Marex unveils rolling spot crypto, an OTC perpetual with institutional margin terms

Marex has launched a bilateral OTC crypto product that works like a perpetual contract but with institutional margin terms. Branded as “rolling spot crypto,” the product pitches features that centralized crypto exchanges don’t offer, a rated traditional counterparty and no automated liquidations or auto-deleveraging.

Like a typical perpetual, the product is cash settled with no expiry, rolling daily with a funding rate, the periodic payment or receipt that keeps a perpetual anchored to spot. That rate is benchmarked to perpetuals at large centralized crypto exchanges, plus a spread. It launched alongside Neon Crypto, a new module on the firm’s Neon trading platform that serves as the central record for client activity.

The core pitch is margin treatment. On centralized exchanges, positions that move against a trader trigger automatic liquidation and during volatile periods automated deleveraging kicks in. Marex instead runs T+1 margin calls, the same methodology it uses for listed futures clearing. “There’s no notion of auto liquidation,” said Samuel Leyne, co-head of crypto trading at Marex, in an interview. Liquidation thresholds still exist, but the process allows an orderly response rather than a mechanical close.