Image Credit: Kraken
Kraken began offering CFTC-regulated perpetual futures to U.S. customers on Monday through Kraken Pro. The launch adds a U.S.-regulated perpetual futures product to Kraken’s domestic offering, using infrastructure built through its Bitnomial and NinjaTrader acquisitions.
Kraken Pro Adds Perps to Spot, Margin, and CME Futures Trading
Eligible U.S. clients can now trade perpetual futures within the same Kraken Pro interface used for spot trading, margin trading and CME-listed crypto futures. The contracts feature continuous pricing, no expiration date and an eight-hour funding rate, matching the structure used for perpetuals on offshore platforms.
Positions sit within the same futures wallet as Kraken’s existing CME-listed contracts, allowing traders to manage both books and hedge across positions using a single pool of collateral. Clearing is handled by NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC, which operates as Kraken Derivatives US, with contracts listed on Bitnomial Exchange.
Perpetual futures, often called “perps,” let traders take long or short positions on assets such as Bitcoin without owning the underlying asset and without a contract expiration date. Positions can remain open indefinitely as long as margin requirements are met, unlike traditional futures contracts that require rolling into new expirations.
Perpetual Futures Have Mostly Traded Offshore
According to Kraken, annual perpetual futures volume surpassed $60 trillion in 2025, making it the most widely traded derivatives product in digital asset markets. Most of that activity has taken place on offshore exchanges, including platforms such as Hyperliquid, which has drawn professional traders seeking deep liquidity and continuous leveraged exposure.
Kraken described the launch as the first CFTC-regulated perpetual futures offering on Kraken Pro. Other U.S. platforms have moved on similar products around the same time, including Kalshi, which introduced perpetual contracts on its platform earlier this month and recorded more than $1 billion in trading volume within its first week.
Kraken Used NinjaTrader and Bitnomial Acquisitions to Build the Launch
Kraken acquired NinjaTrader in May 2025 and Bitnomial in May 2026, giving it futures commission merchant, exchange and clearinghouse licenses regulated by the CFTC. The company added CME-listed crypto futures and margin trading for U.S. customers ahead of Monday’s launch.
John Palmer, Kraken’s head of derivatives, said last week that adoption may follow the trajectory of spot Bitcoin ETFs.
We saw retail, we saw sophisticated customers really enter that market very quickly, and then we slowly started to see investment advisors, asset managers enter the space in a trailing fashion […] those will typically require them to move a little bit slower.
At launch, Kraken’s perpetual futures cover BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, DOGE, LTC, and AVAX. The company said it plans to expand the range of contracts and collateral options over time.
