Coinbase Ignites US Crypto Trading With CFTC-Regulated Perpetuals—10x Leverage & Near-Zero 0.02% Fees

Wall Street’s worst nightmare just got sharper teeth.

Coinbase slashes into the derivatives arena with CFTC-backed perpetual contracts for US traders—offering 10x leverage and fees so low (0.02%) they’d make a high-frequency quant blush. Finally, a regulated playground for degens.

The leverage arms race heats up

While traditional finance clings to its 2x margin limits, crypto exchanges keep pushing the envelope. Coinbase’s move pressures rivals to match its combo of regulatory compliance and aggressive terms.

Fee wars reach absurdity

At 0.02%, these rates undercut even some equity brokers. Either Coinbase knows something about volume we don’t—or they’re betting on traders blowing up accounts faster than they can say ‘liquidation.’

One thing’s certain: when the CFTC starts greenlighting 10x leverage, maybe ‘regulated’ doesn’t mean what it used to.

CFTC-regulated perpetuals for US traders

Perpetual futures appeal to sophisticated traders who hedge spot exposure, arbitrage funding spreads, or seek higher notional leverage than spot borrowing permits. 

Notably, the perpetual market represents the largest portion of crypto trading. According to Coinglass, Bitcoin’s monthly spot volume totaled $32.2 billion as of July 20, while its perpetual market reached nearly $313 billion during the same period, almost 10x larger.

Coinbase sets a maximum leverage of 10x, which is lower than the 20x to 50x ratios common on most offshore platforms.

Competing with international rivals

Major non-US venues, such as Binance, OKX, and Bybit, dominate crypto futures activity, each reporting tens of billions of dollars in daily trading volume. 

Coinbase seeks to capture share by marketing regulatory clarity and custody segregation to prop trading firms and high-net-worth individuals who previously routed orders abroad.

Branzburg said the firm will expand contract listings based on demand but plans to keep the leverage cap in place to preserve market integrity.