Perpetual Contracts "Truth": It's not trading, but a continuously operating cash flow machine.

Pu Peng pointed out that the underlying logic of Bitcoin perpetual contracts has actually existed in traditional finance — essentially the same as the "rollover fee/overnight fee" mechanism in gold and industrial commodity markets.
The core structure can be broken down into three layers:
First layer: Funding rate mechanism
Long and short sides periodically exchange funding rates; when longs dominate, the long side continuously pays the short side — this is not a one-time cost, but "the longer the time, the higher the cost."
Second layer: Position structure game
Retail traders tend to leverage high and hold long-term, while institutions and big players prefer low leverage or even inverse hedging, ultimately forming a structure where "retail pays, professional funds collect rent."
Third layer: Platform profit model
Although exchanges do not directly extract funding rates, they increase trading activity, open interest (OI), and liquidity to amplify fee income, creating a stable and sustainable cash flow source.
The essence behind this can be summed up in one sentence:
Perpetual contracts are not simply a game of price rises and falls, but a profit distribution system centered around "time cost."
Who trades frequently, who uses high leverage, who holds long-term — who is more likely to become the "payer" in this system.
The real profit is never about the direction, but about the structure.
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