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OG.com Markets, a newly independent derivatives and prediction markets platform, has formally submitted a proposal to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) seeking regulatory approval to offer perpetual futures tied to individual US stocks. The move marks a significant escalation in the race among financial technology firms and cryptocurrency exchanges to introduce "perpetual" trading—a product that has dominated the digital asset space for nearly a decade—into the highly regulated world of American equities.
According to the filing submitted on Thursday, OG.com is proposing new rules that would allow the exchange to list cash-settled, single-stock futures that do not have an expiration date. Unlike traditional futures contracts, which require traders to "roll" their positions into a new contract every few months to maintain exposure, perpetual futures allow investors to hold positions indefinitely. The proposal also outlines a trading schedule that would span 24 hours a day, five days a week, representing a stark departure from the standard 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET operating hours of the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
The Strategic Emergence of OG.com
The filing comes shortly after a major corporate restructuring involving one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency ecosystems. OG.com was recently spun out of the crypto exchange Crypto.com as an independent entity. This strategic separation was designed to isolate the platform’s prediction market and derivatives operations, allowing it to seek specific regulatory licenses that might be more difficult to obtain under a broader retail crypto exchange umbrella.
Valued at approximately $5 billion at the time of the spin-off, OG.com received an immediate boost in credibility and capital when Robinhood, the popular retail brokerage, took an equity stake in the firm. This multi-year agreement positions OG.com as the primary CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange and clearinghouse for Robinhood’s burgeoning prediction markets. Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com, indicated during the spin-off announcement that the platform’s roadmap was heavily focused on expanding beyond binary outcomes (prediction markets) into sophisticated financial instruments like futures and perpetual contracts.
By filing for single-stock perpetuals, OG.com is positioning itself as a bridge between the high-speed, always-on nature of crypto trading and the institutional stability of the US stock market.
Defining Perpetual Futures: From Crypto Innovation to TradFi
To understand the impact of OG.com’s filing, it is necessary to examine the mechanics of the product itself. Perpetual futures, often referred to in the industry as "perps," were pioneered by the crypto exchange BitMEX in 2016. Since then, they have become the most traded derivative in the cryptocurrency world, often accounting for several times the daily volume of spot trading on major international exchanges like Binance and Bybit.
The primary appeal of the perpetual contract is the absence of an expiry date. In traditional futures markets, such as those for corn, oil, or the S&P 500, contracts have a set date upon which they must be settled. Traders wishing to maintain a long-term position must sell the expiring contract and buy the next one, a process known as "rolling." This can incur transaction costs and subject the trader to "roll yield" risks, where the price of the next contract is higher (contango) or lower (backwardation) than the current one.
Perpetual contracts solve this through a "funding rate" mechanism. This is a periodic payment exchanged between long and short traders to ensure the contract price stays closely aligned with the underlying spot price of the asset. If the perpetual price is higher than the spot price, longs pay shorts; if the price is lower, shorts pay longs. This self-correcting mechanism allows for a seamless, continuous trading experience that mimics spot trading but with the added benefits of leverage and easy shorting.
A Growing Competitive Landscape
OG.com is not alone in its pursuit of this market. The filing follows a flurry of activity in mid-September that suggests a coordinated industry-wide push to modernize US equity derivatives. On September 18, three other major players filed similar applications with the CFTC:
- Coinbase: The largest US-based crypto exchange filed to offer single-stock perpetual futures through its regulated derivatives arm.
- Bitnomial (owned by Kraken parent Payward): Kraken has long sought to bring its international derivatives expertise to the US market, and the Bitnomial filing represents a significant step in that direction.
- Kalshi: Originally a pure-play prediction market, Kalshi has aggressively expanded its regulatory footprint, recently winning a landmark court case against the CFTC regarding election-based contracts. Its move into stock-based perpetuals signals an intent to compete directly with traditional brokerages.
This cluster of filings suggests that the industry perceives a "regulatory window" or a shift in the CFTC’s willingness to entertain products that were previously considered too exotic for the US retail market.
