CFTC opens regulated US markets to equity perpetual futures

Perpetual futures reach US equities

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael S. Selig announced on November 3, 2026 that perpetual futures on individual equity securities may begin trading for the first time on regulated US markets. The release does not cover every platform or every stock. It applies to CFTC-registered designated contract markets that also hold the status required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to trade security futures products.

The CFTC says the contracts were deemed approved under Commission Regulation 40.3 as security futures products. They are therefore subject to the Commodity Exchange Act, US federal securities laws and both agencies’ supervisory frameworks. The announcement creates a regulatory path; it does not exempt operators or products from the requirements governing listing, distribution and customer protection.

A crypto-popularized instrument changes its underlying asset

A perpetual future provides economic exposure without a fixed expiry date, unlike a conventional futures contract. It does not automatically confer ownership of the referenced share. Its margin, funding, liquidation and price-determination mechanisms depend on the contract and venue rules. Access to a regulated product therefore does not eliminate the risks associated with leverage or rapid moves in the underlying asset.

Michael S. Selig links this step to the May 29, 2026 approval of the first true bitcoin perpetual futures contract on a CFTC-regulated exchange. The new framework now extends the instrument beyond digital commodities and into traditional securities. It does not, however, change the legal classification of bitcoin or equities: it applies the security-futures regime to perpetual contracts based on shares.

A targeted opening under joint oversight

The scope is narrower than a general authorization. Eligible venues must be registered with the CFTC as designated contract markets and with the SEC as notice-registered national securities exchanges for security futures products. The November 3 statement provides neither an exhaustive list of available contracts, trading volumes nor an operator-by-operator timetable. Saying that the products may begin trading therefore does not prove that all of them are already available to investors.

The CFTC chairman presents the opening as a way to bring activity often offered by offshore platforms into the United States while retaining the protections of the US regulatory framework. That institutional assessment is not a guarantee of liquidity or commercial success. The next verifiable developments will be product filings, margin terms, authorized intermediaries and launch notices from the relevant markets. The established fact on November 3 is the existence of a joint regulatory path for equity perpetual futures.