Cboe Global Markets has joined a Capital Markets Alliance legal challenge to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s treatment of stock-linked perpetuals, adding exchange-industry opposition as regulated U.S. trading becomes possible.
Cboe said Nov. 3 that the alliance had filed legal action and includes Cboe, Citadel Securities and Healthy Markets Association.
CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said on Nov. 3 that contracts on individual equity securities had been deemed approved under Commission Regulation 40.3 as security futures products. He said they may trade on designated contract markets dually registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as notice-registered national securities exchanges for security futures products. Selig said the Commodity Exchange Act, federal securities laws and each agency’s regulatory framework apply. The agency’s position is also laid out in our earlier coverage of the eligible-exchange pathway.
In an Oct. 14 letter to the SEC, Cboe argued that stock perpetuals do not meet the statutory definition of security futures. It asked the SEC to set aside and disapprove proposed rule changes from Bitnomial Exchange, Coinbase Derivatives, KalshiEX and North American Derivatives Exchange, and require new filings under Section 19(b) of the Securities Exchange Act. That is Cboe’s legal position, not a court finding.
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) separately asked the SEC and CFTC to review possible effects on liquidity, price discovery, capital formation, investor protection and cross-market manipulation before launch. It also urged the agencies to clarify whether the contracts belong under rules for security futures, swaps or security-based swaps.
Selig described the policy as a way to bring demand for perpetual trading under U.S. oversight. He cited the CFTC’s May 29, 2026, approval of a Bitcoin (BTC) perpetual futures contract as precedent. The CFTC says these contracts have no fixed expiration and use periodic funding payments intended to keep prices near those of the referenced assets. Its policy statement says regulatory uncertainty helped leave much of the market offshore. The CFTC named no first exchange or trading date.
