The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has expanded access to its bitcoin and ether perpetual futures, allowing U.S. institutional investors to trade the contracts after receiving authorization from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The approval comes under Regulation 48.10, which permits a CFTC-recognized Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT) to provide U.S. participants with direct access to its overseas trading platform. Foreign exchanges using the framework do not have to register separately as a fully regulated U.S. exchange.

For SGX, the authorization means eligible U.S. institutions can now access its existing crypto order books rather than trading through a separate U.S.-listed product.

KC Lam, SGX Group’s head of crypto derivatives, described the development as an important milestone for the exchange. He said it links U.S. traditional finance participants with Asian liquidity and helps establish crypto derivatives more firmly within regulated financial markets.

$5.8B in trading volume

SGX introduced its bitcoin perpetual futures, known as BTP, and ether perpetual futures, or ETP, in late November 2025. Together, the contracts have generated approximately $5.8 billion in cumulative volume, equivalent to around 400,000 lots.

By the end of August, open interest across both contracts was about 1.3k lots, representing $19 million. Bitcoin accounted for 66% of open interest and 83% of average daily volume recorded since launch.

The contracts reached their strongest daily volume at 11.5k lots, worth approximately $145 million in notional value.

Lam said the pace at which U.S. clients begin trading will depend largely on the onboarding process. New customers must complete KYC checks, make deposits and establish API connectivity through clearing members. The process typically requires two to four weeks, regardless of jurisdiction.

SGX’s FIS-enabled back-office integration is now fully operational, and the exchange is preparing its U.S. clearing members to onboard clients during the next one to two months.

Perpetual contracts serve multiple strategies

SGX’s products are being used for both directional trades based on macroeconomic views and arbitrage strategies.

Investors can use the contracts to take positions on bitcoin and ether in response to themes such as currency debasement. Traders can also employ cash-and-carry strategies to capture differences in funding rates and pricing between different venues.

Although the contracts have no expiration date, SGX’s risk controls differ significantly from those used by many crypto-native exchanges.

Instead of relying on automatic liquidations, SGX uses margin calls and additional collateral requirements. The system is intended to give traders an opportunity to restore their margin positions during periods of sharp volatility rather than having positions automatically closed.

Liquidations can create cascading market moves when leveraged traders fail to meet margin requirements. Such events can amplify an initial price move, while auto-deleveraging can spread losses across market participants. The liquidation wave last October was further intensified by auto-deleveraging.

Lam said SGX’s traditional risk framework is designed to limit involuntary position closures during market shocks by relying on margin calls and top-up collateral.

The exchange also keeps trading and clearing functions separate. Trades are processed through clearing members that provide an additional layer of risk protection, reflecting the structure traditionally used in futures and commodities markets.

SGX does not accept stablecoins as collateral because they can lose their peg during periods of heightened volatility, Lam said.

The bitcoin and ether contracts use benchmark indices jointly developed with CoinDesk Indices. According to Mohit Baheti, head of iEdge Indices at SGX Group, those benchmarks are managed under the European Union’s Benchmark Regulation.

Bitcoin and ether options are next

SGX plans to add more crypto derivatives, with dated bitcoin and ether futures and options next on its roadmap.

Lam said the main challenge is establishing the infrastructure needed to support the new products. Once that system is in place, adding contracts tied to other major cryptocurrencies should require a much smaller incremental effort.

The exchange intends to expand its crypto derivatives range gradually while maintaining what Lam described as a disciplined, step-by-step approach.