Kraken has launched CFTC-regulated perpetual futures in the US, giving eligible clients domestic access to crypto derivatives alongside spot, margin, and CME-listed futures.
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced the launch of CFTC-regulated perpetual futures for eligible US clients, available on Kraken Pro alongside existing spot, margin, and CME-listed futures within a single interface. The contracts are listed on Bitnomial, a CFTC-regulated exchange recently acquired by Kraken's parent company, Payward. Perpetuals are offered through NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC, a CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant.
At launch, eligible clients can trade perpetual futures on BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, DOGE, LTC, and AVAX, with further contracts and broader collateral options planned over time.
Product structure and market context
Perpetual futures track the price of an underlying asset without an expiry or settlement date, allowing traders to maintain leveraged long or short exposure indefinitely without rolling positions forward. Contracts use an eight-hour funding rate, exchanged between long and short position holders at 7:00 p.m., 3:00 a.m., and 11:00 a.m. CT, which anchors the perpetual price to the underlying spot price. Positions sit within the same futures wallet as existing CME-listed contracts, allowing traders to manage both alongside each other.
Perpetual futures are the most widely traded derivatives in digital asset markets globally, with annual trading volume exceeding USD 60 trillion in 2025. US traders have had limited regulated domestic access to this product, with most activity taking place on offshore venues. The launch brings that activity onshore through a CFTC-regulated structure for the first time at scale on Kraken's platform.
Regulatory trajectory
The launch follows a sequence of US product expansions. In July 2025, Kraken added support for CME-listed crypto futures alongside its spot markets. Earlier in June 2026, the exchange launched margin trading for eligible US traders. The addition of CFTC-regulated perpetuals completes a derivatives stack - spot, margin, CME futures, and perpetuals - within a single regulated interface.
Bitnomial's acquisition by Payward provided the CFTC-regulated exchange infrastructure that enabled the perpetuals launch without requiring Kraken to build or obtain separate exchange registration from scratch.
