Robinhood Unveils Perpetual Futures for US Users, Expanding Crypto Derivatives

Retail trading platform Robinhood is expanding its offerings in the US market by introducing perpetual futures for eligible users. This move aims to provide round-the-clock access to crypto derivatives and select US equities, targeting the underdeveloped US crypto derivatives market.

The company will offer perpetual futures for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, ADA, LINK, and HYPE with up to 10x leverage for BTC and ETH, and 3x leverage for others. Trades on Robinhood's perpetual futures will have a 0.01% fee per trade through year-end 2024.

The product rollout is expected to support Bitstamp as the back-end exchange. CEO Vlad Tenev describes this launch as 'America's first true perpetuals' with no expiry and profit-and-loss settlement every 15 minutes.

This move comes as crypto firms explore how perpetual futures can be offered in US markets, an area that remains relatively underdeveloped compared to offshore venues. Robinhood's expansion of weekend trading for a curated list of US stocks and ETFs is another step towards near-continuous market access.