A federal judge has allowed perpetual futures on individual stocks to keep trading on Kalshi, Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial, denying an emergency halt on Tuesday, Nov. 3, while finding that the Wall Street-backed challengers are likely to prove that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) overstepped its authority.

The ruling means leveraged single-stock perps, which trade at 4.9x leverage, remain available on the three platforms for now. It also marks a significant test for the Bitcoin (BTC) perpetual futures model, a contract structure pioneered in crypto markets that is now being applied to equities, as the court weighs whether regulators acted within their mandate. Because the litigation targets these products directly, its resolution could determine whether leveraged equity perps stay available on CFTC-regulated venues, placing the case at the intersection of crypto-derived market structure and U.S. derivatives regulation.

What Perpetual Futures Are

Perpetual futures, commonly called "perps," are derivative contracts that have no expiration date. Rather than settling on a fixed day, positions can be held indefinitely, with a funding mechanism used to keep the contract price in line with the underlying asset. Under a typical funding arrangement, periodic payments are exchanged between traders holding long and short positions, which works to pull the contract price toward the underlying asset's price. Because there is no expiry, traders do not need to roll positions into new contracts as they would with dated futures, allowing leveraged exposure to be maintained continuously.

The structure was popularized in cryptocurrency markets, where perpetual futures on Bitcoin and other digital assets have become among the most actively traded instruments. That history frames why the dispute matters: it tests how readily a contract design born in crypto markets can operate inside U.S. regulated markets once applied to equities.

Extending that model to individual stocks allows traders to hold leveraged equity positions continuously. Kalshi, a CFTC-regulated exchange best known for its event contracts; Coinbase Derivatives, the derivatives arm of crypto exchange Coinbase; and Bitnomial, a CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange, have all moved into this market.

The Dispute Over the CFTC's Authority

The litigation centers on claims that the CFTC overstepped its authority in connection with leveraged single-stock perpetual futures. The challengers in the case are backed by Wall Street interests, and the judge's assessment that they are likely to prove that claim keeps the question squarely in play as the litigation continues.

At the same time, the denial of an emergency halt means the contracts remain tradable while the case moves forward. The court's finding on likelihood of success is a preliminary-stage determination and does not resolve the broader dispute over how far the CFTC's jurisdiction extends into leveraged equity products. For readers tracking the story, the developments to watch next are the proceedings that will test the authority claim on its merits, along with whether the three platforms keep the 4.9x contracts listed while the case proceeds.

This content was first published on COINOTAG on 2026-11-04: https://en.coinotag.com/judge-kalshi-stock-perps-4-9x-bitcoin-btc-perp-test