Ripple is strengthening its presence in traditional finance by introducing perpetual futures trading for stocks, commodities, and other real-world assets through its institutional brokerage platform, Ripple Prime.
According to a Bloomberg report, the new service will provide institutional investors with access to more than 100 markets, including equities, stock indexes, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and commodities. The expansion represents another major step in Ripple's strategy to connect cryptocurrency infrastructure with traditional financial markets.
The launch comes amid rapidly growing demand for perpetual futures tied to real-world assets. Open interest across several leading trading platforms has surged from nearly zero to approximately $9 billion over the past year, highlighting increasing institutional interest in these derivatives.
Unlike conventional futures contracts, perpetual futures have no expiration date. This allows traders to maintain leveraged positions without repeatedly transferring their exposure into new contracts, offering greater flexibility in managing investment strategies.
Ripple Prime is introducing the products through Trade.xyz, a major platform specializing in perpetual contracts linked to traditional assets on the decentralized Hyperliquid network.
The development follows Ripple Prime's February launch of cryptocurrency perpetual futures, further expanding its institutional trading capabilities.
One important feature of the new offering is cross-margining, which enables investors to use shared collateral across multiple trading positions rather than maintaining separate margin requirements.
Michael Higgins, international CEO of Ripple Prime, said the arrangement could help institutional clients improve capital efficiency while accessing additional liquidity opportunities.
Higgins also emphasized that the service would allow institutions to participate in these markets through a more regulated trading infrastructure.
Meanwhile, growing interest in real-world asset perpetual futures is attracting hedge funds, professional market makers, and other sophisticated investors seeking alternative trading opportunities.
Some institutional traders are exploring basis trading strategies, which involve taking offsetting positions in perpetual futures and their underlying assets to capitalize on pricing differences while limiting broader market exposure.
Higgins further suggested that traditional hedge funds are approaching a stage where direct access to tokenized real-world assets could become increasingly practical.
Ripple's latest expansion underscores its broader ambition to bridge decentralized finance and Wall Street, positioning Ripple Prime to compete for institutional demand as tokenized assets and perpetual derivatives gain traction across global financial markets.
