Crypto Futures Expiry Time in India: Perpetual vs Dated
Perpetual crypto futures never expire. Dated BTC futures on Deribit and Binance expire at 1:30 PM IST, CME at 8:30 or 9:30 PM. Funding times inside.
Most crypto futures traded in India are perpetual and never expire: instead of an expiry, you pay or receive funding, every 8 hours on bitcoin at 5:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 9:30 PM IST on Delta Exchange India and Binance. Dated futures do expire: on Deribit and Binance they settle at 08:00 UTC, which is 1:30 PM IST, while CME bitcoin futures stop at 4:00 PM London time on the last Friday of the month, which is 8:30 PM or 9:30 PM IST depending on UK daylight saving.
Key takeaways
- When we checked on 3 October 2026, the futures listed by Delta Exchange India, CoinDCX and Pi42 were all perpetual, with no expiry date.
- Perpetuals use funding instead: every 8 hours on bitcoin and ether, and every 4 hours on many smaller coins.
- Deribit lists daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly bitcoin futures, all expiring at 1:30 PM IST. Binance's quarterly contracts expire at the same time on the last Friday of the quarter.
- The next quarterly expiry on Deribit and Binance is Friday 25 December 2026 at 1:30 PM IST.
- At expiry, crypto futures are settled in cash or margin currency against an average index price, not the last trade.
Do perpetual futures expire?
No. A perpetual futures contract has no expiry date, so you can hold it for an hour or a year, as long as your margin covers any losses. Without an expiry, nothing would force its price back to the real bitcoin price, so exchanges use funding: at set times, traders on one side pay traders on the other. When the perpetual trades above spot, buyers pay sellers; when it trades below, sellers pay buyers. That pulls the contract back towards the spot price.
This is the product nearly every Indian platform offers. When we checked live contract lists on 3 October 2026, every futures contract on Delta Exchange India and Pi42 was perpetual, and CoinDCX's futures list was made up of perpetual contracts too. Delta Exchange India's list showed perpetual futures and options, but no dated futures, so older descriptions of dated futures on Delta no longer match what it lists. ZebPay, WazirX and Mudrex also offer futures to Indian users; compare them in our best crypto futures trading apps guide. Our spot vs futures guide covers the basics if you are new.
Funding times in IST on platforms Indians use
For a perpetual trader, funding times matter more than any expiry. You pay or receive funding only if you hold a position at the funding moment. These are the intervals we found on 3 October 2026:
| Platform | Contracts | Funding interval | Funding times (IST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Exchange India | BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP and other large coins | Every 8 hours | 5:30 AM, 1:30 PM, 9:30 PM |
| Delta Exchange India | Most smaller altcoins | Every 4 hours | Shown on each contract page |
| CoinDCX | BTC, ETH, SOL, DOGE and SUI | Every 8 hours | Countdown shown on each contract |
| CoinDCX | Some smaller coins, such as PEPE and WIF | Every 4 hours | Countdown shown on each contract |
| Pi42 | Bitcoin | Every 8 hours | Countdown shown on each contract |
| Pi42 | Many other pairs | Every 4 hours | Countdown shown on each contract |
| Binance (global) | BTCUSDT perpetual | Every 8 hours | 5:30 AM, 1:30 PM, 9:30 PM |
Exchanges can change a contract's interval, especially in fast markets, so check the countdown before you trade. As an illustration, a funding rate of 0.01% per 8 hours on a ₹1,00,000 position costs ₹10 per payment and ₹30 a day; the real rate changes every period and can turn negative. Our funding rate guide explains how it is calculated.
Which crypto futures do expire, and when in IST?
Dated futures, also called delivery or fixed-expiry futures, end at a set date and time. These are the main ones that move the bitcoin market:
| Venue | Contract | Expiry day | Time (UTC) | Time (IST) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deribit | Daily futures | Every day | 08:00 | 1:30 PM |
| Deribit | Weekly futures | Every Friday | 08:00 | 1:30 PM |
| Deribit | Monthly futures | Last Friday of the month | 08:00 | 1:30 PM |
| Deribit | Quarterly futures | Last Friday of March, June, September and December | 08:00 | 1:30 PM |
| Binance | Quarterly delivery contracts (USDT and coin margined) | Last Friday of the quarter | 08:00 | 1:30 PM |
| CME | Bitcoin futures | Last Friday of the month | 4:00 PM London | 8:30 PM (UK summer time) or 9:30 PM (UK winter) |
| Delta Exchange India, CoinDCX, Pi42 | Futures | No expiry (perpetual) | None | None |
Binance's operator is on the government's list of FIU-IND registered platforms, which our guide to whether Binance is legal in India covers; check in the app whether your account can trade its quarterly contracts. Deribit is not on that list. Options expire at their own times on each platform: Delta Exchange India settles its bitcoin and ether options at 5:30 PM IST, for example. For those, see our BTC options expiry time guide and the Ethereum options expiry guide.
Upcoming bitcoin futures expiry dates
| Expiry | Date | Time (IST) |
|---|---|---|
| Deribit daily | Every day, next Sunday 4 October 2026 | 1:30 PM |
| Deribit weekly | Friday 9, 16 and 23 October 2026 | 1:30 PM |
| Deribit monthly | Friday 30 October and Friday 27 November 2026 | 1:30 PM |
| CME October contract | Friday 30 October 2026 | 9:30 PM (UK clocks go back on 25 October) |
| Deribit and Binance quarterly | Friday 25 December 2026 | 1:30 PM |
| Next quarterly after that | Friday 26 March 2027 | 1:30 PM |
For a live calendar of the bigger option expiries that land at the same time, use our bitcoin options expiry tracker.
