Key Highlights
- Coinbase has launched stock perpetual futures covering all Magnificent 7 companies available to eligible non-U.S. users.
- Single-stock perpetuals offer up to 10x leverage, while ETF perpetuals offer up to 20x.
- All contracts are settled in USDC, support 24/7 continuous trading, and are managed through unified margin across perpetual and spot positions.
Coinbase announced on March 20, 2026, that stock perpetual futures are now live for eligible international users through Coinbase Advanced, the company’s professional trading platform. The new products cover individual equities of all of the Magnificent 7 tech giants—Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Nvidia (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), and Tesla (TSLA).
In addition, perpetual contracts on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) are available in jurisdictions where regulatory approval has been secured.
The contracts trade continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Single-stock perpetuals offer leverage of up to 10x, while the ETF perpetuals support up to 20x. All contracts are cash-settled in USDC, and positions can be managed through unified margin alongside existing crypto perpetual and spot holdings.
The offering is restricted to non-U.S. users. Coinbase’s international derivatives arm operates under regulatory frameworks separate from its Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated U.S. exchange.
Why stock perpetuals matter
Perpetual futures are a derivative format pioneered by the crypto industry. Unlike traditional futures that expire on a set date, perpetuals have no expiration and use a funding rate mechanism to keep prices tracking the underlying asset. They have become the dominant trading instrument in crypto—accounting for roughly 75% of global crypto trading volume.
Applying this format to equities is a significant crossover. It allows traders to gain leveraged exposure to major stocks without owning the underlying shares, trade outside traditional market hours, and settle entirely in stablecoins—eliminating the need for fiat currency banking rails.
For Coinbase, it represents a direct expansion from a crypto-native exchange into traditional financial markets, using crypto-native infrastructure.
The “everything exchange” strategy takes shape
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has repeatedly described the company’s ambition to build an “everything exchange”—a single platform where users can trade crypto, stocks, derivatives, and prediction markets within one account.
The stock perpetual futures launch follows a rapid sequence of expansions over the past year. In December 2025, Coinbase announced U.S. stock and ETF trading alongside Kalshi-based prediction markets, positioning itself in direct competition with Robinhood.
In July 2025, Coinbase Derivatives launched CFTC-regulated perpetual-style futures for U.S. traders—the first of their kind on a regulated U.S. exchange. In September 2025, the company introduced the Mag7 + Crypto Equity Index Futures, the first U.S.-listed derivative to combine traditional equities with digital asset exposure.
On the institutional side, Coinbase completed its $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit and launched integrated regulated futures and unified cross-margin functionality through Coinbase Prime. In Europe, Coinbase rolled out regulated Bitcoin and Ethereum futures across 26 countries earlier this month under its MiFID II license.
The stock perpetual futures are the latest layer in this architecture—extending Coinbase’s derivatives infrastructure from crypto into traditional equities for the first time.
Competing on a global stage
The launch puts Coinbase in more direct competition with offshore platforms that have long offered equity-linked derivatives to global traders. Exchanges like Bybit, Bitget, and others have provided synthetic stock trading products to international users, but often without the regulatory framework that institutional participants require.
Coinbase’s approach is to offer the same product class—leveraged, USDC-settled, 24/7 stock exposure—within a regulated structure. The company holds licenses across multiple jurisdictions, including MiCA approval in Europe, and has positioned regulatory compliance as a competitive advantage.
However, the offering faces scrutiny. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued guidance in February 2026 indicating that many perpetual futures offerings may fall within existing regulations governing contracts for difference (CFDs), which impose leverage limits and mandatory risk disclosures.
The derivatives buildout in numbers
Coinbase’s derivatives growth has been substantial. The company reported 39.6 million lots traded in August 2025, up from 22.3 million in July and 11.3 million in June. Its international perpetual futures platform now offers over 150 contracts across crypto, commodities, and now equities.
The company’s 100th perpetual futures listing was reached in December 2024. Since then, it has more than doubled that count while adding entirely new asset classes. The USDC settlement layer is central to the strategy—Coinbase has sought CFTC approval to use USDC as collateral for U.S. futures markets, which would further embed the stablecoin into institutional trading workflows.
What this means for the market
For international traders, the immediate value is straightforward: leveraged, round-the-clock access to the most traded stocks in the world, settled in a stablecoin, on a platform they may already use for crypto.
For the broader industry, the move signals that the boundary between crypto exchanges and traditional brokerages is dissolving. Coinbase is no longer just competing with Binance and Kraken—it is competing with Robinhood, Interactive Brokers, and eToro for the attention of traders who want multi-asset access from a single platform.
Whether the “Everything Exchange” model succeeds will depend on execution, regulatory durability, and whether traders trust a crypto-native platform to handle equity market infrastructure at scale. But with stock perpetuals now live, Coinbase has made its ambition tangible.
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