Overview
- The CFTC announced on Nov. 3 that perpetual futures tied to individual U.S. stocks, branded “Equity Perps,” are deemed approved under Regulation 40.3 as security futures and may list on exchanges that hold both CFTC designated contract market status and SEC notice‑registration.
- Perpetuals carry no expiration and use periodic funding payments between longs and shorts to keep prices near the underlying stock, and exchanges’ September filings propose customer margin floors around 15–15.5 percent, implying a leverage ceiling near roughly 6.7x.
- Kalshi, Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial have filed detailed rule notices that set proposed margin levels, funding formulas and extended trading windows, but no venue has published a listing notice, specific contracts or launch dates.
- The Capital Markets Alliance filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on Nov. 3 challenging the approval and the CME Group’s earlier suit over crypto perps remains pending, so court rulings could delay or block rollouts.
- Regulators frame the move as an effort to onshore activity from unregulated offshore venues and to apply margin, clearing and surveillance rules, but watchdogs and industry groups warn about investor risks from leverage, thin overnight trading and cross‑market surveillance gaps.