CFTC opens U.S. stocks to crypto-style futures that never expire

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has opened U.S. stocks to crypto-style perpetual futures, according to Yahoo Finance. The move brings a derivatives format widely associated with digital-asset markets into the context of U.S. equities, allowing contracts tied to stocks to remain open rather than expire on a fixed date.

Perpetual futures, often called perps, are futures-style contracts without a traditional settlement date. They have become a common product in crypto trading, where they are generally designed to track an underlying asset through market-based mechanisms rather than through expiration and delivery.

The development could broaden the types of derivatives available around U.S. stocks and further connect product structures used in crypto markets with traditional financial markets. The CFTC is the U.S. regulator responsible for overseeing commodity futures and derivatives markets.