CFTC clears stock perpetual futures, a crypto staple, for US trading

The US futures regulator said on November 3 that perpetual futures on individual stocks can trade on American exchanges for the first time. The move pulls a trading tool born in crypto markets into regulated US finance.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig announced it in a written statement. He said the contracts, which he called 'Equity Perps,' can begin trading for the first time on CFTC-registered exchanges. His statement is dated November 3, 2026 and carries release number 9319-26.

What the CFTC actually did

The CFTC did not launch a product. It cleared a legal path. The agency said perpetual futures on single stocks were deemed approved under Commission Regulation 40.3, treated as security futures products under the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. That law, passed 26 years ago, set up joint oversight by the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Only certain venues can list the contracts. A platform must be a CFTC-designated contract market and also hold SEC notice registration as a national securities exchange for security futures. Selig framed the step as a way to keep US traders onshore. American investors should not be 'forced to turn to offshore, and often unregulated, venues,' he wrote, adding that they should reach these products 'within the protections of the CFTC's proven regulatory framework.'

Timing turns on a thaw between two agencies that spent years at odds. Selig pointed to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, who had described such products as stranded in a regulatory 'no man's land' because the two regulators never harmonized their rules. The CFTC and SEC signed a memorandum of understanding on March 11 to coordinate, and Selig said the agencies had 'turned the page on that era.'

What the statement left out matters as much as what it said. The CFTC named no exchange. It listed no contracts. It set no launch date. Those details are expected to come from the exchanges themselves.

What a perpetual future is, and why it started in crypto

A perpetual future is a derivative with no expiry date. A regular stock future is a bet with a deadline. A perpetual has none. To keep the contract price close to the underlying asset, long and short traders pay each other a recurring fee called the funding rate. When the crowd leans long, longs pay shorts, and the reverse when it leans short. Traders watch the funding rate and open interest to read where the money is leaning.

This structure did not come from Wall Street. It grew up in crypto. For years, perpetual swaps have been the busiest product on crypto derivatives venues, most of them outside US jurisdiction. Selig described the equity version as an extension of a decision the CFTC made in the spring, moving 'beyond digital commodities and into traditional securities.'

That spring decision is the direct precedent. On May 29, the CFTC approved Kalshi's BTCPERP, the first bitcoin perpetual listed on a US-regulated exchange, and Kalshi went live soon after. The same day, CFTC staff let Coinbase Financial Markets route US clients into offshore perpetual and options liquidity. Kalshi added gold and silver perpetuals in September. Equity perps are the next rung on that ladder.

Industry momentum is building too. On October 29, Intercontinental Exchange, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, and Trade[XYZ] announced plans for a US market tied to Hyperliquid-based perpetuals, pending approvals. Offshore perpetual venues have drawn heavy volume for years. US firms want a regulated slice of it.

Who is pushing back

Not everyone agrees these contracts belong under the CFTC. The dispute predates the equity decision. In June, CME Group sued the CFTC over the Kalshi approval. Its argument is that a contract built on funding payments is a swap under the Dodd-Frank Act, not a future, which would change who regulates it. That case is still pending.

Others object on consumer grounds. On October 14, the Cboe exchange wrote to oppose the classification. On November 2, the nonprofit Better Markets raised concerns about the borrowed exposure these contracts allow and about what ownership rights a perpetual holder really has. Benjamin Schiffrin, the group's director of securities policy, questioned whether retail traders grasp the risk.

Exchange filings give a sense of that risk. Kalshi's proposal sets a minimum margin of 15.50 percent of a position's market value, which works out to roughly 6.45 times exposure, and limits underlying stocks to those above a $100 billion market cap with $450 million in average daily trading value over six months. Coinbase Derivatives filed for cash-settled contracts on more than 50 single stocks and ETF shares at a 15 percent floor. Bitnomial proposed a 15.25 percent floor for unhedged positions. One more catch sits in the paperwork. Under Bitnomial's filing, the SEC could abrogate the rule change within 60 days.

What to watch

For now, the legal door is open and the market is not. The next real signal will be an exchange naming a launch date and a first list of eligible stocks. Watch whether the CME lawsuit forces a rethink of how these contracts are classified. Watch whether the SEC uses its 60-day window. Watch the margin terms, because that is where retail risk sits.

This fits a wider pattern. Crypto built perpetual swaps, funding rates and round-the-clock trading offshore, and US regulators are now importing those mechanics into mainstream finance. In the same week, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation put a tokenized securities service live with 20 Wall Street firms. The plumbing is converging. Whether the rulebook keeps up is the open question.