Coinbase Derivatives has asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to approve a family of cash-settled “Equity Perpetual Contracts” — perpetual futures tied to individual U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded fund shares — in a September 18 filing that would bring round-the-clock equity derivatives to U.S. markets. The submission, filed with the CFTC under Coinbase Derivatives Submission #2026-62, uses an Apple (AAPL) single-stock perpetual future as the representative contract and seeks to list the products shortly after Commission approval, pending any additional regulatory clearances.
What the Filing Proposes
The request, made under CFTC Regulation 41.23(b), covers cash-settled perpetual futures that each reference a single underlying equity security or ETF share. The AAPL Single Stock Perpetual Future, sized at 0.01 times the AAPL index, serves as the representative specification in Appendix B of the submission, with the corresponding contracts — including those referencing ETF shares — identical in structure and differing only by underlier. Listing would be limited to the most actively traded, liquid U.S.-listed equities and ETF shares under the exchanges Rule 1203 standards, and the contracts would be centrally cleared by Nodal Clear, LLC.
Security Futures Under Joint Oversight
Coinbase Derivatives, LLC is a designated contract market and is notice-registered as a national securities exchange with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the purpose of trading security futures products. The perpetuals would therefore sit under the joint jurisdiction of the CFTC and the SEC, and the filing certifies compliance with CFTC Regulations 41.21 through 41.48, covering suitability requirements, dual-trading restrictions, and manipulation safeguards. The CFTCs filing page lists the product as “Single Stock Perpetual Futures” with a status of “Approval Pending (45),” a 45-day review window.
The Onshore Push Behind the Request
The filing extends a product Coinbase already offers to eligible non-U.S. users. In September, the company filed notice registrations with the SEC for its derivatives exchange and broker as an earlier step toward onshore single-stock perpetuals, a move that left the final regulatory route unresolved. Coinbase has also broadened its U.S. derivatives lineup with WTI and Brent oil perpetual futures, which began trading in August. The equity perpetual request is the clearest sign yet that Coinbase intends to compete for 24/7 U.S. equity trading.
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