trading technology firm Talos. Tracked real-world asset, or RWA, perpetuals recorded $61.7 billion in combined seven-day volume in a Thursday snapshot, equivalent to 99.2% of Bitcoin perpetual volume on the two venues.
The figures point to a sharp concentration of derivatives activity around blockchain-based versions of familiar financial markets. Equity-linked contracts accounted for 57.8% of the tracked RWA perpetual volume, while commodity-linked products represented 28.2%, according to Talos. The remaining activity came from index, exchange-traded fund, foreign-exchange, pre-IPO and other asset-linked contracts.
Perpetual futures are derivatives with no fixed expiry date. In crypto markets, they have traditionally been used to trade Bitcoin, Ether and other digital assets with leverage. RWA perpetuals apply the same structure to price exposure linked to shares, commodities or market indexes, giving traders a product that can operate beyond the trading hours of the underlying conventional market.
Hyperliquid volume surpasses other perpetual categories
Hyperliquid accounted for a substantial part of the reported activity. Talos data showed RWA perpetual trading volume of $25.1 billion on the decentralized derivatives platform during the week from July 13 to July 19.
That amount exceeded the combined volume of every other perpetual-futures category traded on Hyperliquid in the same period, according to Talos. The comparison suggests that demand on the platform was not limited to crypto-native instruments, with stock and commodity proxies taking a leading role in its derivatives market.
Early data for the current week showed the pace accelerating. Talos recorded $37.2 billion in RWA perpetual volume across the tracked venues, roughly 9% above Bitcoin perpetual volume over the same window.
Equity-linked contracts contributed $22.8 billion of the $37.2 billion total, making them the dominant segment. Commodity contracts generated $9.1 billion, while index products reached $4.2 billion. ETF-linked perpetuals accounted for about $338 million, according to Talos.
The composition of the market shows a preference for liquid, widely followed traditional assets rather than a rush into every form of tokenization. Equity and commodity contracts together represented nearly 86% of the current-week RWA perpetual total reported by Talos. That makes these instruments particularly relevant to platforms seeking to attract traders accustomed to round-the-clock crypto markets but interested in price movements traditionally associated with Wall Street and global commodities exchanges.
Onchain asset value provides a separate measure
The expanding derivatives volumes are occurring alongside growth in tokenized assets held onchain, although the two measures should not be treated as equivalent. Perpetual-futures turnover counts repeated trading activity and can be amplified by short-term positions and leverage, while the value of onchain RWAs measures assets represented or issued through blockchain systems.
RWA.xyz placed the value of onchain real-world assets at about $36.8 billion, excluding stablecoins. That market includes tokenized products with different legal structures and settlement models, ranging from Treasury-related products to private credit and tokenized funds.
The $61.7 billion in weekly RWA perpetual volume reported by Talos therefore reflects an active derivatives layer developing around the broader tokenization sector. Traders can gain exposure to price movements through perpetual contracts without necessarily holding, redeeming or settling the corresponding tokenized asset itself.
That separation may help explain how derivatives activity can scale rapidly. A perpetual contract can offer exposure to an equity or commodity price without requiring every trade to move an underlying token onchain. The model resembles crypto perpetual markets, where derivative trading volumes often greatly exceed spot-market turnover.
A growing challenge for market infrastructure
The move toward 24/7 asset-linked derivatives has also entered the discussion around traditional market infrastructure. Jeffrey Sprecher, chief executive of Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, recently called for regulators to establish a “level playing field” for onchain perpetual futures operating around the clock.
His comments reflect a practical difference between blockchain-based trading venues and conventional equity exchanges. Stock markets generally operate within defined daily sessions, while crypto platforms can accept and match orders continuously. A tokenized equity perpetual may therefore keep trading while the underlying stock’s primary listing is closed.
That structure can create periods where derivatives prices react to news, macroeconomic developments or crypto-market volatility without a live underlying cash-market reference. When conventional markets reopen, price gaps between the perpetual contract and the underlying asset may need to close quickly. The result can be more volatile funding rates, liquidations or abrupt repricing for leveraged positions.
The model also raises questions for regulators and market operators around pricing, market surveillance, product design and the rights attached to tokenized representations of securities. A contract that tracks a stock price does not automatically provide the same ownership rights as a share purchased through a regulated brokerage account.
RWA perpetuals remain a minority of derivatives turnover
Despite their rapid rise against Bitcoin perpetual volume on Hyperliquid and Binance, RWA perpetuals remain a smaller segment of crypto derivatives overall. Talos recorded approximately $821.4 billion in aggregate futures volume during the past seven days, placing tracked RWA perpetuals at roughly 7.5% of the total.
That broader comparison tempers the headline figures. Bitcoin, Ether and other crypto-linked instruments still account for most derivatives activity across the market Talos tracks. Yet the near-parity with Bitcoin perpetual volume on the two highlighted venues indicates that RWA contracts have become a meaningful source of liquidity rather than a niche experiment.
The next test will be whether this turnover remains concentrated in a small number of highly traded equity and commodity contracts or expands into a deeper set of products with reliable pricing and durable liquidity. For now, Talos’ data shows that tokenized-market derivatives are increasingly competing for trading activity in the same venues and around-the-clock market structure that helped make crypto perpetuals one of the industry’s most widely used instruments.
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