Overview
- On Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026 the CFTC announced that perpetual futures tied to individual stocks can be deemed security futures and may begin trading on exchanges that hold CFTC designation and have filed SEC notice-registration.
- The move classifies the contracts under existing law from the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and a CFTC–SEC memorandum of understanding, placing them inside a joint CFTC and SEC framework rather than on offshore venues.
- Exchange rule filings from Kalshi, Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial outline proposed terms such as customer margin floors near 15–15.5 percent, trading windows that extend into evenings, and funding-payment mechanics to keep prices close to the underlying stock.
- The decision faces active pushback that could change rollout or terms, including a pending CME lawsuit arguing funding-based perps are swaps not futures and objections from Cboe, SIFMA and Better Markets about leverage, overnight liquidity and market integrity.
- Practical launch still depends on individual venue notices, SEC review or abrogation, and how regulators and courts resolve classification and surveillance issues, while U.S. traders would gain regulated access with capped single-digit leverage and no ownership rights in the underlying shares.