Does anyone “hodl” BTC via perps?

[RoseAPT]

I know the concept of hodling a synthetic contract is not the same as holding real btc in a cold wallet, but I’m wondering if anyone has deployed this strategy?

Basically to invest semi long term instead of trading, while getting the benefits of leverage.

I’ve actually only researched perps recently with the success of Hyperliquid and Lighter. Previously I never wanted to play with leverage due to centralization risk and liquidation risk. But I think we are closer to the bottom in regards to BTC, and I don’t plan on using excess leverage so I’d like to amplify some gains in this next cycle.

Strategy overview. It looks like current funding rates are about 12% APY. Does this mean in this scenario, it would make no sense to use LESS than 1.12x leverage if I plan to hold for more than a year? Basically, at 1.12x I get exposed to liquidation risk, more downside risk, and zero upside risk.

So doing 1.2x, for example, is a good amount to give me upside on top of funding rate charge, and liquidation protection. 100/1.2 is
83.3, meaning unless BTC drops another 83%, I am pretty safe.

Is this the right way to think about using leverage? I’m assuming the biggest risk here is funding rates going up higher than my leverage amount, 20% for example, and then me having to adjust the leverage up to make the upside make sense (while getting exposed to higher liquidation risk).

Probably stupid questions, but as a long time cold storage hodler, I’d like to look for some other strategies using leverage, play the 4 year cycle next time, and risk TPing for once instead of holding through bear cycles.

[shinratensei_]

Many who thinks of investing through perpetual market position for long term got liquidated when something like the 10/10 disaster happens. It's not wise.

If you trade on perp dex you need to monitor their oracle, and there is risk of oracle attack with flash loan, you better off with spot because you don't need to think about all those problems and in the case of 10/10 disaster happening again you will be fine. You don't need all those risk for a mere 1.2x leverage.

Though since you are using 1.2x leverage it's going to be safe because it requires huge drawdown to get liquidated, but i'd absolutely choose spot in this case.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Yes some hold but only for  a short period of time. The potential profits on trading perp coins rest on funding and a very conservative multiplier. If anyone will hold like literally the real bitcoin then thats a very risky approach. Normally anyone with this setup has a high margin especially if they will use a high leverage cause monitoring this is really a pain in the ass. Maybe 1 out of 10 in a reality ratio.

[Upgrade00]

It depends on your risk tolerance level and how much of your portfolio you plan to trade with.

Even with low leverage you introduce the risk of being liquidated which did not exist when you simply held your coins in your wallet, you also become reliant on the platform you're trading with, needing to trust a third party.

Its true that holding through bear cycles can seem very uneventful, you should weigh the potential profits and risk to determine your action

[Outhue]

It could actually works for you but the majority including myself will not want to do this, it's freaking too risky, anything can happen in this market, if you don't believe me looks into what happened in October 10, you will understand what I am trying to say here, flash crash is a thing in this market right now.

If you want to do this make sure you have accept it to be experimental, do it with what you can afford to lose and also make sure that you buy some bitcoin and hold it for back up reasons, if this experiment doesn't work out you will have something to atleast fall back to, gone are the days where I think only about the positive results, now I plan for the negative result too.

[Antidote47k]

You should know that the 12% funding rate is charged on notional position, so if you’re using 1.2x leverage you’ll be paying funding on 120% on your capital and not the original 100%, across the year, it will probably be more than that 12%. Also in reality you’ll be liquidated much earlier than anticipated due to maintenance of margin and the exchange’s liquidation rules but it should be in that range but the 83% probably shouldn’t be treated as your actual downside protection.

I’m not sure this strategy gives better risk/reward ratio than simply holding on spot. Yeah, more profits and exposure but you’re also introducing funding costs and liquidation risk, and if you plan to hold for the entire cycle wouldn’t funding cost eventually take a significant portion of the return you’re getting from your leverage?

[aoluain]

I know the concept of hodling a synthetic contract is not the same as holding real btc in a cold wallet, but I’m wondering if anyone has deployed this strategy?

Basically to invest semi long term instead of trading, while getting the benefits of leverage.

I’ve actually only researched perps recently with the success of Hyperliquid and Lighter. Previously I never wanted to play with leverage due to centralization risk and liquidation risk. But I think we are closer to the bottom in regards to BTC, and I don’t plan on using excess leverage so I’d like to amplify some gains in this next cycle.
 

Amplify gains? The market is close to the bottom, not THE bottom, I believe the market will bottom out yet,
but nobody is going to know what that bottom will be and will it be hit once, twice or more before recovering.
anyway - we can be fairly certain that we will at least reach the current ATH of ~€125k in the medium term,
12 or 24 months?

So for anyone who bought Bitcoin in the last 6 months ish you will see a doubling of the avlue of that Bitcoin.
I wouldnt want to risk that by trying to amplify gains with any sort of risky manouvre, and I certainly wouldnt
want to hand over my Bitcoin to some platform in the hope/chance of amplyfing gains. but thats just me.

There are a lot of successful traders who operate on a fraction of a percent and who would view 1.2x very risky.

Also if you dont fully understand what you are doing ^{as you said your self they may be stupid questions} I would
recommend you stick to cold storage like a lot of us!

[MadSl1m]

On the funding number, you can read it instead of estimating it. Hyperliquid's own API has BTC funding at 0.001% per hour as I write this, which annualises to roughly 8.8%, and it floats, so the 12% upthread is a snapshot, not a rate.

The risk nobody here has named is the one you actually asked about. In March 2025 the validator set voted to delist JELLY, and every open position in that market was closed by the vote rather than by its holder. That is a different failure mode from liquidation and no amount of margin protects you from it. 

[Catenaccio]

I know the concept of hodling a synthetic contract is not the same as holding real btc in a cold wallet, but I’m wondering if anyone has deployed this strategy?

Basically to invest semi long term instead of trading, while getting the benefits of leverage.

It's not investment because you don't buy with your own money and hold your coin but you buy some coins, then leveraging it for chasing bigger profit, but part of that position is not your money. There is risk of liquidation while if it's your own money investment, you don't have any liquidation risk and it's safest way to get profit with Bitcoin.

Anytime, people touch leverages in this volatile market, it has risk of liquidation, but there is another risk, you no longer store your bitcoin your own wallet but must use it as a collateral for your leveraged position.

In my opinion, it's not "invest semi long term", it's trading or speculation that is very dangerous in this volatile market.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Previously I never wanted to play with leverage due to centralization risk and liquidation risk.

One major risk in this strategy you are trying to employ is that you will be connecting your wallet to the perpetual DEx and probably risking all your coins in the trade, it is not a smart idea, mate. If you really want to do this, you can just try it with small amount of your total holding and you have to send the amount of Bitcoin you want to use into a different wallet, do not use your cold wallet to connect to a Perpetual DEx.

Since you intend to use a small leverage as you mentioned, you won't be liquidated because Bitcoin price will not go down to $20k and your liquidation price could even be below the $20k I mentioned.