Source published November 5, 2026, at 19:00 UTC+8. This article summarizes the reporting and analysis of Frank of MSX in PANews, reflecting the information and expectations presented at that time.
Stock perpetual futures are extending a familiar crypto trading mechanism into traditional assets. The development is not simply about putting shares on a blockchain: it is about offering continuous, leveraged exposure to stock prices without a contract expiration date.
According to the PANews article, CFTC Chairman Mike Selig announced on November 3, 2026, that single-stock perpetual contracts could begin trading on U.S. regulated exchanges under joint CFTC and SEC oversight. The article reported that Kalshi began offering contracts linked to Amgen (AMGN), McDonald’s (MCD), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Costco (COST) that day, with maximum leverage of approximately 4.9 times.
That represents an expansion of the perpetual-contract model into regulated securities derivatives. It does not, by itself, establish broader stock ownership, sustained user adoption or reliable round-the-clock liquidity.
What perpetual contracts change
Unlike conventional futures, perpetual contracts have no scheduled expiration. Traders can maintain long or short exposure without rolling into a replacement contract solely because the existing one expires.
A funding mechanism—periodic payments between long and short positions—helps keep the contract price near a reference price. Removing expiration does not remove holding costs: funding payments, margin requirements and liquidity conditions still matter.
The source contrasts this structure with several established alternatives:
- Margin trading and short selling, which depend on broker financing, stock availability, borrowing costs and regulatory requirements.
- Options, whose pricing, time decay and multiple strikes and expirations can complicate participation and fragment liquidity.
- Dated futures, which require periodic rolls to maintain exposure and introduce rollover costs and basis risk.
A stock perpetual also need not represent ownership of the underlying shares. The article distinguishes synthetic contracts referencing stock prices from systems built around tokenized securities, including arrangements that use those securities as collateral. These are different product structures, not interchangeable forms of stock ownership.
The growth metric: trading volume, not people
The strongest adoption evidence in the source concerns trading activity rather than user numbers.
Citing The Block, the article says perpetual contracts accounted for approximately 75% of centralized crypto-exchange trading volume in 2025, with nearly $49 trillion traded over the year.
For the third quarter of 2026, it cites TokenInsight figures showing:
| Metric | Reported result |
|---|---|
| Total volume across the tracked exchange sample | Approximately $12 trillion, down 27.5% quarter over quarter |
| Spot volume | Approximately $2 trillion, down 55% |
| Derivatives volume | Approximately $10 trillion, down 17% |
| Derivatives share of total volume | 83%, up 10 percentage points from the preceding quarter |
Total volume had declined for three consecutive quarters in that sample. The rising derivatives share therefore did not mean derivatives trading was growing in absolute terms: it fell less sharply than spot trading. The 83% figure also covers derivatives generally, not perpetuals alone.
Separately, across nine exchanges, TokenInsight reported approximately $2.1 trillion in combined stock and commodity perpetual volume during the quarter. Stock perpetuals contributed about $1.61 trillion, or 77%, while commodity perpetuals contributed approximately $491 billion.
These figures show substantial trading activity in traditional-asset derivatives on crypto platforms. They do not establish how many distinct people traded, how much activity came from repeat participants, or whether users stayed after their initial participation. The source provides no user-count or retention series, nor a prior-quarter comparison for that $2.1 trillion total.
Product expansion preceded the U.S. regulatory milestone
The article describes a sequence of launches rather than a market created by one regulatory announcement.
MSX, the author’s affiliated platform, began public testing of tokenized U.S. stock perpetuals on August 11, 2025. Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 mechanism followed in October 2025, opening perpetual-market creation to third-party developers and extending the range of reference assets beyond cryptocurrencies.
The reported expansion continued in 2026:
- Binance launched TSLAUSDT on January 28, followed by contracts referencing MSTR, AMZN, CRCL, COIN and PLTR on February 9, using USDT margin and settlement with 24/7 trading.
- Ondo Finance announced Ondo Perps on February 3 and launched the platform in July, targeting stocks, ETFs and commodities while exploring tokenized securities as collateral.
- Kraken introduced xStocks-based perpetuals on February 24 for eligible non-U.S. users in more than 110 countries and territories, with leverage of up to 20 times.
- Coinbase launched stock perpetuals on March 20 for eligible non-U.S. users, using USDC settlement.
- Bitget also offered USDT-settled stock and ETF perpetuals with near-continuous trading.
The source argues that existing derivatives engines, stablecoin settlement systems and margin infrastructure make traditional assets a logical expansion area for crypto platforms. But the timing alone does not prove that falling crypto volume caused these launches.
Regulatory access and infrastructure remain separate hurdles
According to the article, the SEC and CFTC signed a cooperation memorandum on March 11, 2026. It also reports that the CFTC approved KalshiEX’s BTCPERP contract on May 29.
For single-stock perpetuals, the November announcement described the products as securities futures under the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, subject to both the Commodity Exchange Act and federal securities laws. Venues would need CFTC designated contract market status and the relevant SEC notice registration to trade securities futures.
Traditional exchange operators were also exploring the model. The source reports that ICE, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, announced a partnership with Trade[XYZ] on October 29 to develop U.S. perpetual markets using Hyperliquid-based infrastructure. ICE would operate the regulated market and clearing arrangements and make a strategic investment in Trade[XYZ], which would provide market-design and product technology.
That proposed business still required regulatory approval. It was not described as an already operating U.S. market.
Weekend prices offer signals, not official stock valuations
Continuous trading allows stock perpetuals to respond to news while the underlying cash market is closed. But the resulting prices remain venue-specific derivatives quotes—not official Nasdaq or NYSE stock prices.
The article describes Coinbase’s approach as using external sources including Pyth and Blue Ocean ATS during regular trading periods. During weekends and some market closures, it uses an internal index incorporating an exponential moving average of perpetual mark prices and available tokenized-stock quotes, alongside price-deviation controls and transition mechanisms.
Funding payments and cross-platform trading can encourage price convergence. Neither guarantees accuracy, especially when the underlying stock market is unavailable for continuous hedging.
The relevant risks include thin liquidity, stale reference prices, funding costs, margin requirements and a gap when the stock market reopens. Differences in contract specifications and settlement mechanisms can also prevent apparently similar products from being directly comparable.
Weekend prices may therefore reveal changing expectations without reliably predicting Monday’s opening price.
What the evidence supports
At the source’s publication date, several developments remained prospective. It reported that Nasdaq’s approved move to 23-hour trading, five days a week, was expected to begin on December 6, 2026. It also cited a September 17 conditional SEC exemption for certain tokenized-securities venues and a CFTC roundtable scheduled for December 15 on round-the-clock derivatives trading.
Together, the reported launches, volume figures and regulatory initiatives point toward convergence between crypto trading infrastructure and traditional financial assets. They do not yet demonstrate universal 24/7 stock-market access or durable adoption by a growing population of users.
The clearest conclusion is narrower: crypto-style derivatives are finding additional assets and distribution channels. Whether that becomes lasting adoption depends on evidence beyond turnover—particularly participation, retention and liquidity through periods when the underlying markets are closed.
