Coinbase files CFTC path for U.S. single-stock perpetuals as Approval Pending holds
By 8bitcrypto
September 19, 2026
Coinbase Derivatives filed on September 18 to list cash-settled U.S. single-stock perpetual futures, and the Marketplace Watch desk is treating the weekend as a product-and-filing story rather than a live launch. Decrypt, The Crypto Times, and Altcoin Buzz all place the submission through Coinbase Derivatives to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, with the CFTC docket showing the product as Approval Pending. U.S. customers cannot trade the contracts yet. Coinbase said it intends to list shortly after Commission approval, subject to other necessary clearances.
Perpetual futures track an underlying price without a fixed expiration. Funding payments keep the contract near the reference index. Coinbase already runs regulated crypto perpetual futures in the United States, later expanding leverage as high as 50x on that crypto book, and already offers stock perps to eligible non-U.S. traders after a March launch. The September 18 filing would extend the same no-expiry structure to individual U.S.-listed equities and ETFs. Holding a single-stock perpetual would confer no shareholder rights, dividends, or ownership of the referenced shares, only price exposure. That ownership gap is the core product fact for collectors who confuse derivatives tickets with tokenized stock claims.
Coverage of the planned lineup is still press-led rather than a full public schedule. The Wall Street Journal, cited across Coinbase-linked reporting, said the company plans roughly 50 to 60 contracts including Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, and Nvidia, with a possible launch later this year if regulators approve. Coinbase’s own announcement put the count above 50. The CFTC filing itself uses an Apple contract as the representative specification rather than enumerating every ticker. Altcoin Buzz’s read of the filing adds contract-structure detail: cash settlement in dollars, trading from 8 p.m. ET Sunday through 5 p.m. ET Friday for what Coinbase described as 24/5 exposure, hourly funding, index readings every three minutes across sessions, a funding-rate cap of plus or minus 0.10 percent per hour, central clearing by Nodal Clear, and an example Apple contract size of 0.01 times the Apple index, putting example notional near $2.25 when Apple trades near $225.
Coinbase is not alone. Finance Magnates reported that Kalshi submitted applications dated September 18 for 58 equity-linked contracts, while Kraken’s parent Payward said it was filing rules and product terms through Bitnomial for an initial set of about ten U.S. stocks including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft, and Amazon. Crypto.com’s Nadex registration for security futures products became effective September 14, with management saying it is also working with the SEC and CFTC on single-stock perpetual futures. Separate filings do not mean identical contracts or identical approval paths. Offshore venues such as Hyperliquid already list stock-linked contracts that track names including Tesla and Nvidia without granting share ownership, which is the competitive backdrop Coinbase is trying to pull onshore under U.S. oversight.
For NFT and crypto marketplace readers, the useful distinction is structural. On September 17 the SEC announced a temporary Innovation Exemption for qualifying Tokenized Securities Venues to facilitate trading in certain tokenized National Market System stocks under conditions, with a five-year horizon from publication. That framework is about tokenized shares that are supposed to carry the same rights as traditional stock. Perpetual futures are derivatives that track price without transferring ownership. Both wires can move crypto-native venues deeper into equity rails, but they are not interchangeable products and should not be mashed into one headline. Marketplace fees, margin rules, and listing standards will still vary by venue if and when any of these products clear review.
Marketplace Watch’s Saturday verdict stays narrow. Coinbase filed. The docket is pending. The press lineup points to mega-cap tech names and a 50-plus contract ambition, while rival crypto venues are racing similar products through their own regulatory tracks. Nothing in the public reporting authorizes U.S. retail trading today, and leverage limits for the single-stock suite were not fully detailed in the summaries this desk checked. Treat the filing as a dated product event on the path from crypto perps to equity perps, not as a live order book for Apple or Nvidia tickets.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or trading advice. The NFT market is highly volatile, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions related to digital assets. The cover image for this article may have been created using artificial intelligence (AI).
