Coinbase seeks CFTC green light for perpetual futures on individual US stocks
The exchange's derivatives arm filed with the commodities regulator to offer never-expiring futures on single equities, with an initial lineup of roughly 50 to 60 names reportedly planned.
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Coinbase has asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for permission to list perpetual futures on individual US stocks, a derivatives format that until now has been a fixture of crypto trading rather than American equity markets.
The application, lodged Friday by Coinbase Derivatives, covers contracts that would give US traders around-the-clock exposure to single equities five days a week without purchasing the shares themselves. Unlike conventional futures, perpetual futures carry no expiry date, allowing positions to be held indefinitely. Regulators treat the proposed instruments as single-stock futures, and they cannot trade until the CFTC signs off.
Coinbase said the filings would extend its existing US perpetual futures business by applying the same contract structure to individual equities.
According to Cointelegraph, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the initial roster would span approximately 50 to 60 companies, among them Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Nvidia.
A two-regulator pathway
The CFTC submission is the second regulatory move Coinbase Derivatives has made in recent weeks. On Sept. 1, the unit filed a Form 1-N with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register as a national securities exchange, a step aimed at offering security futures — a category that overlaps with the products now before the CFTC.
The company is not starting from scratch on the product itself. Coinbase has offered perpetual futures on stocks to eligible customers outside the United States since March, with contracts tracking prominent US companies and index products such as Apple and Nvidia. When those international contracts launched, the firm noted they were off-limits to US persons and that it intended to broaden availability to further markets over time.
If approved, the US products would mark the first time the never-expiring contract format, standard in offshore crypto venues, is applied to individual American equities for domestic traders. Approval timing remains uncertain, and Coinbase has not said when trading would begin should the CFTC clear the contracts.
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