Webull sets November US perpetual futures launch to challenge offshore venues

Webull will introduce Bitcoin and selected crypto perpetual futures offerings to qualified U.S. customers in November 2026, thereby providing those traders with a regulated option compared to offshore trading venues.

As mentioned by Webull, broader accessibility should come within a few months. However, the biggest question is whether this popular brokerage will be able to pull traders away from the offshore markets and emerging perpetual decentralized exchanges.

How the Kalshi route opens the US door

In contrast to conventional futures, perpetual contracts will never have any expiry. The funding process assists in adjusting prices in accordance with market prices. However, the use of leverage may lead to forced liquidations.

Webull will offer contracts at KalshiEX and clear them using Kalshi Klear. The CFTC gave the green light to Kalshi’s Bitcoin BTCPERP contract on May 29 while stating that review of other assets is required to be carried out in a case-by-case basis.

The scale Webull is trying to reach into

The market is huge. CryptoQuant reported that Binance processed perpetual volumes of about $25 trillion in 2025, which is a growth of 20%.

According to a study conducted by Stanford and Columbia universities, the amount of perpetual volume worldwide reported in that very year stands at $61.7 trillion. Rate of global centralized perpetual trading has been estimated at $85.3 trillion by CoinGecko. These numbers have been calculated differently, thus none of them should be added together.

CoinGecko’s Q3 report indicated that perpetual open interest increased by 40.6% to over $100 billion, despite the fact that centralized spot trading activity decreased by 14.2%. Open interest refers to active positions instead of volume of trades.

It remains unclear whether Webull will manage to attract these funds onshore.

The classification fight hanging over the product

The legal dispute regarding perpetual futures isn’t settled yet. CME initiated the lawsuit against CFTC on June 18. CME argues that contracts without expiry date must be considered swaps instead of futures. This classification is important, as different margin, registration and taxation rules apply to swaps and futures.

On October 16, CFTC responded in court asking to reject the lawsuit of CME because the latter did not provide evidence of any imminent competition harm. As noted by Cryptopolitan, even if the lawsuit is rejected, the fundamental issue of classification of perpetual futures will remain unresolved.

The leverage and oversight questions buyers inherit

CME CEO Terry Duffy expressed reservations while addressing the CFTC’s decision to approve crypto perpetual futures. He warned that applying leverage ratios of 50-to-1 and automatic liquidation may inflict severe financial losses on traders.

Another point of concern is related to oversight. A BIS study states that “many MCIs do not publish financial statements,” which makes it difficult to assess their financial health and risks.

The potential costs are already evident. A Hyperliquid study found that mostly retail traders using its front-end interface lost $1.11 billion over 15 months, while market makers earned $208 million. Trading fees alone accounted for $725 million of those losses.

Researchers also reported approximately $150 billion in crypto derivatives liquidations during 2025, including more than $19 billion on October 10 alone.

Once Webull launches in November, the focus will shift to how many traders use the service, whether it attracts enough liquidity, and how its trading costs and retail losses compare with offshore platforms. A regulated U.S. alternative could change the competitive landscape, but it won’t make leveraged trading any less risky.