What products we mean
Some crypto exchanges now list products that track the prices of US stocks. They fall into two broad groups. One is a token designed to follow a stock's price, often called a tokenized stock. The other is a perpetual future that uses a stock or index price as its reference. Both show a familiar US company name and chart on screen, but their structure differs from shares bought through a brokerage account. What backs the product, how its price is kept in line, and who is responsible if something goes wrong all vary by product and exchange, so you must read the product documentation and terms yourself. This guide does not refer to any particular exchange or product.
Where the round-the-clock price comes from
US stocks trade only during set hours, but products on crypto exchanges often trade day and night. While the stock market is open, the product is designed to stay in line with the stock price, so the two charts move similarly. Once the stock market closes, the reference price stops, and the product price is set only by the orders of people trading on that exchange. A chart during those hours is less the price of the stock and more the exchange participants' guess about where the stock will open next.
The gap while the market is closed
The difference that opens up between the product price and the last stock price while the market is closed is called a deviation. The typical situations that create it are listed below. When the stock market reopens, the product price is pulled back toward the stock price, and that can cause abrupt moves on the product chart.
- Weekends and US holidays: the stock is frozen while the product keeps trading
- News after the close: earnings or economic news shows up first in the product price
- Thin trading: with few participants, small orders can make the price jump
- The market reopening: if the stock opens away from the product price, the product follows
Funding and leverage in perpetual futures
Perpetual futures have no expiry. Instead, to keep the futures price close to the reference price, the long and short sides exchange funding payments at set intervals. When the futures price is above the reference, longs usually pay; when it is below, shorts usually pay. How funding is calculated while the stock market is closed and the reference price is frozen differs by product, so check it. The bigger risk is leverage. Trading more than your margin means a small move against you can wipe out the margin and trigger liquidation, and a weekend deviation or a sharp move at Monday's open can be exactly that move.
Rights that differ from shares
A share bought through a brokerage account is part ownership of a company and comes with the right to vote and to receive dividends. A stock-linked product on a crypto exchange is built to track the price, so those rights are absent or handled differently by each product. On dividend dates, some products adjust the price or make a separate payment, and how corporate actions such as stock splits are reflected also varies. For a token product, who holds the underlying shares and where, and what happens if the issuer runs into trouble, create risks that never show up on the price chart.
Regulation and access
Countries treat these products differently, and the rules keep changing. Some treat them as securities and regulate them strictly, and some services are not offered at all to residents of certain countries. Residents of Korea may be restricted from using them, and even where they can, the products may sit outside the investor protections that apply to trading through a Korean broker. Tax treatment may also differ from shares. If you are considering them, first check the exchange's terms of use and official guidance from the financial authorities in your country of residence.
Check it with this site's live tools
This site's funding rate dashboard shows real-time funding rates and settlement intervals for crypto perpetual futures, which helps you get a feel for how funding adds up. Enter an entry price and leverage into the futures liquidation calculator to see in numbers how far a move against you triggers liquidation. And the world markets overview tells you whether the US stock market is open right now, so you can tell whether the product price you are watching is tracking the real stock or being set only by trading on the exchange.
Strong risk warning
This guide explains how these products are structured and is not investment advice, nor a recommendation to use them. Leveraged products can lose your entire stake in a short time, and the deviation while markets are closed and the sharp moves when they reopen can keep stop orders from filling at the price you expected. Product rights, funding calculations, handling of corporate actions and the countries where a product is available differ by exchange and product and can change, so always check the official documents yourself.
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