Something clicked in my brain today, the kind of small discovery that feels like you quietly unlocked a new level. It happened while I was reviewing my notes on perpetuals and options from my last two posts, trying to understand why they still felt like two different worlds even after breaking them down separately.
Then suddenly, they didn’t.
For the longest time, I believed trading was about one thing:
Guess the direction. Hope you’re right.
Up or down. Long or short. Simple, straightforward… until it wasn’t.
But today, while comparing perps and options side by side, I finally saw the deeper layer:
trading is actually about behaviour.
The behaviour of the market, the behaviour of other traders, and honestly, the behaviour of myself as I react to it.
That realisation felt bigger than anything I’ve written so far.
Where the “Aha!” Happened
I was staring at a BTC chart late last night, half curious, half exhausted, when I started connecting dots.
Perps showed me what people were doing right now: funding rates shifting, open interest building up or drying out, sudden surges in volume.
Options showed me what people were preparing for: volatility expectations, hedges for protection, whispers of fear, or careful planning in case the market swings.
It felt like discovering someone’s hidden thoughts after only hearing their public statements.
Here’s the simple version of what I learned
Perpetuals = confidence.
Options = concern.
Perps traders tend to say:
“I’m sure. Let’s push this.”
Options traders whisper:
“I’m uncertain… let me protect myself.”
Seeing both at once made the market feel more human, not just numbers on a screen.
A small clarification for beginners (especially moms like me)
Before I continue, I want to untangle something that confused me at first.
When I started researching perps and options, I thought their difference was mainly expiry, options have expiry dates, perps don’t. And yes, that’s true structurally. But structure isn’t the reason they behave differently. The real difference comes from the signals they react to. Perps respond to what traders are doing right now, funding rate, open interest, liquidations. Options respond to what traders think might happen later, volatility, probability, future risk. So expiry explains the mechanics, but the metrics reveal the personality. That’s the part that finally made things click for me.
A small Base moment I didn’t expect
While I’ve been trying out different tools lately, including some that run on Base, I noticed something interesting:
the whole experience of studying market behaviour felt lighter.
Fast transactions, tiny fees, smooth interfaces… they made it easier to experiment, rewind, test, and observe without the usual friction.
It wasn’t anything dramatic. Just a quiet, steady realisation:
When the tools feel light, the learning feels lighter too.
And as someone trying to understand markets piece by piece, I appreciated that.
A simple example that made everything click
If funding rate is positive, perps traders are leaning long.
If implied volatility is climbing, options traders are expecting turbulence.
Put those two hints together and you’re not just staring at a chart, you’re reading intentions.
It feels less like guessing, and more like listening.
Analogy Time, Mom Edition
Perps are like your kid telling you,
“Ma, I’m hungry.”
Direct. Immediate. You know exactly what to do.
Options are like when they ask,
“Ma… what if I get hungry later?”
They’re not hungry yet — they’re just preparing for the possibility.
Perps show you what’s happening now.
Options show you what someone is preparing for later.
And just like motherhood,
you respond differently to a child who needs something this second
versus a child who’s planning ahead “just in case.”
The market is the same.
It has “now” signals (perps)
and “later” signals (options).
Once you know how to tell them apart, everything becomes less overwhelming.
Why this matters to me
Because for the first time, trading didn’t feel like chaos.
It felt like a language, one I’m slowly starting to understand.
I’m still learning, still making mistakes, still connecting dots…
but today felt like a step in the right direction.
Takeaway
Understanding perps and options together taught me something bigger:
Crypto isn’t just charts.
It’s behaviour, intention, confidence, caution, all layered together.
And if I slow down and pay attention, I can learn to read it.
Perps and options can feel intimidating at first, but understanding their “now” and “later” behaviour already puts you ahead of most beginners.
If you want me to break down the metrics behind them even more, funding rate, open interest, implied volatility, just comment which one still feels confusing. I’ll explain it in the simplest way possible.
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