Robinhood to offer US crypto perpetual futures with 10x leverage

Robinhood will let eligible US customers trade crypto perpetual futures with up to 10x leverage, a product long limited to offshore exchanges. It announced the plan on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, at its HOOD Summit in Houston.

The details came from Robinhood's own newsroom and were confirmed by crypto news outlets that covered the event. Chief Executive Vlad Tenev cast the plan as a bid to win active traders. "We're making Robinhood the best place in the world for active traders by delivering tools once reserved for hedge funds, big banks, and quant firms," he said.

What Robinhood is offering

Eligible US customers will be able to go long or short on eight tokens inside the Robinhood app: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), the token that powers the Ethereum network, plus Solana (SOL), XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK) and Hyperliquid (HYPE). Bitcoin and Ether perpetuals carry up to 10x leverage. The rest cap at 3x.

Perpetual futures have no expiry date, which sets them apart from standard futures. They track the spot price through funding payments swapped between buyers and sellers. Robinhood Derivatives, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, will offer the contracts through Bitstamp, the exchange Robinhood bought in June 2025. The fee is one basis point per trade, or 0.01 percent, through the end of the year. On a $10,000 position, that is a dollar. Cheap, for now.

Perps come to US retail

Perps have lived offshore. Exchanges such as Binance and Bybit turned them into the main way crypto traders bet with borrowed money, and US retail was largely shut out. That is the gap Robinhood says it wants to close.

The timing matters for a market that has run hot. The announcement lands as Bitcoin heads for a third straight monthly gain, with big institutions still buying. Robinhood wants a slice of the trading that has come with it.

Leverage has a clear appeal. It lets a trader hold a big position with a small stake. It cuts both ways. At 10x, a 10 percent move against a position can erase it, and crypto can swing that much in a single day.

What is still unsettled

Robinhood did not give a launch date. It said only that the product will reach eligible US customers in the coming months. Some reports suggested parts of the rollout began on the day of the summit. Others called it planned. The company has not cleared that up.

Perps were one of several launches. Robinhood also showed AI trading agents that can place trades within limits a user sets, with manual approval on by default. It teased weekend stock trading, which it said needs regulatory review, plus binary earnings contracts offered through Cboe. "Breaking news doesn't wait for an opening bell," said Steve Quirk, the company's Chief Brokerage Officer. The stock barely moved. Robinhood shares closed at $116.22 on 29 September, down about 0.2 percent, according to Blockhead.

What to watch

Execution is the real test now. Watch for a firm launch date, the states where the product goes live first, and the leverage limits Robinhood actually ships, which can differ from what a launch event promises. Watch too how US regulators treat retail perps, a product they have kept at arm's length for years. Robinhood has set the marker. Now it has to deliver.