CFTC Clears First Regulated Equity Perpetual Futures for U.S. Trading

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced on Tuesday that it had approved equity perpetual futures contracts for trading in the U.S. for the first time. The product, born on offshore crypto exchanges, is now moving onshore with a regulator's blessing — and Kalshi says it will launch within days.

The decision required two agencies, not one. Futures markets fall under joint regulation through the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, so the CFTC coordinated the initiative with the Securities and Exchange Commission before giving the green light.

What changed on Tuesday?

Equity perpetual futures — contracts that track stocks but never expire — can now trade on regulated U.S. venues. That's a first. It also builds directly on an earlier framework: this year, Kalshi and Coinbase (COIN) received permission to launch the first cryptocurrency-linked perpetual contracts in the U.S. The new order extends that permission to equities, a much broader asset class.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig framed the move as fixing a long-standing gap between the two regulators. "For too long, regulatory uncertainty left innovative products, such as security futures and equity perpetual futures, stranded in what SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins has aptly described as a regulatory 'no man's land' due to a lack of harmonization between the agencies," Selig said in a statement published Tuesday.

The takeaway: the CFTC and SEC found enough common ground to bring a crypto-native instrument into the regulated U.S. equities stack.

How do perpetual futures actually work?

Unlike traditional futures contracts, perpetual futures never expire. A system of funding rates anchors their prices to the underlying asset, and traders hold positions as long as they can meet margin requirements.

Economists envisioned the structure decades ago, but it first launched at scale on offshore crypto-native platforms, where it built a large user base of traders. Perpetual contracts tied to a number of cryptocurrencies and real-world assets currently trade outside the U.S. on centralized exchanges like Binance and on decentralized platforms like Hyperliquid.

The leverage gap is the striking number: perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid offer up to 50 times leverage, well above the maximum levels allowed in U.S. markets. That gap explains much of the product's offshore popularity — and why incumbents are watching the U.S. rollout closely.

Who's moving first?

Kalshi. A company representative told MarketWatch that Kalshi is planning to launch equity perpetual futures in the coming days.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, is moving too. Last week, ICE announced a strategic investment in Trade[XYZ], a leading deployer of perpetual contracts on the Hyperliquid blockchain. The two companies plan to jointly launch a regulated U.S. venue for trading equity perpetual futures.

Who's pushing back?

Not every incumbent has embraced the product. CME Group (CME) recently sued the CFTC over the commission's decision to greenlight bitcoin (BTCUSD) perpetuals on Kalshi and Coinbase. The suit signals that the legal fight over perpetuals in the U.S. isn't over just because the CFTC has expanded their scope.

MarketWatch said the CFTC, Intercontinental Exchange and CME Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The immediate test comes fast: if Kalshi launches in the coming days as planned, the first regulated U.S. equity perpetuals will trade while CME's lawsuit against their crypto-linked predecessors is still working through the courts — and how much leverage U.S. rules permit will shape whether onshore volumes can rival what Hyperliquid and Binance have built offshore.