A contract that tracks a stock's price but never expires is heading to U.S. regulators for review. That instrument, called a perpetual, gives a holder exposure to an asset's price movement with no fixed settlement date. Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve equity perpetuals that would trade around the clock, every day of the week.
What a perpetual is and how it differs
Buying stock means owning a slice of a company. Buying a futures contract means agreeing to settle a position on a specific future date, which forces the holder to either close the trade or roll it into a new contract before the deadline arrives. A perpetual sits outside both structures. It is a derivative: its value is derived from an underlying price, but the holder does not own the underlying asset, and there is no expiration date. The position stays open until the trader decides otherwise.
That absence of an expiration clock helped perpetuals gain traction in crypto markets, where there are no closing bells and no calendar-driven settlements. Coinbase built its business in that environment and knows the model well.
The 24/7 trading window is a meaningful departure from traditional U.S. equity market structure. American stock exchanges operate on weekday business hours, closing each afternoon and reopening the next morning. Coinbase's proposal does not pause. An equity perpetual, under this application, would be tradeable at midnight on a Sunday just as easily as at midday on a Tuesday.
What the filing is and is not
What exists is an application to the SEC for approval to list these products. What does not exist is an approved instrument, a launch date, or any assurance the commission will agree. The SEC reviews applications before any trading can begin.
The filing comes as interest in perpetuals has been building across markets. Coinbase is positioning to offer a regulated U.S. version of the instrument if the SEC approves. The commission's response is the next development that matters.