Chronology of Regulatory Developments
The sudden influx of filings for stock-based perpetuals is the result of a series of legislative and regulatory milestones over the past several months.
- May 2024: The CFTC established a formal case-by-case review process for perpetual contracts, signaling for the first time that the agency was open to the product. During this time, the agency approved Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual futures product, providing a blueprint for others to follow.
- June 2024: The CFTC issued temporary regulatory relief that allowed certain registered exchanges to convert existing crypto futures into contracts without expiration dates, effectively green-lighting "perps" for digital assets.
- September 15, 2024: The CLARITY Act, a piece of legislation intended to provide a comprehensive framework for digital assets, failed to advance in the US Senate. While seen as a setback for legislative certainty, it prompted regulators to take more independent action.
- September 18, 2024: Coinbase, Kalshi, and Bitnomial filed their proposals for single-stock perpetuals.
- Late September 2024: The SEC cleared limited on-chain trading of tokenized US stocks under its "Innovation Exemption." Concurrently, the CFTC expanded relief for software providers connecting users to regulated derivatives platforms.
- September 26, 2024: OG.com Markets officially submitted its filing for single-stock perpetual futures.
Market Implications and 24/5 Trading
The introduction of single-stock perpetuals could fundamentally alter the structure of US equity markets. One of the most significant features of the OG.com proposal is the move toward 24/5 trading.
Currently, the US stock market is characterized by liquidity concentration during standard hours. While "after-hours" and "pre-market" trading exist, they often suffer from low liquidity and wide spreads. By offering a cash-settled perpetual product that trades around the clock on weekdays, OG.com and its competitors are catering to a global investor base that wants to react to news in real-time, regardless of the time zone.
For example, if a major tech company releases earnings at 4:05 p.m. ET, traders currently have limited options to hedge or capitalize on that move with high leverage. A 24/5 perpetual market would provide a continuous price discovery mechanism, potentially reducing the "gaps" in price that occur when the market opens the following morning.
Risks and Oversight Challenges
Despite the enthusiasm from trading platforms, the path to approval is not without hurdles. The CFTC and SEC have historically been cautious regarding single-stock futures. In the early 2000s, "OneChicago" was launched as an exchange for single-stock futures, but it struggled to gain retail traction and eventually closed in 2020.
Regulators are likely to focus on several key areas of risk:
- Investor Protection: Perpetual futures typically involve high leverage. In the crypto world, 20x to 100x leverage is common. It is highly unlikely the CFTC would permit such levels for individual stocks like Apple or Tesla, but even modest leverage (e.g., 2x to 5x) for retail investors requires stringent disclosure and suitability checks.
- Market Manipulation: 24/5 trading means that during periods of low volume (such as 2:00 a.m. ET), the market could be more susceptible to manipulation or "flash crashes." The CFTC will require OG.com to demonstrate robust surveillance and "circuit breaker" mechanisms.
- Cash Settlement vs. Physical Delivery: Because these contracts are cash-settled, they do not involve the actual transfer of shares. While this simplifies the process, regulators must ensure that the "funding rate" and the price of the perpetual do not deviate so far from the underlying spot market as to create systemic instability.
The Broader Impact on Financial Convergence
The OG.com filing represents the "crypto-fication" of traditional finance. For years, the narrative was about how "TradFi" (Traditional Finance) would bring institutional standards to crypto. Now, the trend is reversing, with crypto-native innovations being exported to traditional asset classes.
If OG.com and its peers receive approval, it could lead to a massive migration of retail volume from traditional options and spot markets into perpetuals. For platforms like Robinhood, which has already established a dominant position in retail options trading, the ability to offer perpetuals through OG.com’s infrastructure represents a powerful new revenue stream and a way to keep users engaged on the platform 24 hours a day.
As the CFTC begins its review of the OG.com proposal, the financial industry will be watching closely. The outcome will determine whether the "perpetual" model remains a crypto-specific tool or becomes the new standard for how the world trades the most valuable companies on the planet.
