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Citadel Securities-Backed Group Sues CFTC Over Expansion of Crypto-Style Perpetual Futures

By José Oramas November 04, 2026 In CFTC, Security

The Capital Markets Alliance sued the CFTC and Chairman Michael Selig in New York federal court on Tuesday.
The approvals cover single-stock perpetuals that KalshiEX, Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial applied to list on 18 September, the complaint says.
The alliance argues the contracts are security-based swaps under SEC jurisdiction and wants the approvals vacated.

A trade group backed by Citadel Securities and Cboe sued the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Tuesday, hours after the regulator cleared perpetual futures on individual stocks.

The Capital Markets Alliance filed the complaint in federal court in Manhattan against the CFTC and its chairman, Michael Selig. It argues the contracts are security-based swaps, which only the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can oversee.

Selig said earlier that day that perpetual futures on single stocks could begin trading for the first time on CFTC-registered exchanges that are also notice-registered with the SEC. He said the contracts were deemed approved as security futures products under the agency’s Regulation 40.3.

Review Period Ran Out

KalshiEX, Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial, the exchange owned by Kraken parent Payward, applied to list the contracts on 18 September. The CFTC let its 45-day review of those applications close on 2 November without issuing a written order, according to the complaint.

Selig said the approvals extend perpetual futures beyond digital commodities into traditional securities. They build on the Bitcoin perpetual the CFTC approved for Kalshi on 29 May, he said.

He argued that regulated listings spare American traders from turning to offshore venues, which are often unregulated.

Binance Case Cited

The alliance’s complaint says the contracts never expire and carry no obligation of future delivery, the features of a swap.

It cites the CFTC’s 2023 case against Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, in which the agency described Binance’s perpetual contracts as swaps. The Hyperliquid Policy Center argued the opposite in August, when it asked the SEC and CFTC to treat equity perpetuals as security futures.

The alliance alleges the CFTC breached the Administrative Procedure Act by giving no explanation and failing to consider the impact on investors and securities markets. It asks the court to vacate the approvals and to block them from taking effect while the case runs.

“The hasty roll out of financial products that circumvent well-established regulatory frameworks erodes investor protection and undermines the integrity and resiliency of the American financial system,” alliance secretary Adam Ford said.