Perpetual futures — better known as perps — are the lifeblood of crypto trading. They’re the instruments that fuel billions in daily volume on centralized exchanges like Binance and Bybit, giving traders the ability to long, short, and leverage positions without worrying about expiry dates. If you’ve traded crypto or even held alts for a while now, then you probably have seen SolanaFloor and other X accounts give updates on total shorts and longs being liquidated. 

It’s not always bad news though, and what you don’t see is that for every liquidation post that goes up each time the market makes a huge move, there are hundreds and thousands of traders who have made profit from having traded the opposite direction. 

But there’s always been a gap: while Solana is blazing fast and dirt cheap, its infrastructure for perps lagged far behind Ethereum and centralized platforms. Traders who loved Solana’s memecoin scene still had to leave the ecosystem if they wanted deep liquidity and advanced derivatives.

That’s why Drift Protocol’s latest upgrade is such a milestone. By building a next-generation perps platform directly on Solana, Drift combines speed, efficiency, and transparency into one package — creating a serious alternative to CEXs and EVM-based protocols. For Solana traders, it’s the first time perps feel native, not borrowed. Now, they are taking it one step further with this collaboration but first we dive into what Perps really are. 

What Are Perps (Perpetual Futures)?

At their core, perps are derivative contracts that let you speculate on the price of an asset without an expiration date. Unlike traditional futures, which settle on a fixed date, perps roll forward forever — as long as you maintain margin of course. 

This makes them incredibly flexible because:

• Traders can go long if they believe a token’s price will rise, or short if they think it will fall.
  
• With leverage, they can amplify positions — turning small moves into outsized gains (or losses).
  
• They’re also powerful tools for hedging spot holdings. For example, if you hold a bag of SOL but expect short-term volatility, you can short SOL perps to protect against drawdowns.
  

It’s no surprise that perps dominate crypto volume on centralized exchanges. They give traders freedom, liquidity, and nonstop opportunity. But historically, bringing perps on-chain has been tough. Decentralized systems struggled with latency, deep liquidity, and risk management — exactly the challenges Drift Protocol set out to solve on Solana.

The Drift Protocol Advantage

Drift Protocol is one of the leading perps providers on the Solana blockchain, and what they did to get there was quite simple. They provided:

• Low Latency on Solana: Drift takes full advantage of Solana’s sub-second block times.
  
• Deep Liquidity Pools: new v2/v3 upgrades designed for sustainable liquidity and reduced slippage.
  
• Risk Engine: advanced margining, liquidation protection, and risk parameters.
  
• Trader UX: Drift offers order types and dashboards familiar to CEX users — a bridge for migrating traders.
  
• Composability: positions can be integrated into other DeFi protocols (e.g., collateral in lending markets).
  
• And now with SolCypher, they’ve ported over perps trading directly into Telegram chats in their new collaboration with SolCypher.
  
• Not only that, but this upgrade comes with gamification features that turns trading into a social experience with leaderboards and guild trading. 

Why This is Big for Solana Traders

• Leverage + Low Fees: combine Solana’s transaction costs with Drift’s efficient margining → traders keep more profit.
  
• On-Chain Transparency: unlike centralized exchanges, all positions are visible, auditable, and resistant to mismanagement.
  
• 24/7 Crypto-Native Market: Drift supports trading across majors, altcoins, and Solana ecosystem tokens.
  
• Leveling the Playing Field: retail traders on Solana now access tools once exclusive to CEX whales.
  
• Perps traders no longer have to go into trades blindly. With a new social layer added, traders can go through and test market thesis with each other.

How SolCypher Fits In

Drift’s upgrade doesn’t just benefit standalone traders — it also unlocks powerful new possibilities for the SolCypher ecosystem. By combining Drift’s advanced perpetual futures with SolCypher’s social trading features, traders gain tools that are both institutional-grade and community-driven.

• Trading Signals Meet Perps: As an alpha caller on SolCypher, you no longer need to limit yourself to spot trades or memecoin plays. Traders can integrate perpetual futures into their strategies, offering followers more sophisticated setups that include leverage, shorting opportunities, and hedged positions.
  
• Copy Trading for Perps: For beginners, this means they can now mirror experienced traders in the perpetuals market — something that has traditionally been out of reach in decentralized systems. Copying perp strategies brings education, diversification, and higher upside potential.
  
• Community Yield Through $CYPHER: All of this trading activity continues to cycle value back into the ecosystem. As volume grows, so do staking rewards and revenue-sharing opportunities for $CYPHER holders. Drift’s perps bring the volatility; SolCypher ensures the community captures the benefits.
  
• Strategic Edge: The real innovation comes from merging two worlds — the high-octane culture of memecoin speculation with the discipline of derivative trading. Together, they give SolCypher users a toolkit that spans the emotional highs of community-driven trading and the structured strategies of risk-managed perps.
  

With Drift and SolCypher working in tandem, Solana traders no longer face a trade-off between speed and sophistication. They get both, under one roof — and for the first time, perps feel like a native part of the culture, not a borrowed feature. Plus, it feels important to mention again that all of this is done directly from your devices-PC or mobile. 

Conclusion

• Drift’s new perps system marks a milestone for Solana trading — combining speed, low fees, and advanced tools into one on-chain platform.
  
• For SolCypher users, this isn’t just another protocol launch — it’s a way to expand strategies, diversify, and earn more from the same ecosystem. The intuitive and extremely responsive interface is one they’re already familiar with, and this will only increase the wealth of tools to keep doing what they love day in, day out.
  

Finally, Drift gives Solana traders the perps arena they’ve been waiting for — and SolCypher makes sure the community captures the upside together.