U.S. Institutional Traders Can Now Access SGX BTC and ETH Perpetual Futures

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has secured approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to allow U.S. institutional investors to trade its bitcoin and ether perpetual futures, opening a new channel between American trading firms and Asian crypto liquidity.

KC Lam, head of crypto derivatives at SGX Group, said the authorization was obtained under Regulation 48.10. The framework allows U.S. participants to access contracts listed on a CFTC-recognized Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT) without requiring the overseas exchange to register separately as a full U.S.-regulated exchange.

This means qualifying foreign exchanges can make their existing trading systems and order books available to U.S. institutional clients under CFTC supervision rather than creating separate products for the U.S. market.

Lam described the development as a major milestone, saying it connects U.S. traditional finance firms trading crypto futures with Asian liquidity pools and further establishes crypto derivatives as a regulated asset class.

SGX Crypto Futures Generate $5.8B

SGX launched its bitcoin perpetual futures, BTP, and ether perpetual futures, ETP, in late November 2025. Since launch, the two contracts have generated about $5.8 billion in cumulative trading volume, representing roughly 400,000 lots.

Combined open interest was around 1.3k lots, or $19 million, at the end of August. Bitcoin represented 66% of open interest and 83% of average daily trading volume since the products were introduced.

The highest single-day volume reached 11.5k lots, equal to approximately $145 million in notional value.

Despite the crypto market’s rally in August, SGX said new client activity is largely tied to onboarding schedules. Prospective customers must complete KYC checks, fund their accounts and establish API connections through clearing members, with the process generally taking two to four weeks regardless of jurisdiction.

The exchange has completed its FIS-enabled back-office integration and is preparing U.S. clearing members to begin onboarding clients over the next one to two months.

Different Approach to Leveraged Trading

SGX’s perpetual futures are being used for both directional and arbitrage strategies. Traders can take macro-driven positions on bitcoin and ether, including bets linked to currency debasement concerns, while others use cash-and-carry strategies to take advantage of price and funding-rate differences across venues.

The contracts have no expiry, similar to perpetual futures offered by crypto-native exchanges. However, SGX uses a different mechanism for managing leveraged positions.

Rather than automatically liquidating positions when traders fall short of margin requirements, SGX relies on margin calls and additional collateral. The approach is designed to reduce involuntary position closures during sudden market swings.

Liquidations can create cascading losses when leveraged traders are unable to meet margin requirements. These chains can amplify volatility, while auto-deleveraging can further spread losses across market participants. The liquidation turmoil last October was intensified by auto-deleveraging.

Lam said SGX’s traditional risk-management structure allows traders to respond to margin shortfalls with additional collateral instead of facing automatic liquidation during sharp market moves.

The exchange also maintains separate trading and clearing operations. Transactions pass through clearing members that act as an intermediate risk buffer, following a model commonly used in traditional futures and commodities markets.

Stablecoins are not permitted as collateral because they can lose their peg during periods of extreme volatility, Lam said.

The contracts are based on benchmark indices developed jointly with CoinDesk Indices. Mohit Baheti, head of iEdge Indices at SGX Group, said the benchmarks are managed under the European Union Benchmark Regulation.

More Crypto Products in the Pipeline

SGX is preparing to broaden its crypto derivatives lineup with dated bitcoin and ether futures and options.

Lam said the biggest task will be building the infrastructure required for those products. Once that foundation is established, introducing contracts for other major cryptocurrencies could become a relatively simple extension.

The exchange plans to expand its crypto offerings gradually, taking a disciplined, step-by-step approach as it develops its institutional derivatives business.