Contracts tied to traditional markets accounted for 18.5% of futures volume at crypto venues tracked by Talos during Sept. 3-9, as trading in crypto-linked perpetuals declined.
Talos put daily trading in the traditional-asset contracts at $18.8 billion for the period, compared with less than $1 billion a day in January. Overall futures activity across the tracked venues remained roughly flat, pointing to a change in the mix of contracts being traded.
The share varied by venue. On Hyperliquid, the share was 28%, against 24.8% on Binance. Each venue’s figure is measured against its own futures volume; the 18.5% figure covers all venues in Talos’ report.
Talos said the growth gives venues revenue less dependent on the crypto market cycle. The contracts track markets such as equities, commodities and currencies; trading them does not transfer ownership of those assets.
Perpetual futures have no expiration date. Payments between traders holding opposing positions help keep contract prices near their reference markets. The trader making a payment bears that cost for the funding interval.
Ripple Prime’s institutional swap offering began Oct. 15. Ripple Prime acts as principal in swaps that reference Trade.xyz perpetual futures listed on Hyperliquid. Its more than 100 markets span foreign exchange, energy, metals, exchange-traded funds, equity indexes and equities.
Ripple said clients including Virtu are trading the swaps, which are available for trading and settlement around the clock. Clients may cross-margin against other supported assets and, where available, post Ripple USD (RLUSD) as collateral. Ripple said it intends to offer the swaps in additional regions.
U.S. regulators have addressed a separate perpetual futures product. On May 29, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) permitted KalshiEX LLC to list a Bitcoin (BTC) perpetual contract. The order also contemplated similarly structured contracts tied to certain other digital commodities. In a nonbinding policy statement, the CFTC said contracts tied to asset classes outside the order should undergo individual review.
