OKX Launches EU Stock Perpetual Futures for Retail Traders

OKX is rolling out perpetual futures tied to the Magnificent 7, SPY, QQQ and major commodity benchmarks for European retail customers.

In a Tuesday release shared with Cointelegraph, OKX said the new X-Perps markets allow users to trade futures tied to top US technology stocks, alongside index-linked contracts based on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 via SPY and QQQ.

The products also provide exposure to gold, silver and oil with up to 10x leverage, using the same margin pool as customers’ crypto holdings.

OKX defines its X-Perps lineup as a regulated derivatives product that combines leveraged trading with a funding-rate mechanism designed to track underlying spot prices. It launched in April with crypto-linked contracts including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL) and XRP.

Crypto exchanges are increasingly converging equities and derivatives trading into single retail platforms in Europe, where regulatory overlap between the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework is reshaping how traditional and digital asset exposure is packaged for retail investors.

OKX Europe launched X-Perps. Source: OKX

Crypto exchanges race to bring stock derivatives onshore

The addition of contracts linked to the Magnificent 7, a nickname for seven of the largest US tech companies, comes as exchanges increasingly package traditional financial assets into crypto-native trading products.

Kraken rolled out regulated tokenized equity perpetual futures for non-US clients in February, including instruments tied to the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Magnificent 7 and gold, built on its xStocks framework.

Coinbase followed in March, launching stock perpetual futures for non-US users via Coinbase Advanced and Coinbase International Exchange with crypto-settled margin.

Binance has also expanded into equities-linked products, rolling out commission-free trading for US-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds for non-US users earlier in June.

Related: France’s AMF regulator sets June 30 deadline for MiCA licensing

OKX’s bet is that X-Perps bring that equity derivatives functionality for European retail in a single, regulated account, rather than forcing traders to juggle a broker regulated under the MiFID II for stocks and an offshore crypto exchange for perpetual futures.

Erald Ghoos, chief executive of OKX Europe, told Cointelegraph that X-Perps volumes in Europe have risen more than 447% since May 1 and are “predominantly” being driven by new clients who previously traded US equity-linked derivatives on offshore or unlicensed platforms.

Regulators weigh rules for crypto-linked derivatives

The growth of stock-linked products on crypto platforms comes as European regulators examine how existing securities and derivatives rules apply to crypto-linked investment products.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) warned in February that leveraged crypto-linked derivatives may fall under existing EU CFD rules, which impose limits on leverage, margin close-out protections and risk warnings.

European regulators are also examining how investor protection rules apply to perpetual derivatives and tokenized stock products ahead of the EU’s full MiCA framework implementation on July 1, 2026.

Crypto asset service providers that fail to obtain authorization will be required to stop serving EU clients.

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