Perpetual Futures: Robinhood expands to Europe with 24/7 trading

Imagine a contract to buy or sell something in the future, but without an expiration date. It's like a subscription that never ends, letting you bet on a price movement. Unlike old-school futures, these don't have a fixed expiry, so you can keep your position open as long as you like.

These are derivative instruments, meaning their value "derives" from another asset, like the price of gold or a stock. Robinhood launched perpetual futures in Europe on July 7, 2026, offering contracts tied to commodities, ETFs, and currencies. This means you can bet on whether these assets will go up or down, without actually owning them.

Simple: money never sleeps, and neither do traders, apparently. Robinhood wants to ride the wave of 24/7 trading, a phenomenon born and bred in the cryptocurrency world. There, markets are always open, and people got used to trading whenever they pleased.

The platform aims to capture a market segment increasingly accustomed to this non-stop frenzy. So, if your dream is to trade at three in the morning, Robinhood has heard you. Isn't that great? Maybe less so for your sleep, but oh well.

For European traders, new opportunities open up to speculate on price movements across various assets, with no time limits. This product offers flexibility, but also high risks, as it often involves leverage. It's a bit like having a casino open 24/7, but with charts and numbers instead of slot machines.

Potentially, more people might get into complex financial instruments, drawn by the possibility of non-stop trading. It's an attempt to bring the "always on" crypto mindset to traditional markets. After all, who needs rest when there's potential profit to chase? Or a loss to recover, of course.