Key Takeaways
Coinbase filed with the CFTC on September 18 to list single-stock perpetual futures, contracts that track individual US stocks and never expire.
The first batch would cover roughly 50 to 60 companies, including Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Tesla, trading 24 hours a day, five days a week.
Coinbase, Kraken, and Kalshi are racing to bring stock perpetuals, long popular in crypto, into regulated US markets.
Coinbase asked federal regulators on Friday for permission to bring one of crypto's most popular trading tools to the US stock market. Coinbase Derivatives filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to list single-stock perpetual futures, contracts that give traders exposure to individual American companies without owning the shares and that never expire, according to filings reported by Cointelegraph and The Wall Street Journal.
The first products would track roughly 50 to 60 stocks, including Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Tesla, and would trade 24 hours a day, five days a week. Perpetual futures have no settlement date, so a position can stay open indefinitely as long as the trader meets margin. That structure has driven enormous volume in crypto markets, and Coinbase now wants to run the same playbook on equities.
The filing builds on steps Coinbase has already taken. It launched stock perpetuals for eligible traders outside the US in March, and on September 1 it filed a Form 1-N with the SEC to register Coinbase Derivatives as a national securities exchange. The contracts still need CFTC approval before they can go live.
Coinbase is not alone. Kraken and Kalshi are pursuing their own versions, part of a wider push to fold stock trading onto crypto-native rails. That mirrors the tokenized-stock contest WYDE has tracked, from the Nasdaq and Kraken tokenized-stock buildout to the dispute over synthetic versus real shares. The line between a stock exchange and a crypto exchange keeps getting thinner. Worth watching.
People Also Ask
What are single-stock perpetual futures? They are contracts that track the price of one company's stock, let traders use leverage, and never expire, unlike traditional futures that settle on a set date.
Which stocks would Coinbase offer first? Roughly 50 to 60 US companies, including Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Tesla, with round-the-clock weekday trading.
Is Coinbase approved to offer stock perpetuals in the US? Not yet. The September 18 CFTC filing is a request, and the contracts remain pending regulatory approval.
Do you own the stock with a perpetual future? No. A perpetual future gives price exposure and leverage without ownership of the underlying shares.