CFTC Says US-Regulated Exchanges Can Begin Trading Individual-Stock Perpetual Futures

TL;DR: CFTC chairman Michael Selig said on November 3 that individual-equity perpetual futures can begin trading on appropriately registered US exchanges. The contracts fall within a joint CFTC-SEC regulatory framework, highlighting the effort to bring perpetual-style trading into supervised domestic markets.

Perpetual futures have long been central to crypto derivatives trading, particularly on venues outside the United States. US regulators are now extending the structure into individual equities through a tightly defined securities-futures framework.

In a November 3 statement, Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman Michael Selig said individual-equity perpetual futures can begin trading on CFTC-registered exchanges that also meet the relevant SEC registration requirements. The announcement follows earlier approval of a Bitcoin perpetual futures product on a regulated US venue.

What makes an equity perpetual different

A traditional futures contract expires or settles on a specified date. A perpetual contract is designed to maintain exposure without a conventional expiration, using contract-specific mechanisms to keep its price related to the underlying asset. That feature has made perpetual products popular in crypto, where traders often want continuous leveraged exposure.

Moving the structure to individual shares introduces other questions. Stocks have corporate actions, shareholder rights, trading halts and different market hours. The product traded is a derivative, not the underlying share itself, so customers need to understand what they own and how price adjustments are handled.

The CFTC says the products have been deemed approved under an existing Commission regulation as security-futures products and are subject to both commodities and federal securities-law requirements. That dual oversight is a material difference from the unregulated or lightly regulated offshore venues often associated with perpetual contracts.

Why the agencies are coordinating

US securities and derivatives regulators have historically had overlapping interests where instruments sit between their traditional categories. Selig framed the step as part of a coordinated approach with the SEC, pointing to an interagency memorandum of understanding signed earlier in 2026.

The policy argument is that traders may obtain a clearer set of safeguards when activity takes place on regulated domestic exchanges. That does not mean regulation makes leveraged positions safe. Margin calls, volatile prices, thin liquidity and market disruptions can still produce large losses, particularly when a derivative offers continuous exposure.

There is also a competition question. Crypto-native traders have become accustomed to perpetual markets with continuous access and different settlement mechanics. US venues will have to demonstrate that their products are useful without losing clarity on customer protections. This echoes the challenges discussed in NewsBTC’s coverage of proposed tokenized securities infrastructure.

What traders need to inspect

The decisive details will be contract specifications, margin arrangements, eligible customers, clearing, reference prices and how corporate events affect payouts. The phrase ‘can begin trading’ establishes a regulatory opening; it should not be read as confirmation that every broker already offers every contemplated contract.

The development is significant for the convergence of crypto market structures and traditional finance. Rather than securities markets adopting blockchain itself, they are adopting a derivative format popularised by digital-asset trading. The test now is whether that format works responsibly under domestic exchange rules.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.