Centralized cryptocurrency platforms are rapidly turning stock-linked derivatives into a major product category, with monthly trading in equity perpetual contracts climbing from about $831 million in July 2025 to roughly $34 billion in May 2026, according to CoinGecko. The nearly 40-fold increase has pushed traditional-finance products—covering stocks, commodities and indexes—into a market once dominated almost entirely by crypto-native contracts.
CoinGecko recorded $347.17 billion in monthly volume for TradFi and real-world-asset perpetuals in May, taking year-to-date turnover above $1.32 trillion. The figures point to derivatives, rather than tokenized spot stocks, as the main engine of the expansion. Perpetual contracts can track a share price without requiring a platform to buy and hold a corresponding share for every open position.
That model has allowed major centralized venues to list contracts tied to U.S. equities, exchange-traded funds, indexes and private-company valuations. The product range now stretches from conventional stock brokerage accounts to reserve-backed blockchain tokens, stock perpetuals, CFDs and pre-IPO contracts linked to companies including SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic.
The surge remains small beside conventional equity markets. CoinGecko estimated that crypto-based equity derivatives account for less than 1% of traditional stock-market trading volume, leaving the sector far from a replacement for established exchanges while giving crypto platforms room to build liquidity and product depth.
Derivatives lead the shift toward stock exposure
Stock perpetuals have become the most widely distributed format because they trade around the clock, accept stablecoins as collateral and can offer leverage. Unlike a brokered share, a perpetual contract gives a trader price exposure rather than shareholder status, voting rights or direct entitlement to corporate distributions.
Binance, Kraken, OKX, Bitget, Gate and Coinbase have each introduced versions of equity-linked perpetuals, though the terms differ substantially by region and user eligibility. Many contracts are settled in USDT or USDC, use funding payments to keep their prices aligned with reference markets, and continue trading after U.S. equity exchanges close.
Binance’s stock perpetuals are USDT-settled and generally use eight-hour funding intervals, according to the company’s product documentation. Some contracts offer leverage of 20 times to 25 times, with minimum order sizes around 5 USDT. In May, Binance added an order-book-based index mode designed for periods when underlying cash markets are shut. The mechanism uses an Impact Mid Price and an exponentially weighted moving average, or EWMA, to calculate a continuing reference price.
That design addresses one of the harder problems in 24/7 equity derivatives: a stock contract can remain active for days while the underlying Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange listing is unavailable for trading. During those hours, prices may reflect derivatives order books, news expectations and thin liquidity rather than a live cash-market quote.
Kraken has taken a similar route with perpetual futures based on xStocks benchmarks. The exchange said its contracts can offer leverage of up to about 20 times and continue trading outside standard market hours. It has also listed pre-IPO perpetuals tied to OpenAI and Anthropic, using synthetic indexes derived from order-book pricing and subject to adjustments as IPO information develops.
Coinbase launched stock perpetual futures for eligible non-U.S. users in March 2026, according to its announcements. The contracts use USDC, trade 24/7 and share a collateral pool with crypto perpetuals. Maximum leverage is generally near 10 times for single stocks and can reach about 20 times for SPY and QQQ contracts.
Pre-IPO contracts extend the model to private valuations
Platforms are also bringing private-company speculation into perpetual markets, where pricing depends on estimated valuations and assumed share counts rather than an exchange-traded stock price.
Binance began with an SPCXUSDT perpetual in May, tied to expectations for SpaceX’s valuation before any public listing. Its stated design would shift the contract toward a standard equity-perpetual structure if the company lists publicly.
Bitget and Gate have used comparable approaches for contracts linked to SpaceX and OpenAI. Gate illustrated its OpenAI product using a $1 billion-share assumption, under which an $800 billion valuation would translate into a reference price of roughly $800 per unit. Such formulas provide a tradable benchmark, but the reference can change if a company discloses a different capital structure, completes a funding round or announces listing terms.
