Onchain options review
The original perpetual-option experiment — Squeeth (ETH²) gives leveraged, no-liquidation exposure to ETH's squared price, funded by a streaming premium instead of an expiry.
Quick answer
Opyn's Squeeth is a historical example of a power perpetual: an expiry-free, ETH-linked payoff funded by an ongoing premium. This page is design research, not a recommendation for a live venue. Check current status and liquidity before using any Opyn product. Source: Opyn / Squeeth official site, 2026.
Last updated: September 22, 2026 — Answer framing and editorial context reviewed; dated product facts remain subject to the linked primary source.
Onchain options
Availability: Ethereum · Power perpetual (streaming-premium synthetic)
Key distinction: The original perpetual-option experiment — Squeeth (ETH²) gives leveraged, no-liquidation exposure to ETH's squared price, funded by a streaming premium instead of an expiry.
Constraint: Check settlement, liquidity, eligibility, and expiry rules before trading.
Evidence: checked 2026-09-22
Opyn’s Squeeth is a historical example of a power perpetual: an expiry-free, ETH-linked payoff funded by an ongoing premium. This page is design research, not a recommendation for a live venue. Check current status and liquidity before using any Opyn product.
Opyn built early options infrastructure on Ethereum. Its distinctive product was Squeeth, a synthetic token whose payoff tracks the square of ETH’s price.
Squeeth has no strike or expiry. Holders pay a continuous premium instead of a one-time option premium. That design is one example of a power perpetual.
Squeeth helps explain the problem behind perpetual options: how do you create non-linear exposure without a fixed expiry? Its answer was a squared ETH payoff funded by a streaming premium. That is one design, not a standard template for every newer product.
Opyn fits readers studying perpetual or power options, or users willing to model an expiry-free ETH position. It is not the first stop for a simple call or put. See Derive for a listed-strike venue.
Squeeth’s squared payoff can make losses grow faster on an adverse move. The streaming premium is also charged while the position is open. Verify current audits, maintenance, and liquidity rather than relying on historical reputation.
Opyn’s documented Squeeth payoff and its historical role in perpetual and power-option design support the mechanism analysis here. That history does not establish a live market: confirm current product maintenance, usable liquidity, and security disclosures in Opyn’s own materials before treating Squeeth as an executable venue rather than a mechanism reference.
Frequently asked
A synthetic token (colloquially ETH², or "ETH squared") whose payoff tracks the square of ETH's price, created by Opyn. It behaves like a leveraged, always-on long option position with no expiry and no liquidation risk in the traditional sense — funded instead by a continuous streaming premium paid by holders, which is the mechanism that keeps the product solvent.
No — it's a genuinely different payoff shape. A normal call option has a strike and expiry and costs a one-time premium. Squeeth has no strike or expiry and costs an ongoing streaming premium (technically a funding-like mechanism), and its payoff scales with the square of ETH's price move rather than a simple linear or capped payoff. It's the historical reference point for what a 'perpetual option' or 'power perpetual' actually is.
Opyn built some of the earliest general-purpose options infrastructure on Ethereum, with Squeeth as its most distinctive later product. Current activity levels and maintenance status are unresolved; check Opyn's documentation before assuming a specific product is live and liquid.
Yes, in principle — the streaming premium is an ongoing cost, and a slow or flat ETH move while premium accrues can erode value even without a price decline. This is the same 'you're still paying for time and volatility exposure' dynamic that applies to any options-like product, just expressed continuously instead of at a single expiry.