A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has put single-stock perpetuals listed by Kalshi and proposed by Coinbase Derivatives under legal threat, with US District Judge Valerie Caproni ordering the agency to respond by Friday, November 6.
The suit was brought by the Capital Markets Alliance (CMA), a trade group whose members include the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and Citadel Securities, the firm founded by Ken Griffin. The CMA is seeking to halt a variety of approvals for stock perpetuals listings.
Judge finds CMA likely to succeed
Hours after Tuesday's filing, Caproni denied an immediate restraining order, citing "conjectural" harm declarations. However, she found the CMA "likely to succeed on the merits of its claim," according to the report.
The judge also concluded that "the CFTC lacks statutory authority to allow perpetual derivatives on individuals stocks to be offered to retail investors," a preliminary finding the commission must now contest if it files an opposition by Friday's deadline.
Caproni agreed that single-stock perpetuals "seem to represent a major disruption to the equities market" and set the CMA's reply for this month. If the court grants the CMA's motion, dozens of stock perpetuals at venues such as Kalshi, Bitnomial, and Coinbase could face suspension.
What the products are
Stock perpetuals are a crypto-inspired derivative that uses perpetually-rolling futures funding to create leveraged instruments for betting on stock prices.
Kalshi listed four contracts on Tuesday at up to 4.9x leverage: Costco, McDonald's, Qualcomm, and Amgen. The roster has since swelled to dozens of stock perpetuals, including Nvidia, Tesla, and even SpaceX.
Approvals and the review clock
The CFTC's 45-day review clock on the perpetuals expired on November 2 without sufficient objection. The next morning, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig hailed the launch of perpetuals on US exchanges as an opportunity to pull traders from "offshore, and often unregulated, venues," and Kalshi immediately launched several stock perpetuals.
On September 18, 2026, KalshiEX, Coinbase Derivatives, and Bitnomial Exchange submitted applications to list cash-settled US equity perpetuals. Coinbase Derivatives proposed an equity perpetual suite anchored by Apple's common stock, while Bitnomial filed for Alphabet stock and added Apple stock among its 10 stock perpetuals.
The regulatory dispute
The CMA alleged that CFTC regulations "invited a parallel, synthetic market in US stocks to grow outside the exclusive jurisdiction" of the SEC, threatening US stock markets that trade over $1 trillion daily.
Tomorrow's deadline will determine how the CFTC defends its position that the preliminary conclusion about perpetuals is wrong.
