Kraken has launched perpetual futures trading for eligible US clients on Kraken Pro. The contracts are listed on Bitnomial, a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse that Kraken's parent company Payward acquired in May 2025. This marks the first time the most-traded crypto derivatives product is available under CFTC regulatory oversight at this scale for US traders.
How the contracts work
Perpetual futures track an asset's price without an expiration date. They don't require rollover — positions can stay open as long as margin requirements hold. Kraken's version uses an 8-hour funding rate mechanism, settling at 7 p.m., 3 a.m., and 11 a.m. CT. That funding rate keeps contract prices anchored to the underlying spot market.
The contracts sit in the same futures wallet as Kraken's existing CME-listed products. That means traders can manage both against a single pool of collateral — no need to shuffle funds between wallets. At launch, eligible clients can trade bitcoin perpetuals and eight other assets. Kraken plans to expand the contract set and add more collateral options over time.
The regulatory path
The products are offered through NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC (Kraken Derivatives US), a CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant. The launch follows a signal from the CFTC in May, when the agency approved Kalshi's bitcoin perpetual contracts and issued guidance that opened the door for platforms like Coinbase to offer similar products. Kraken's move is the first major exchange rollout under that framework.
Perpetual futures are the dominant derivatives product in crypto globally — they generated more than $60 trillion in trading volume in 2025. But US traders have largely been shut out of direct access to regulated perpetuals. Until now.
What the numbers say
Kalshi saw more than $1 billion in perpetual trading volume within its first week of offering the product — a signal that pent-up demand is real. Kraken is betting the same appetite exists among its Pro user base. The timing isn't accidental: the CFTC's May guidance created a clear runway, and Kraken already had the Bitnomial infrastructure in place from the acquisition last year.
Kraken plans to expand the asset lineup and collateral types in the coming months. For now, the contracts are available only to eligible US clients on Kraken Pro. The exchange hasn't said whether it will open perpetuals to retail users outside Pro, but the existing wallet integration suggests the infrastructure is built for scale.
