Coinbase Files to List Single Stock Perpetual Futures

Steady attention without excessive speculation.

Coinbase posted the news on X at 13:03 GMT. According to the company, it wants to bring liquid, 24/5 exposure to individual US stocks for the first time. So this is a filing to list, not a launch.

What Coinbase Actually Filed

Coinbase Derivatives, LLC is the listing venue. It is a CFTC-registered Designated Contract Market. In short, it is a regulated US futures exchange.

The company’s markets account added detail 30 seconds later. According to Coinbase Markets, the firm filed to list “50+ single stock perps for the biggest names in the US market.” The listed features are around-the-clock exposure, no expirations, and a regulated US venue.

Notably, the official wording is 24/5, not 24/7. That matches the stock-market calendar, which closes on weekends. By comparison, Coinbase runs its US crypto perps 24/7.

A perpetual future tracks a price with no expiry date. As a result, traders can hold long or short as long as they post margin. Instead of a roll at expiry, a funding rate keeps the contract near the underlying price.

Why Two Regulators Matter

This filing sits on a two-agency path. It is not a CFTC-only crypto self-certification. So both the SEC and the CFTC are involved.

Coinbase first filed SEC Form 1-N on 1 September 2026. That notice, File 10-252, registers Coinbase Derivatives as a securities exchange solely to trade security futures. The Federal Register acknowledged receipt on 8 September. Coinbase also filed Form BD-N for its broker-dealer the same day.

Then comes the CFTC. Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad flagged the sequence on 3 September. According to Reuters, he said the next step is product approval with the CFTC.

For now, that approval is still pending. The Wall Street Journal card that Coinbase linked also says launch is later this year, pending regulatory approval. So the single stock perpetual futures product remains a proposal.

Which Stocks and What Terms

Coinbase has not published an official contract list. Instead, the named tickers come from reporting. According to the Wall Street Journal, the plan covers roughly 50 to 60 large caps. It names Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, and Nvidia as examples.

Coinbase already runs a template offshore. On 20 March 2026, Coinbase International launched Mag7 stock perps for non-US users. Those offer up to 10x leverage and settle in USDC. Even so, that offshore list is not the certified US schedule.

Many key terms remain unknown. Coinbase has not published the leverage cap, the margin rules, the funding interval, or the settlement asset. It also has not set a launch date. So traders cannot yet size the product against options or offshore perps.

Why Single Stock Perps Are Harder Than Bitcoin Perps

A perp on Bitcoin can sit inside the CFTC’s commodity-futures box. A perp on Apple cannot. Because Apple is a security, the derivative touches securities law.

This is the old Shad-Johnson problem. That 1982 accord banned US single-stock futures for nearly two decades. Neither agency would accept the other’s margin and suitability rules.

The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 then lifted the ban. It created “security futures” under joint SEC-CFTC oversight. OneChicago launched single-stock futures in 2002. However, they never reached mass retail because of dual regulation and high margins.

The CME Lawsuit Hangs Over the Filing

A live legal fight sits in the background. On 18 June 2026, CME Group sued the CFTC over its approval of Kalshi’s crypto perpetual contract. CME argues that a no-expiry contract paying ongoing funding is a swap, not a future.

That question matters here too. Coinbase, though, is trying to sidestep the fight. By parking equity perps in the security-futures statute, it avoids the CFTC-only box that CME is attacking.

Even so, the approach is untested. The security-futures law is 25 years old. Applying it to a funding-rate perpetual is new, and both agencies still have to agree.

What Comes Next for Single Stock Perpetual Futures

Coinbase is no longer alone in the queue. According to The Block, Crypto.com filed a similar Form 1-N and also plans US stock perps. So the race to onshore these products is now crowded.

Markets reacted to the news flow. COIN closed up 10.14% at $192.70 on 3 September, when the SEC notices landed. On 18 September, the stock traded near $185, up about 6% intraday. Still, Bitcoin also rose that morning, so the filing is not the only driver.

The next real signal is a CFTC product order. Watch the CFTC portal for a certification number and Coinbase for a published contract spec. Until then, treat the single stock perpetual futures plan as filed, not final. This is not financial advice.