Judge Keeps Stock Perps Live but Doubts CFTC's Power to Approve Them

By Coinvote

Published November 5, 2026 - 07:22 UTC | 5 mins read

Judge Keeps Stock Perps Live but Doubts CFTC's Power to Approve Them

A federal judge in New York declined to halt single-stock perpetual futures on Kalshi, Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial, yet said the CFTC probably lacked authority to approve them. The split ruling leaves a crypto-born product trading under a legal cloud that also touches bitcoin perpetuals.

Judge refuses an emergency stop but sides with challengers on the law

U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni on Nov. 3 denied a temporary restraining order that would have stopped stock perpetual futures from trading, Bitcoin Magazine reported. She ruled after a teleconference with the parties, only hours after the CFTC said the products could start trading on U.S.-regulated exchanges.

The request failed on a single prong. According to Bitcoin Magazine, Caproni found that declarations from Cboe, Citadel Securities and Healthy Markets speculated about potential harm without establishing that it was actual and imminent. On the legal question, however, she wrote that the challengers are "likely to succeed on the merits."

Bitcoin Magazine reported that the order does not resolve the underlying case. According to Bitcoin Magazine, the products remain approved while the alliance's separate request for a preliminary injunction awaits a decision.

How the CFTC cleared the contracts without a written order

According to Cointelegraph, Selig issued a statement on Tuesday saying the contracts were treated as approved under Commission Regulation 40.3. That route covers products listed on exchanges registered with both the CFTC and the SEC to trade security futures products.

Bitcoin Magazine added the procedural detail. Per Bitcoin Magazine, the filings reached the CFTC on Sept. 18, and the 45-day review window closed without any written order from the agency. Decrypt reported that the approval rests on the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which places such products under joint CFTC and SEC oversight.

Selig credited a March memorandum of understanding between the two agencies for ending a jurisdictional limbo. He also argued that regulated U.S. venues let traders avoid what he called "offshore, and often unregulated, venues."

Why the classification of a perpetual contract decides the case

Decrypt reported that perpetual contracts have no expiry and allow leveraged exposure to an asset's price, provided traders meet funding and margin requirements. According to Bitcoin Magazine, the Capital Markets Alliance Association says stock contracts without expiration or delivery obligations are security-based swaps subject to SEC oversight.

Caproni's reasoning followed that line. She wrote that, since the contracts never call for delivery of an individual security at a later date, they cannot be security futures and so fall outside CFTC authority. She said they instead "appear to satisfy the definition of a swap."

Bitcoin Magazine reported that the alliance says Congress restricted retail trading of these swaps to national securities exchanges under full SEC oversight. Cointelegraph noted a second claim, that the CFTC broke the Administrative Procedure Act by not explaining its decision adequately or weighing the effect on investors.

Key figures and dates

The numbers below come from the outlets' reporting on the ruling and the filings that preceded it.

Case No. 1:26-cv-09608 in the Southern District of New York names the CFTC and Selig as defendants.
The filings are dated Sept. 18, and no written order followed the end of the 45-day review window.
The agency must file its opposition to the injunction request by Nov. 6, a Friday, and the alliance has until Tuesday, Nov. 10 to respond, though the assigned judge may alter the schedule.
By Wednesday morning Kalshi had four single-stock perps up for trading, tied to Qualcomm, McDonald's, Amgen and Costco, and its leverage cap was 4.9 times.

Where the outlets' accounts line up and where they diverge

All four outlets agree on the core facts: the CFTC cleared the contracts, and a Wall Street-backed group sued to overturn the approvals. The Defiant's summary describes the complaint as aimed at Coinbase, Kalshi and Bitnomial, with a request for urgent relief against listing their products as security futures. That outlet's coverage here is limited to its headline and summary, so it adds no further detail.

Only Bitcoin Magazine covers the court's reaction, including Caproni's finding that the CFTC's actions "seem to represent a major disruption to the equities market." Cointelegraph and Decrypt focus on the regulator's announcement. Cointelegraph observed that Selig named no exchanges and gave no start date, while Bitcoin Magazine showed Kalshi's listings live within a day.

The outlets also differ on the separate CME Group case over crypto perpetuals. Cointelegraph said the CFTC moved to dismiss it in September, arguing that CME lacked standing. Decrypt wrote that the agency had dismissed the suit. Bitcoin Magazine described the case as pending in Washington. Readers should treat its status as unsettled until a court record says otherwise.

Why crypto venues are watching a stock-market case

Perpetual contracts sit at the center of crypto derivatives markets. Cointelegraph recalled that BitMEX helped popularize them in 2016, and Selig has described onshoring them as a goal since his inaugural remarks, per Decrypt.

Bitcoin Magazine reported that the agency's May 29 approval covered the first bitcoin perpetual listed in the U.S., and Kalshi started offering it shortly afterward. In June, CME Group filed suit, contending that a contract based on funding payments between parties should be classed as a swap, not a future.

Bitcoin Magazine stressed that the New York order covers security futures, not commodities such as bitcoin. Even so, a federal judge has for now taken the preliminary view that a contract lacking an expiry date does not resemble a future. Platforms that rely on the CFTC framework for perpetuals have reason to follow the reasoning closely.

What to watch next

The first marker is the CFTC's opposition brief on Nov. 6, followed by the alliance's reply on Nov. 10. The filings will show whether the agency defends its reading of Regulation 40.3 or leans on the lack of proven harm.

Open questions remain. Would a preliminary injunction be granted once the court has the full briefing? Could the SEC take a position on whether the contracts are swaps? And would the CME case in Washington reach a different view on bitcoin perpetuals?

For traders on the new stock contracts, the practical point is that the products are live under approvals a court has questioned. Project teams and venues that plan perpetual listings in the U.S. can track the docket for any change to that status.

Market snapshot

Asset	Price	24h	7d	Market cap
Bitcoin (BTC)	$80,607	+3.3%	+0.5%	$1.62 trillion

CoinGecko data as of 2026-11-05 (UTC).

FAQ

Are stock perpetual futures still trading in the U.S.?

Yes. Judge Valerie Caproni denied a temporary restraining order on Nov. 3, so the contracts can keep trading on Kalshi, Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial for now. Bitcoin Magazine reported that Kalshi had four single-stock perps listed by Wednesday morning.

Why did the judge say the CFTC likely overstepped its authority?

Caproni wrote that perpetual contracts never call for delivery of an individual security at a later date, so they cannot be security futures. She said they appear to meet the definition of a swap, which falls under the SEC.

Does the ruling affect bitcoin perpetual futures?

Not directly. Bitcoin Magazine noted that the New York order concerns security futures, not commodities like bitcoin. A separate CME Group challenge to the CFTC's approval of crypto perpetuals is described by that outlet as pending in Washington.