A Stock Token and an Equity Perpetual can give a trader exposure to the same company, move with the same chart, and react to the same earnings print. What separates them is what a trader wants to do with that exposure: hold it cleanly, or trade it with leverage and the ability to go short. Arcus offers both from one account, so the choice between them is a choice about intent.

Here is what each instrument is, how it behaves, and when to reach for which.

Stock Tokens: Unlevered Spot Exposure

A Stock Token tracks the price of the underlying share. A one percent move in Nvidia is a one percent move in the position. There's no leverage, no funding, and no expiry. It can be held for an hour or a year with no carry cost and nothing to decay. It's spot exposure in token form, sitting in a self-custodial wallet rather than a brokerage account.

The token is reserve backed. The issuer holds reserves of the underlying, or cash equivalents when the underlying is on loan. That structure gives a trader economic exposure to the price, not the rights of a registered share. There's no voting, and no cash dividends paid out.

The economics of the underlying are still reflected, just handled on-chain. A declared dividend isn't paid out as cash. Its value is reflected in the token automatically, with nothing for the holder to claim or manage. Splits and other corporate actions are reflected the same way. Mergers and delistings settle the position to its cash value on the announced terms. Redemption, when a holder wants it, is for cash value through the issuer.

A Stock Token is the right tool for straightforward, unlevered exposure to a specific name. It suits expressing a longer-horizon view, or simply holding price exposure through dividends and corporate actions without ever managing margin.

Equity Perpetuals: Leveraged Derivative Exposure

An Equity Perpetual is a derivative. It's a perpetual futures contract with no expiry that tracks an equity or equity-like asset's price. It's a margined position held against the protocol, kept aligned with the underlying by a funding rate exchanged periodically between longs and shorts. Where a Stock Token gives a trader the price, a perp gives a lever on it.

That lever lets a position carry notional well beyond the collateral posted. Perps also trade both directions, including the short side a spot position can't express, which makes them the instrument for hedging an existing long or taking a bearish view ahead of an earnings print. Collateral is posted in USD, PnL is marked to market in real time, and the position settles continuously rather than on any fixed date.

Funding is what keeps a perp tethered to the real stock. It's a small payment that passes between longs and shorts at regular intervals. When the perp drifts above the underlying, longs pay shorts. When it drifts below, shorts pay longs. It's a steady nudge back toward the real price. Dividends and other corporate actions are reflected through automatic protocol-level adjustments, so a perp's total return follows the underlying without the holder lifting a finger.

The Differences that Matter

Off-hours: Where Each Behaves Differently

This is where both instruments diverge most from their TradFi equivalents, and where the design matters most to anyone carrying a position into a weekend. A US equity sits behind closed markets for roughly 81% of the calendar year: nights, weekends, and holidays. That's precisely when news tends to break and a holder can do nothing about it.

Stock Tokens stay priced and tradeable outside US market hours, though availability varies by name at launch. The most liquid names quote continuously, weekends included, while others trade around the clock on weekdays, with coverage widening over time.

Equity Perpetuals trade right through the close, with guardrails built for thin, illiquid windows: the conditions that wipe out over-leveraged positions on less careful venues. When US markets are shut, opening a perp takes more margin. Price moves are held within bands that widen only when there's genuine pressure behind them, like a real earnings surprise or a geopolitical shock, not a single stray order. And funding holds at a fixed rate instead of swinging. The effect is that real news still allows for price discovery, while a quiet weekend doesn’t cascade into forced liquidations.

Using Them Together

Because the two instruments express the same underlying differently, they can be combined. A trader can hold a long Stock Token via spot in the wallet, and a short Equity Perpetual on the same name, to express a hedge or a basis view. At launch, the two legs are funded independently. Only USD backs a perp position, so a Stock Token does not serve as collateral against it. Each leg stands on its own - with plans for cross margined capabilities in the roadmap.

Which to Reach For

Reach for a Stock Token when the goal is clean, unlevered exposure: a longer-horizon position, or simply holding a name through its dividends and corporate actions without managing margin. Reach for an Equity Perpetual when the goal is leverage, capital efficiency, the ability to short, or an active directional or hedging strategy. The same view on the same company can be expressed either way. The instrument should follow the intent.

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Arcus is a blockchain-based smart contract protocol that permits self-custodial peer-to-peer trading of Stock Tokens, cryptoassets and perpetual futures.  Arcus is not a regulated financial services provider, and it is not available in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and other restricted jurisdictions.

Stock Tokens are tokenised securities issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited under its Tokenised Products Programme. They are created and redeemed by the Issuer, with subscriptions, redemptions and/or distributions facilitated by Bitstamp Global Ltd as an Authorised Participant where specified. Stock Tokens provide economic exposure to a relevant underlying equity instrument or ETP through a contractual claim against the Issuer for a cash Redemption Amount linked to that underlying, but they do not confer ownership of the underlying or shareholder rights, including voting rights, direct dividend rights, or rights in the insolvency or administration of the underlying issuer. Stock Tokens involve risks not present, or not present to the same extent, in traditional stock ownership, including private-key loss or compromise, limited redemption access, liquidity constraints, price or tracking divergences from the underlying, and uncertain or evolving regulatory treatment.

Trading Stock Tokens, cryptoassets or perpetual futures is risky and involves risks of loss, particularly when using leverage. DYOR. NFA.