Crypto’s favorite leverage toy is trying to move into the equity aisle. On Friday, Sep 18, Coinbase Derivatives filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to list single-stock perpetual futures for U.S. traders—contracts that track individual shares with no expiration date, 24/5 access, and no stock ownership attached.
Per reporting from Decrypt, Cointelegraph, and the Wall Street Journal, Coinbase is aiming for a first wave of roughly 50 to 60 contracts, with names including Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, and Nvidia. The CFTC listing shows the products as single-stock futures with approval still pending. Nothing has launched for U.S. persons yet, and no hard go-live date is locked.
What a stock perp actually is
Perpetual futures—“perps”—are the crypto market’s workhorse derivative: price exposure without an expiry, held as long as margin and periodic funding payments stay healthy. Coinbase already cracked open regulated crypto perps onshore earlier this year and later advertised leverage as high as 50x on those crypto contracts. Offshore, the company launched stock-style perps for eligible non-U.S. traders in March, tracking major U.S. names and indexes. Friday’s filing is the onshore sequel: bring that structure to Americans who want Apple or Nvidia exposure overnight without buying shares, collecting dividends, or voting.
That distinction matters for retail marketing and for compliance. Holding a Coinbase single-stock perp would confer no shareholder rights—no dividends, no proxy ballots, just leveraged price risk settled in cash (reporting describes Nodal Clear settlement and hourly funding in related coverage of the product design). It’s a bet on the ticker, not a slice of the company.
Two regulators, one product category
Cointelegraph notes Coinbase Derivatives also filed SEC Form 1-N on Sep 1 to register as a national securities exchange for the purpose of offering security futures. Single-stock futures sit in a historically awkward U.S. box—commodity and securities regulators both have equities. Coinbase’s dual-track paperwork is the tell that this isn’t a casual “crypto listing” bolted onto BTC perps; it’s an attempt to plant a crypto-native contract design inside the security-futures regime.
Contract specs and final leverage caps weren’t fully detailed in the public summaries Geeknewz reviewed. Until the CFTC (and related SEC process) clears the product, treat every “later this year” timeline as aspirational reporting, not a calendar invite.
Why the race suddenly matters
Coinbase isn’t inventing onshore perps in a vacuum. The CFTC has already greenlit Bitcoin perpetual futures for Kalshi, which has expanded into other commodities, while prediction-market rival Polymarket has been moving toward crypto perpetual futures of its own. Add prior industry chatter around other venues chasing equity-linked leverage products, and Friday’s Coinbase drop reads like a land grab: own the UX for “trade Tesla at 2 a.m. without a brokerage lot” before a prediction market or legacy futures house does.
For Coinbase the strategic logic is tidy. Spot crypto volumes are cyclical. Regulated derivatives—crypto first, then stocks—diversify the fee stack and keep active traders glued to Coinbase’s rails when bitcoin chop gets boring. For traditional brokerages, a successful Coinbase stock-perp suite is a warning shot: overnight leverage demand that used to live on offshore crypto venues could migrate into a U.S.-regulated app with Apple and Nvidia tickers on the home screen.
Risks the filing doesn’t erase
Perps teach leverage faster than most retail accounts learn liquidation math. Crypto perps already proved that funding rates, cascading liquidations, and 24-hour trading can amplify moves that cash equities usually buffer with market hours and Pattern Day Trader rules. Grafting that onto single names—especially high-beta AI and mega-cap tech—raises classic questions: how much leverage is allowed, how are corporate actions handled when you don’t own the share, and what happens in a trading halt or earnings gap.
Regulators will also hear the old argument that synthetic equity exposure without ownership still affects market structure if volumes get large enough relative to the underlying. Coinbase’s pitch is choice and access. The CFTC’s job is whether the contract design, clearing, and surveillance are boring enough to survive a bad Tuesday.
Geeknewz take
This filing is not “stocks are now crypto.” It’s crypto’s contract design applying for a visa into U.S. equity risk. If approval lands, expect Coinbase to market 24/5 mega-cap perps as the grown-up cousin of offshore stock leverage—and expect brokerages and futures incumbents to answer. Until then, the only firm facts are the paperwork: ~50–60 intended names, Apple/Microsoft/Tesla/Nvidia in the reported first set, dual CFTC/SEC tracks, and a status line that still says pending.
Source: Decrypt — Coinbase Files to List Single-Stock Perps on Apple, Tesla and Nvidia (Sep 18, 2026); also Cointelegraph.