The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has obtained CFTC authorization to open its crypto perpetual futures to U.S. institutional investors, a milestone the exchange says bridges American trading desks with Asian liquidity pools.
"Under the Regulation 48.10 ruling, we have obtained CFTC authorization to open our crypto products to U.S. institutional access. Previously, U.S. participants couldn't trade these contracts but now they can," KC Lam, head of crypto derivatives at SGX Group, told CoinDesk.
Regulation 48.10 is the framework under which the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission allows a registered Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT), an overseas exchange recognized by the CFTC, to give U.S. participants direct access to its trading system, without the exchange needing to separately register as a full U.S.-regulated exchange.
In effect, it lets qualifying foreign platforms open their existing order books to U.S. institutional traders under CFTC oversight, rather than requiring a new, standalone U.S. listing.
Lam called the development "an important milestone," adding that it "bridges the U.S. TradFi participants trading crypto futures with Asian liquidity pools" and "legitimizes crypto derivatives as a regulated asset class."
Since launching in late November 2025, SGX's crypto perpetual futures, covering bitcoin (BTP) and ether (ETP), have recorded $5.8 billion, or roughly 400,000 lots, in cumulative traded volume. Daily average volume across both contracts stood at 1.3k lots ($19 million) as of August, with bitcoin accounting for 66% of open interest and 83% of daily average volume since inception. The highest single-day figure came in at 11.5k lots, or $145 million in notional value.
Asked whether volumes had picked up following August's bitcoin and broader crypto rally, Lam pointed to onboarding timelines as the natural pace-setter.
New clients go through clearing members for KYC checks, deposits and API connectivity, a process that typically takes two to four weeks regardless of jurisdiction.
"With our FIS-enabled back-office integration now fully in place, we are actively preparing our U.S. clearing members to onboard clients over the next month or two," Lam said.
SGX’s perps are currently used by traders for both macro-directional bets and arbitrage-driven strategies. Traders use the perpetuals to express directional views on bitcoin and ether tied to broader macro themes, including currency debasement concerns, alongside more mechanical cash-and-carry trades that exploit funding-rate and pricing differentials between venues.
SGX's product is structured differently from crypto-native perpetuals. It offers no expiry, mirroring the crypto-native format, but relies on auto-liquidation with margin calls and top-up collateral rather than auto liquidations.
Liquidations are a persistent headache for leveraged traders. They occur when the market moves against a trader's position, creating a margin shortfall. Unless the trader posts additional collateral, the exchange eventually liquidates the position. This often triggers self-feeding cascades that ripple through the broader market, amplifying volatility well beyond the initial move. Last October, the liquidation cascade worsened further, compounded by auto-deleveraging, which saw exchanges socialize losses among both winning and losing bets.
"Unlike crypto-native venues where sudden volatility can trigger auto-liquidations, our traditional risk framework uses margin calls and top-up collateral, to prevent involuntary position closures during market spikes," Lam said.
The exchange also keeps trading and clearing separated, unlike crypto-native venues, which often combine the exchange, clearinghouse and market-maker roles. "By routing trades through clearing members who act as an intermediate risk buffer, we mirror the proven infrastructure of traditional futures and commodities markets," Lam said.
Notably, stablecoins are excluded as acceptable collateral, Lam said, "as they can break peg during volatile periods."
The contracts are benchmarked to indices jointly developed with CoinDesk Indices, managed under the EU Benchmark Regulation, according to Mohit Baheti, head of iEdge Indices at SGX Group.
Looking ahead, SGX plans to expand into dated futures and options for bitcoin and ether next.
"The next step in our pipeline is launching dated futures and options for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Developing that heavy-duty infrastructure is the major lift; once in place, adding other major coins may become a straightforward process like adding another contract. We plan to broaden our offerings but we are taking a disciplined, step-by-step approach," Lam said.