Key Takeaways:
Kraken added U.S. perpetual futures on June 15 through Kraken Pro.Bitnomial brings CFTC licenses to a perps market that topped $60T in 2025.Kraken Pro now lets eligible U.S. traders manage perps, futures and spot.Perpetual futures, often called perps, are derivative contracts that allow traders to speculate on an asset’s price without an expiration date. Unlike traditional futures, they do not require traders to roll positions when a contract expires.
One Account, One CounterpartyBitnomial holds U.S. derivatives licenses across exchange, clearinghouse and brokerage operations, giving Kraken the regulatory structure to offer eligible U.S. clients perpetual futures inside the CFTC’s perimeter.
The practical pitch is simple: Traders can manage spot, margin, futures and perpetuals in Kraken Pro, while using one pool of collateral across futures and perps. In plain English, less capital gets parked in exchange limbo, and more of it can stay active.
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, said the point is to put the full trading stack in one place.
“Spot, margin, futures and now perpetuals all live in the same account at Kraken,” Sethi remarked, adding that traders are better off dealing with one trusted venue than “a dozen they have to manage.”
John Palmer, Kraken’s global head of derivatives, framed the launch as a fix for fragmented trading.
“For traders, the friction was never just getting access to perpetuals, but being forced to hold them on one venue and the rest of the book on another,” Palmer explained.
What Traders Need to KnowPerpetuals remain powerful, but they are not a toy for the bored and overleveraged. Funding rates help keep perp prices close to spot markets, with longs typically paying shorts when the perp trades above spot, and shorts paying longs when it trades below spot.
Perpetual futures with no expiry are available now to eligible U.S. clients on Kraken Pro, though eligibility and product access vary by jurisdiction.
