Coinbase Derivatives has filed proposed rules for cash-settled perpetual futures on individual equity securities and exchange-traded fund shares, creating a framework for contracts that would have no fixed expiry date and would rely on recurring funding payments rather than scheduled final settlement to keep their prices aligned with the underlying securities.
The proposed rule change was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 18, 2026 and submitted concurrently to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for approval. The CFTC had not approved the proposal at the date of the filing, meaning the rule change was not yet effective.
Coinbase Derivatives is proposing a new Chapter 12 of its rulebook governing security futures products. The framework would cover listing standards, contract specifications, corporate-action adjustments, trading, clearing and settlement for cash-settled futures on individual equities and ETF shares, including perpetual single-stock futures. Chapter 12 comprises proposed Rules 1201 through 1225.
The distinction from conventional futures is the absence of a fixed expiration date. Holders would not receive the underlying shares, while open positions would instead remain subject to a funding mechanism designed to support convergence between the price of the contract and the price of the underlying security. Funding payments could be processed through Nodal Clear as cash adjustments separate from variation margin.
The proposed listing standards would initially restrict the products to highly liquid securities. An underlying security would generally need more than 20 million shares of estimated deliverable supply, a market capitalisation of at least $100 billion and average daily transaction value of at least $450 million over the previous six months. Coinbase Derivatives said it initially intends to list contracts on the most highly liquid securities as measured by average daily transaction value.
Each contract would have its own Product Appendix setting out terms including the underlying security, contract unit, trading hours, settlement-price methodology, index-price methodology, funding arrangements, position limits, price controls and applicable fees. Proposed trading hours would run from Sunday at 20:00 Eastern Time through Friday at 17:00 Eastern Time, subject to holidays and other specified interruptions.
The framework also addresses what happens when the underlying security changes materially. Stock splits and similar distributions could trigger adjustments intended to preserve the existing economic exposure of open positions, while mergers, acquisitions or tender offers could lead to termination of an affected contract and cash settlement. Delisting or suspension of the underlying security could also result in a halt and settlement of open positions.
Trading would be halted whenever a regulatory halt applies to the underlying security, and the contracts would also be subject to market-wide circuit breakers and coordinated surveillance arrangements. Coinbase Derivatives proposes position limits, reporting requirements and publication of settlement prices, trading volume, open interest and funding information as part of the framework.
The practical consequence of the filing is that Coinbase Derivatives now has a proposed regulatory architecture for perpetual equity futures, but the products cannot proceed under the proposed rules until the outstanding CFTC approval process is completed.
