Judge lets stock perpetual futures keep trading but says the CFTC likely overstepped

Crypto-style perpetual futures on individual US stocks are trading now, and a court has said the regulator that allowed them may have had no power to do so. On Nov. 3, the day the CFTC announced the contracts could list, a federal judge in Manhattan denied an emergency bid to stop them. In the same order she said the challengers were likely to win on the merits. The New York Times reported Thursday that Kalshi already offers the contracts on at least 50 stocks.

What the judge actually ruled

The plaintiff is the Capital Markets Alliance, whose members include Cboe, Citadel Securities and the Healthy Markets Association. According to Bitcoin Magazine and crypto.news, Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York denied a temporary restraining order. She found the group had not shown harm that was imminent and irreparable, calling its members' declarations "conjectural."

On the law, Bitcoin Magazine quotes the order as saying the group "is likely to succeed on the merits," because perpetual contracts "by definition, do not provide for a 'sale for future delivery of a single security.'" That matters because the CFTC says the contracts are approved security futures, which are defined that way. The order also said they "appear to satisfy the definition of a swap," a different legal category. The Times quotes the judge saying the agency's actions "seem to represent a major disruption to the equities market."

This was not a final ruling. A separate preliminary injunction motion is undecided. Both outlets report the CFTC's opposition was due Nov. 6 and the alliance's reply Nov. 10, and neither reports a hearing date. We could not find a report of a decision since. Bitcoin Magazine notes the docket lists a different assigned judge, so deadlines may change.

What is trading

Kalshi, Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial are the venues named in the challenge. Bitcoin Magazine reported Kalshi had four single-stock perpetuals at launch (Qualcomm, McDonald's, Amgen and Costco), with maximum leverage of 4.9x. The Times now puts Kalshi at "at least 50" stocks, including Alphabet, Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon, and says the platform reports "billions of dollars" of volume since Nov. 3. That volume figure is Kalshi's own claim, not independently verified.

Our earlier coverage explains the CFTC announcement and the separate CME suit over crypto perpetuals.

The risk that sits under the ruling

The Times reports that the traditional exchanges argue the contracts lack protections options traders have: broker-dealer audit trails and SEC surveillance. Cboe chief executive Craig Donohue told the paper he does not want public customers hurt by a lack of the protections securities law provides. The Times also reports some SEC career staff raised concerns privately, while an SEC spokesman said the agency supports new products within "comprehensive oversight." Kalshi calls the suits a way for incumbents to protect market share. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is due to chair the Senate Banking Committee in January, has accused the CFTC of "rubber-stamping 24/7 high-stakes gambling," the Times says.

Who this hits

A trader holding a position. If an injunction came, the open question is what happens to live positions and margin. Nothing reported says. Leverage on a single stock can force a liquidation on a sharp move whatever the court does.

Anyone who reads "approved" as "settled." Regulatory approval and legal validity are different things. The product has the first and a judge has doubted the second.

Cboe and CME shareholders and options users. The fight is over who gets to offer no-expiry exposure to single stocks, which competes with options and security futures.

What to watch

• A ruling on the preliminary injunction, the real test of whether trading can continue.
• Any appeal, and any CFTC or SEC statement on surveillance.
• Whether other exchanges list stock perpetuals before the court rules.

Sources: New York Times (Nov. 12, 2026); Bitcoin Magazine and crypto.news (both Nov. 4, 2026); CFTC press release 9319-26. Court quotes are as reported by those outlets; we did not read the order itself. This is market information, not investment advice. Leveraged products can lose more than the amount first posted.