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 ...