CFTC deems equity perpetual futures approved for US exchange trading

CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said on 3 November 2026 that perpetual futures on individual equity securities, called “Equity Perps”, can begin trading for the first time on CFTC-registered exchanges, in a statement. The contracts were deemed approved under Commission Regulation 40.3 as security futures products under the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA). The relevant venues are designated contract markets that are also notice-registered national securities exchanges with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for trading security futures products.

For compliance teams, this is not a CFTC-only authorisation. The contracts are subject to the applicable requirements of the Commodity Exchange Act, federal securities laws, and both agencies' regulatory frameworks. Exchanges, intermediaries and product teams considering similar listings will need to establish which requirements apply across both regimes rather than treat equity perpetuals as an offshore-style product outside the US framework.

The route to market

The CFTC statement says the CFMA created a joint regulatory framework for security futures at the intersection of federal commodities and securities law. Selig presented the Equity Perps as an application of that existing route, rather than as a new category outside the established framework.

The statement follows the CFTC's approval earlier in 2026 of what it calls the first “true bitcoin perpetual futures contract” on a CFTC-regulated exchange. The equity expansion moves the instrument from digital commodities into traditional securities. Selig said the objective was to let US participants use perpetual futures for risk management and price discovery within the CFTC's regulatory framework, rather than forcing them towards “offshore, and often unregulated, venues”.

The CFTC and SEC signed a memorandum of understanding on 11 March 2026 to guide coordination and collaboration. Selig said the Equity Perps demonstrate the agencies' commitment to harmonising their frameworks and ending the regulatory “no man's land” that he attributed to previous uncertainty around security futures and equity perpetual futures.

The announcement is a regulatory decision on the contracts covered by the approval. It is not a blanket statement that every stock-linked perpetual product may trade without its own review. Atlas reads the use of Regulation 40.3 as a signal that the CFTC intends to use the existing security-futures approval pathway to bring further innovative products onshore, subject to the applicable safeguards.

A broader perpetual-products pipeline

The statement comes after several CFTC actions involving perpetual products. The Commission published KalshiEX's proposed rules for perpetual security futures on 18 September. On 24 September, OG.com Markets submitted rules for cash-settled perpetual security futures on individual equities, which were awaiting Commission approval. On 5 October, the CFTC issued temporary no-action relief for designated contract markets converting certain broad-based security-index futures into true perpetual futures.

The agency has also been asserting the reach of federal oversight over other CFTC-registered markets. It sued New Mexico in June and Utah on 27 October to block state enforcement against federally registered prediction markets. Those cases concern event contracts rather than equity perpetuals, but in Atlas's view they form part of the same onshoring signal: products offered through CFTC-registered markets should be governed through the federal framework rather than pushed back into state or offshore channels.

The immediate operative date for the Equity Perps is 3 November, when the CFTC said they could begin trading.