Overview
- Multiple firms — Coinbase, Kalshi and Payward/Bitnomial — submitted filings to list single‑stock perpetual futures and the CFTC shows those proposals as approval pending after filings dated September 18.
- The proposed contracts would never expire, trade roughly 24 hours a day on weekdays, be cash‑settled, use periodic funding payments to track spot prices and would not give traders shareholder rights such as dividends or voting.
- Kalshi’s filings provide the most detailed design so far by proposing roughly 23–24 hour weekday sessions, a 15.50% minimum customer margin and clearance through its Kalshi Klear clearinghouse.
- A separate legal risk comes from CME’s lawsuit challenging the CFTC’s earlier bitcoin‑perpetual approval, which is in active litigation and could influence how regulators treat equity‑linked perpetuals.
- If approved the contracts would give U.S. traders nearly round‑the‑clock leveraged exposure to stocks but also raise questions about margin, surveillance, reference‑price construction and coordination with primary equity venues before any trading can begin.