CFTC clears first equity perpetual futures to trade on US exchanges

Perpetual futures contracts tied to individual US equities can begin trading on CFTC-registered exchanges for the first time, according to an announcement by CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig on November 3, 2026. The move brings a popular derivatives structure historically confined to offshore markets into the domestic regulated financial system.^[2][3][4]

The equity perpetual contracts were deemed approved under Commission Regulation 40.3 as security futures products pursuant to the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Because of their classification as security futures, the contracts will operate under the joint oversight of both the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, following a memorandum of understanding struck by the two agencies earlier in the year.^[1][3]

The contracts are cash-settled with no expiration date and utilize funding rates to track the price of individual equities or ETFs. Selig noted that onshoring perpetual contracts gives American market participants access to these risk-management and price-discovery instruments under federal regulatory protections rather than pushing them toward offshore and often unregulated platforms.^[1][3]

The decision builds on the CFTC's earlier approval of bitcoin perpetual futures, expanding the instrument beyond digital commodities into traditional securities. Several platforms, including Coinbase Derivatives, Kalshi, and Bitnomial, had previously submitted filings to list single-stock perpetual futures.^[1][3]