These products offer exposure to private-market narratives without requiring traders to obtain private-company shares. They also place greater emphasis on contract methodology, liquidity and liquidation rules because there is no continuously traded public stock to anchor pricing.
Tokenized stocks offer a different legal and custody route
Tokenized equities are expanding alongside derivatives, though they operate under a different model. A reserve-backed token is typically designed to represent a claim tied to an underlying security held with a custodian, while a synthetic token or perpetual merely references a price.
The xStocks system reported cumulative trading volume above $35 billion and close to 200,000 holders worldwide by July 2026. Its coverage has expanded beyond U.S. stocks and ETFs to markets including Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Europe and South Korea.
Kraken offers roughly 131 xStocks products on its platform, including about 100 stocks and 27 ETFs, while the wider issuance system covers more than 500 tokenized assets, according to xStocks. The tokens operate across networks including Solana, Ethereum, TON and Ink. A subset of assets, including TSLAx, QQQx, SPYx, NVDAx and AAPLx, is available for 24/7 trading through Kraken Pro.
Binance’s bStocks product combines a brokerage account with tokenized securities issued by an affiliated entity. The company says the tokens are backed one-for-one by U.S. stocks held at a regulated custodian, and eligible users can convert positions between brokerage holdings and BEP-20 tokens on BNB Smart Chain without a conversion fee.
Backpack uses a related brokerage-to-token model on Solana. Its U.S. stock service launched in June and structures brokerage holdings as security entitlements under Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code, according to the company. Users can convert certain holdings one-for-one into Solana-based tokenized securities, while treatment of dividends and stock splits depends on whether the position remains in the brokerage account or is held on-chain.
Platforms combine brokerage, tokens and leveraged products
Several venues are attempting to cover every route to equity exposure rather than choosing one structure.
Bitget’s Stock+ brokerage service provides access to more than 10,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs, with fractional purchases down to 0.0001 shares, according to the platform. Its Reality rToken line includes more than 500 stock and ETF tokens that Bitget says are backed one-for-one through brokerage and custody partners. The exchange also allows certain rTokens to serve as collateral in a unified account, connecting tokenized stock holdings to derivatives activity.
Gate has built a comparable menu of direct stock trading, tokenized assets, perpetuals, CFDs and IPO-related products. Its stock service covers more than 12,500 stocks and ETFs across the United States, Hong Kong and South Korea, using USDT for trading across markets. Gate’s TokenStocks section aggregates tokens from gStocks, xStocks and Ondo, while its CFD offering covers more than 500 markets spanning equities, foreign exchange, metals, commodities and indexes.
OKX has focused its centralized offering on a shared tokenized-stock trading layer. In July, it launched Unified Tokenized Stocks, which allows users to trade supported tokenized equities against USDT and transfer certain assets through Solana and X Layer. The initial lineup reached 48 assets, including SPY, QQQ, NVDA, Micron, SpaceX and SK hynix.
Its separate wallet-based integration with Ondo offers access to more than 260 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs through decentralized trading infrastructure. Those markets follow overnight, pre-market, regular and post-market trading blocks rather than a fully continuous schedule, with a typical closure from late Friday to early Monday UTC.
The rapidly widening choice of products gives traders flexibility, but the instruments should not be treated as interchangeable. Direct brokerage access generally provides the closest relationship to an underlying share. Reserve-backed tokens introduce an issuer, a custodian and blockchain transfer rules. Perpetuals and CFDs depend on indexes, margin systems and liquidation mechanisms.
Weekend and overnight trading may also create price gaps when underlying stock exchanges reopen. A stock perpetual can move sharply on news while Nasdaq is closed, then reprice again once cash-market liquidity returns. Funding rates, reference-index methodology and the depth of the order book can therefore matter as much as a company’s stock price when trading these instruments.
Explore how tokenized stocks bridge traditional equities and crypto trading as platforms race to expand equity derivatives.
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