Coinbase stock perpetual futures bring 24/7 access to U.S. equities
Coinbase has started offering stock perpetual futures to eligible traders outside the United States, giving both retail and institutional users continuous access to price exposure on major U.S. equities. And that’s the real shift here: traders no longer have to wait for traditional market hours to take a view on some of the biggest public companies in the world.
This rollout makes Coinbase one of the first major centralized exchanges to introduce perpetual futures contracts tied to individual stocks. That matters because this kind of product has mostly lived on decentralized platforms, where access may be broader in some ways but often comes with a different risk and compliance profile. Coinbase is clearly trying to pull that demand into a more structured, centralized environment.
What Coinbase is offering in its stock perpetual futures lineup
Magnificent 7 stock perpetual futures
The first group of products includes perpetual futures linked to the Magnificent 7 technology stocks:
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Alphabet
- Amazon
- Nvidia
- Meta
- Tesla
These contracts give traders exposure to some of the most actively watched U.S. equities without relying on standard stock market hours.
ETF perpetual futures tied to SPY and QQQ
Coinbase is also offering ETF perpetuals connected to two of the most widely followed U.S. market funds:
- SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)
- Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ)
That opens the door to round-the-clock positioning not just in single-name technology stocks, but also in broader U.S. equity benchmarks that many traders use to express macro views.
How Coinbase stock perpetual futures work
USDC settlement and no expiration date
All contracts settle in USDC, the dollar-pegged stablecoin. Instead of having a fixed expiration date like traditional futures, these contracts remain open indefinitely. To keep pricing aligned with the underlying asset, they use a funding rate mechanism tied to the spot market.
That structure is a big part of why perpetuals appeal to active traders. You’re not managing expiry cycles or rolling contracts every few weeks. You’re trading ongoing exposure, with pricing adjusted through funding rather than contract maturity.
Leverage limits for stocks and ETFs
Coinbase is offering:
- up to 10x leverage on individual stock perpetual futures
- up to 20x leverage on ETF perpetuals
That level of leverage can make these products attractive for traders looking to amplify exposure, especially in a market that moves fast on earnings, macro data, and geopolitical headlines. But it also raises the stakes. A product that trades around the clock with leverage attached is built for active risk-taking, not casual participation.
Cross-margining across perpetual futures and spot positions
The platform also supports cross-margining across perpetual futures and spot positions. In practical terms, that gives traders more flexibility in how they manage capital across related positions on the platform. It’s the kind of feature that tends to matter more as users become more sophisticated and start thinking in terms of portfolio-wide exposure rather than one isolated trade at a time.
Where the products are available
The stock perpetual futures are available through:
- Coinbase Advanced for retail users
- Coinbase International Exchange for institutional users
Access is limited to supported regions outside the United States.
Why 24/7 stock perpetual futures matter for global traders
Traditional U.S. stock markets close each weekday afternoon and stop entirely on weekends and holidays. For global investors, that can feel painfully outdated. Markets move because the world moves, and the world doesn’t stick to Wall Street’s schedule.
A geopolitical event can break on a Saturday. A major macro release can reshape sentiment overnight. Company-specific news can hit when cash equity markets are closed. Traders who want to respond immediately have often had to wait, hedge imperfectly, or use adjacent products that don’t offer direct exposure to the stock or ETF they actually care about.
Coinbase is leaning directly into that frustration. By offering 24/7 stock perpetual futures, it’s giving international users a way to trade U.S. equity exposure whenever markets are moving in real time, not just when traditional exchanges happen to be open.
Coinbase’s Everything Exchange strategy
Bridging crypto and traditional finance on one platform
This launch pushes forward Coinbase’s goal of building what it calls an “Everything Exchange.” Here’s what that means in plain English: one platform that brings together crypto assets, traditional financial instruments, and newer market categories that are still taking shape.
And honestly, that’s a bigger story than the product itself. Coinbase isn’t just adding another derivatives contract. It’s trying to blur the line between crypto-native trading infrastructure and traditional market exposure. The pitch is simple: if users already trust the platform for digital assets, why not let them trade equities and ETFs there too?
Product expansion leading up to the launch
The stock perpetual futures rollout comes after several notable milestones:
- Coinbase launched CFTC-regulated perpetual futures on Bitcoin and Ether for U.S. retail customers in July 2025
- The company expanded crypto derivatives into 26 European countries under a MiFID II license earlier this month
- Coinbase recently introduced 24/5 stock and ETF trading for U.S. customers across more than 8,000 securities
Taken together, these moves show a pattern. Coinbase is steadily widening the kind of financial exposure available on its platform, using crypto-native rails to reach into markets that used to sit firmly in traditional brokerage territory.
Competitive pressure in the stock perpetual futures market
Competition from decentralized exchanges
Coinbase is entering a space that isn’t empty. Hyperliquid already offers perpetual futures on traditional assets, which means traders looking for always-on markets have not been short on options. The difference is that Coinbase is bringing the model into a centralized and regulated framework, aiming to attract users who like constant access but don’t want to leave institutional-grade controls behind.
That’s the bet. Not just speed or novelty, but a mix of availability, familiarity, and risk management.
CME Group’s upcoming 24/7 futures trading
The timing matters too. CME Group is expected to launch its own 24/7 futures trading on May 29, which signals that round-the-clock market access is moving closer to the mainstream. What used to feel like a crypto-native edge is becoming a broader market expectation.
Coinbase seems to understand that the window for defining this category won’t stay open forever. Getting stock perpetuals live now gives it a chance to establish an early lead among centralized exchanges before larger incumbents fully step in.
Coinbase plans to expand beyond stock and ETF perpetuals
Coinbase said it plans to broaden the lineup over time to include additional equities, indices, and commodities. That points to a much larger ambition than a Magnificent 7 launch bundle.
If that expansion happens, the platform could evolve from a crypto exchange with a few crossover products into a broader always-on trading venue for multiple asset classes. And that’s really the core idea running through all of this: taking markets that traditionally operate on limited hours and pulling them into a continuous trading environment built on crypto-native infrastructure.