Binance uses orders on its exchange to calculate equity perpetual index prices during daily maintenance periods, weekends and holidays, addressing a pricing challenge for contracts that trade around the clock.
The change took effect at 8 p.m. ET on May 15, 2026 (00:00 UTC on May 16), replacing a fixed index setting for those periods. Binance averages impact bid and ask prices from its order book and smooths the result over time. The exchange says smoothing is intended to limit abrupt index moves and liquidation risk when liquidity is thin.
The order-book method does not cover every hour outside the regular stock session. During regular trading hours, Binance uses prices supplied by outside providers. Premarket and after-hours trading use a fast-decay exponentially weighted moving average, while overnight trading uses a slow-decay version. Binance’s pricing guide treats those sessions as separate calculation modes.
METAUSDT is among the affected contracts. It references common stock in Meta Platforms, Inc., listed on Nasdaq as META, but is a derivative rather than a share. Binance launched the contract at 10:30 a.m. ET on March 26, 2026 (14:30 UTC). Trading remains available 24/7, including when the U.S. stock market is closed.
Binance sets METAUSDT’s leverage ceiling at 10x. Positions settle in Tether (USDT), and holding one does not give a trader Meta shares. The longer trading schedule gives traders access when shares are unavailable for regular trading, while leverage increases their exposure to price changes.
The scheduling difference also affects Binance’s Amazon-linked perpetual. Binance’s stock-perpetual guide says a gap between a contract’s price and its underlying share price can emerge when stock trading resumes.
