What Is Coinbase Trying to Launch?
Coinbase is seeking regulatory approval to bring perpetual futures tied to individual U.S. stocks to American traders, extending a derivatives structure built in crypto into companies including Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Nvidia.
Coinbase Derivatives filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday for approval to list single-stock perpetual futures. The proposed contracts would give U.S. customers 24/5 exposure to individual equities without requiring them to own the underlying shares.
Unlike traditional futures, the contracts would not have a fixed expiration date. Traders could maintain long or short exposure while periodic funding payments help keep the perpetual contract aligned with the price of the underlying stock.
The proposed products are classified as single-stock futures and remain subject to regulatory approval. An initial lineup is expected to cover roughly 50 to 60 stocks, including some of the largest and most actively traded U.S. technology companies.
For Coinbase, the filing extends a strategy already underway outside the United States. The company launched stock perpetual futures for eligible international traders in March, including contracts linked to Apple and Nvidia, while excluding U.S. persons.
Why Did Coinbase Also Register With the SEC?
Single-stock futures sit at the intersection of securities and derivatives regulation, making Coinbase’s regulatory structure more complicated than its existing crypto perpetual business.
Coinbase Derivatives filed a Form 1-N with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 1 to register as a national securities exchange specifically for security futures products. That step provides the securities-market framework needed for products whose value is directly tied to individual public companies.
The CFTC filing then addresses the derivatives side of the proposed market. Together, the filings show that Coinbase is not trying to treat stock perpetuals simply as another crypto-style contract. It is pursuing the regulatory structure already established for security futures while adapting it to a perpetual format.
That distinction matters because traders would receive economic exposure to a company’s share price without becoming shareholders. The perpetual contracts would not provide ownership of Apple, Tesla or Nvidia shares, separating them from tokenized stocks backed by actual securities.
Investor Takeaway
Coinbase’s proposal would give U.S. traders another route to stock exposure outside normal exchange hours, but the product is a derivative rather than an equity investment. Traders could gain leveraged price exposure without receiving the ownership rights that come with holding the underlying shares.
Why Does 24/5 Trading Matter for U.S. Stocks?
The biggest change would be trading hours. U.S. equity markets still operate around defined sessions, while perpetual futures could remain available through most of the week.
That would allow traders to respond to corporate announcements, economic data and global market moves when the underlying stock is outside its normal session. A Tesla perpetual, for example, could move overnight before Nasdaq trading resumes, potentially creating an early reference for where the shares may open.
Crypto markets have already made that type of continuous derivatives trading familiar to retail traders. Perpetual futures have become one of the industry’s largest product categories because they combine leverage, short exposure and contracts that do not need to be rolled at expiration.
Coinbase is now testing whether those mechanics can attract similar demand when attached to familiar equities rather than cryptocurrencies.
Is a U.S. Stock Perpetual Race Starting?
Coinbase is not alone. Kalshi is also pursuing approval for roughly 60 perpetual futures linked to individual stocks and ETFs, including Tesla, Apple and Nvidia.
The timing puts two regulated U.S. trading businesses on parallel paths toward a product category that has largely developed offshore and in crypto markets. If regulators approve both proposals, competition could quickly move from obtaining permission to securing liquidity, market makers and retail trading volume.
Coinbase may have an advantage in familiarity with perpetual futures. It already operates regulated U.S. derivatives products and offers perpetual markets internationally, while its acquisition of Deribit expanded its derivatives infrastructure and customer base.
The larger question is whether stock perpetuals can become a meaningful market alongside shares and options. If they attract substantial volume, investors could eventually have three different venues expressing expectations about the same company: the underlying stock market, options markets and a nearly continuous perpetual futures market.
That would bring crypto-style trading mechanics deeper into traditional finance. Coinbase’s filing is therefore not simply another product application. It is another attempt to make perpetual exposure a standard part of how U.S. traders speculate on assets far beyond crypto.
