Coinbase Seeks Approval for Single-Stock Perpetual Futures

Coinbase Financial Markets has submitted a filing to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to list single-stock perpetual futures, initially tied to Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia. The products remain in the regulatory process and are not yet available for trading.

The CFTC's product-certification process under Part 40 is a key distinction, as Coinbase has filed the products but not simply switched them on. Perpetual futures offer futures-style leverage without a fixed expiry date and have become popular on offshore exchanges for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and altcoins.

The same model applied to individual stocks creates something much closer to continuously traded synthetic equity exposure, allowing traders to take leveraged long or short positions without owning the underlying shares. Regulators raise questions around settlement, margin, market integrity, and the relationship between derivatives pricing and the U.S. equity market.