What happens when a crypto future expires?
- Trading stops in the expiring contract at the expiry time.
- The exchange fixes a settlement price from an average, not the last trade. Deribit uses a 30-minute time-weighted average of its index before 08:00 UTC. Binance has used the average of its index price, sampled every second, over the 30 minutes before delivery since 11 November 2024. CME uses the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate published at 4:00 PM London time.
- Open positions are closed at that price. Crypto futures are cash-settled: only the profit or loss changes hands, never the underlying coins. USDT-margined contracts settle it in USDT, coin-margined ones in the coin, and CME in US dollars.
- Your position disappears. If you want to stay in the trade, you must open a new contract.
A worked example: you buy 0.01 BTC of a quarterly future at $84,000, and the settlement price comes in at $86,000. Your profit is $20, about ₹1,927 at ₹96.33 to the dollar, before fees. If settlement had been $82,000, you would have lost the same amount. Bitcoin is ₹8,096,152 on our bitcoin price in INR page right now.
Perpetual vs dated futures
| Feature | Perpetual futures | Dated futures |
|---|---|---|
| Expiry | None | Fixed date and time |
| How price stays near spot | Funding every 4 to 8 hours | Price converges to spot by expiry |
| Cost of holding | Funding, paid or received each period | Premium or discount to spot, built into the price |
| Rollover needed | No | Yes, to keep a position past expiry |
| Settlement | Only when you close or are liquidated | Automatic at expiry |
| Where Indians find them | Delta Exchange India, CoinDCX, Pi42, ZebPay | Deribit, Binance quarterlies, CME |
Either way, leverage is the main risk. A position can be liquidated long before any expiry; our guide to how liquidation price works shows the maths.
How to roll over a dated future
- Note the expiry date and convert it to IST. For Deribit and Binance, that means 1:30 PM IST on the expiry day.
- Close the expiring contract well before the final 30 minutes, when the settlement average is being taken and liquidity can thin out.
- Open the same size in the next contract. Expect a different price, because later contracts usually trade at a premium or discount to spot.
- Recheck your margin and liquidation price on the new position.
- Record both trades, as each one is a separate transaction for your accounts.
Why expiry time matters even for perpetual traders
Friday 1:30 PM IST is a busy moment. Deribit's weekly futures and options expire then, its monthly and quarterly contracts do on the last Friday, and an 8-hour funding payment falls at the same time on Delta Exchange India and Binance. Prices can swing in the hour before as large positions close. If your stop-loss or liquidation level sits close to the market, that is a time to be careful. Our guide to options expiry and max pain explains why big expiries attract attention, and open interest shows how much money is riding on them.
Is futures trading legal in India, and how is it taxed?
Crypto futures are not banned in India, and SEBI does not regulate them. The platforms must register with FIU-IND: Delta Exchange India's operator, Excelium Technologies, is entry 29 and Pi42's operator is entry 36 on the government's list of 54 registered VDA service providers tabled in the Lok Sabha on 30 March 2026. See is Delta Exchange legal in India and is Pi42 legal in India for each platform.
On tax, some things are settled and some are not. Settled: gains on transferring crypto are taxed at a flat 30% plus 4% cess under the rules introduced as Section 115BBH, with no loss set-off, and 1% TDS applies on transfers, such as selling USDT for rupees. Not settled: whether profits on cash-settled futures fall under those VDA rules or count as business income at slab rates, as there is no specific official clarification on crypto derivatives. Keep full statements and take advice from a chartered accountant; our crypto futures legality and tax guide sets out both views.
FAQ
What is the crypto futures expiry time in India?
Perpetual futures on Indian platforms such as Delta Exchange India, CoinDCX and Pi42 have no expiry time. Dated futures on Deribit and Binance expire at 1:30 PM IST (08:00 UTC).
Do perpetual futures expire?
No. Perpetual futures have no expiry date; instead, buyers and sellers exchange funding payments every few hours to keep the price close to spot.
What time do bitcoin futures expire in IST?
Deribit's daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly bitcoin futures and Binance's quarterly contracts expire at 1:30 PM IST. CME bitcoin futures end at 4:00 PM London time on the last Friday of the month, which is 8:30 PM IST in UK summer and 9:30 PM IST in UK winter.
What happens if I hold a futures contract until expiry?
The exchange closes your position at a settlement price based on an average of its index, and credits or debits the profit or loss to your margin. You never receive the underlying coins.
When is funding paid on Delta Exchange India?
On bitcoin, ether and other large coins, funding is exchanged every 8 hours at 5:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 9:30 PM IST. Many smaller altcoin contracts settle funding every 4 hours.
When is the next quarterly bitcoin futures expiry?
The next quarterly expiry on Deribit and Binance is Friday 25 December 2026 at 1:30 PM IST, followed by Friday 26 March 2027.
This article is AI-assisted, educational and general in nature. It is not financial advice and never a guarantee of profit. Every trade is at your own risk on your own exchange. See our risk disclosure and editorial policy.
