US regulators clear single stock perpetual futures

The U.S. has brought single-stock perpetual futures into its regulated exchange framework for the first time, with Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair Mike Selig saying on Nov. 3 that the products can trade under joint CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission oversight. Kalshi listed the first four contracts the same day, linked to Amgen, McDonald's, Qualcomm and Costco, with maximum leverage of roughly 4.9 times.

The decision places perpetual contracts tied to individual shares inside the legal category of security futures products under the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. That classification subjects them to both the Commodity Exchange Act and federal securities laws, creating a regulatory path for a product long associated with offshore crypto derivatives venues.

A market seeking to list the contracts must operate as both a CFTC-registered designated contract market and a national securities exchange authorized to trade security futures after notifying the SEC. The dual-registration requirement sets a higher operational and compliance threshold than the offshore platforms that have offered stock-linked perpetuals with stablecoin collateral and around-the-clock trading.

Kalshi's launch marks the first test of whether the U.S. framework can support a crypto-style derivatives format without adopting the looser leverage and market-access standards seen elsewhere. The initial contracts cover four large, liquid U.S. companies rather than highly volatile technology or cryptocurrency-linked names, suggesting a cautious start for a product whose structure is designed for continuous trading.

A crypto derivatives structure enters U.S. securities markets

Perpetual futures differ from conventional futures because they have no fixed expiry date. BitMEX introduced the format to crypto markets in 2016, allowing traders to keep positions open indefinitely instead of rolling them into a later-dated contract.

To keep a perpetual contract close to the underlying asset's reference price, exchanges generally use a funding mechanism. Periodic payments move between traders holding long and short positions, with the direction and size of those payments intended to discourage a persistent gap between the contract and its benchmark. The mechanism is familiar to crypto derivatives users, though it takes on different practical risks when the reference asset is a publicly traded U.S. stock with limited cash-market hours.

The CFTC had already approved KalshiEX's bitcoin perpetual contract, BTCPERP, on May 29. The Nov. 3 move extends that regulatory approach from a crypto-native asset to individual equities, where the CFTC and SEC have historically had separate but overlapping responsibilities.

Regulatory coordination had accelerated earlier in the year. The agencies signed a cooperation memorandum on March 11, creating a more formal basis for handling products that sit across commodities and securities regulation. The single-stock perpetual decision puts that coordination into a live market product rather than a policy discussion.

Offshore stock perpetuals have built substantial volume

The U.S. approval arrives after stock-linked perpetuals became a major product category on crypto-focused trading platforms outside the domestic regulated exchange system.

TokenInsight reported that the exchanges it tracked recorded approximately $2.1 trillion in stock and commodity perpetual volume during the third quarter of 2026. Stock perpetuals accounted for about $1.61 trillion of that figure, or 77%, while commodity perpetuals represented roughly $491 billion.

The research firm also said derivatives made up 83% of total trading volume at major crypto platforms during the quarter, up 10 percentage points from the prior quarter. Total exchange volume fell 27.5% quarter over quarter to about $12 trillion, according to TokenInsight, as spot trading declined 55% to $2 trillion and derivatives trading slipped 17% to $10 trillion. The changing mix shows that derivatives retained a larger share of activity even during a broad downturn in platform turnover.

The Block's trading data similarly put perpetual contracts at around 75% of total centralized crypto-exchange volume in 2025, with cumulative annual turnover near $49 trillion. Those figures help explain why traditional market operators are studying a contract type that has become the dominant form of trading on many crypto venues.

Several firms had already introduced stock-related perpetual products for non-U.S. users. Binance listed a Tesla-linked contract, TSLAUSDT, on Jan. 28 and later added contracts tied to Strategy, Amazon, Circle, Coinbase and Palantir. Coinbase began offering stock perpetuals to eligible non-U.S. users on March 20 with USDC settlement.

Kraken launched tokenized-stock perpetuals based on xStocks for eligible users in more than 110 countries and regions on Feb. 24, offering leverage of up to 20 times. Bitget and Ondo Finance also introduced or announced stock-perpetual offerings using USDT or other crypto-native settlement structures.

The U.S. model now emerging differs sharply on leverage. Kalshi's roughly 4.9-times cap sits well below the 20-times leverage offered in Kraken's non-U.S. product, limiting how large a position a trader can control relative to posted collateral. Lower leverage does not eliminate liquidation risk, especially in a contract designed to trade beyond regular stock-market hours, but it reduces the speed at which smaller price moves can exhaust margin.

Weekend pricing remains a market-structure challenge

A central practical question is how perpetuals linked to U.S. shares trade when the underlying equities market is shut. Offshore platforms have built continuous markets using external price feeds, tokenized-stock references, mark prices and funding rates.

Coinbase's model for non-U.S. stock perpetuals illustrates the challenge. During regular market hours, its reference system draws on sources including Pyth and Blue Ocean ATS. During weekends or market closures, it shifts to an internal index incorporating an exponential moving average of the perpetual contract's mark price alongside available tokenized-stock quotes. The platform also applies deviation limits and transition rules as external pricing feeds return.

That approach can maintain a tradable reference, but it cannot create the same depth of underlying cash-market price discovery available during U.S. equity hours. A regulated domestic product will need to address how pricing, margin and risk controls behave when news breaks while the underlying shares cannot trade on their primary exchanges.

Longer trading hours are approaching

U.S. market infrastructure is moving toward longer operating windows beyond perpetual futures. The SEC approved a Nasdaq rule change on April 10 that will allow 23-hour trading, five days a week, beginning Dec. 6. That schedule would narrow the gap between traditional equities markets and the nearly continuous availability expected on crypto platforms, though it would not create full weekend trading.

Intercontinental Exchange, parent of the New York Stock Exchange, also announced on Oct. 29 a partnership with Trade[XYZ] to develop a U.S. market structure based on Hyperliquid-style perpetuals. ICE said it plans to operate a regulated trading market and clearing arrangement, while Trade[XYZ] would provide market design and product technology. The proposed coverage spans stocks, indices, cryptoassets, commodities and foreign exchange, subject to regulatory approval.

The CFTC has scheduled a Dec. 15 roundtable on near-continuous derivatives trading, including tokenization, staffing, infrastructure, liquidity and operational readiness. With Kalshi's first four listings, the debate has shifted from whether a U.S.-regulated venue can offer single-stock perpetuals to how such markets should operate when trading extends beyond the timetable of the underlying shares.