Coinbase offers AI‑stock perpetuals

Coinbase is preparing to expand its stock perpetual futures lineup with contracts tied to four companies linked to artificial-intelligence infrastructure: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Cerebras Systems, Nebius Group and Bloom Energy. The planned launch is targeted for May 18, according to market reports that cited Coinbase’s announcement, and is contingent on sufficient liquidity. The move would extend a product line Coinbase formally introduced in March for eligible customers outside the United States. It would also put AI-linked equity exposure into the same 24/7, leveraged format the exchange already uses for crypto derivatives. ### Which stocks is Coinbase adding, and when? Coinbase identified four names for the new contracts: Cerebras Systems under ticker CBRS, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. under TSM, Nebius Group under NBIS and Bloom Energy under BE. Trading is expected to begin on May 18, pending liquidity, according to multiple reports that described the company’s rollout notice. (cryptorank.io) May 18 matters because Coinbase’s existing stock-perpetual product is already live for other names. In a March 20 blog post, Coinbase said it had launched stock perpetual futures for eligible traders outside the United States, starting with a set of highly liquid U.S. stocks including Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla, along with SPY and QQQ ETF perpetuals where permitted. (cryptorank.io) ### What exactly is a stock perpetual future on Coinbase? Coinbase describes stock perpetual futures as USDC-settled contracts that track publicly listed equities or equity baskets without requiring traders to own the underlying shares. The contracts trade continuously, have no expiry date and use funding payments to keep prices aligned with the underlying stock or index. (coinbase.com) The exchange says these products run on Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced for eligible users. Coinbase also says the contracts are cross-margined with other perpetual futures positions, allowing traders to use one pool of collateral across crypto and stock-perp positions. (help.coinbase.com) ### Who can trade them, and who cannot? Coinbase says its international derivatives products are available only in select regions outside the United States. The company’s March launch post said stock perpetual futures were available to eligible retail traders and institutions on Coinbase International Exchange, while noting the product was not available to U.S. persons and could be restricted in some jurisdictions. (help.coinbase.com) Coinbase’s product pages also distinguish between venues. Coinbase Derivatives, the U.S. exchange registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, offers a separate set of futures products, while the stock-perpetual offering is tied to Coinbase Bermuda Ltd. and the company’s international platform. ### How much leverage is attached to these contracts? Coinbase says eligible traders can use up to 10x leverage on single-name stock perpetual futures and up to 20x on equity-index and ETF stock perpetuals. (coinbase.com) The company’s help materials say stock perps are cross-margined with crypto perpetual futures, which means losses in one part of a portfolio can affect margin and liquidation risk elsewhere in the account. (coinbase.com) Funding is another core feature. Coinbase says stock perps use the same funding-rate framework as its standard perpetual futures to keep contract prices close to the underlying market, with payments flowing between long and short traders depending on the rate. (help.coinbase.com) ### Why are these AI-linked names showing up now? Coinbase said in March that it planned to broaden stock perpetual futures beyond the initial launch set by adding more highly liquid equities across sectors, as well as more indices, commodities and other globally traded assets. The AI-infrastructure names fit that expansion plan, though Coinbase has not publicly detailed why those four were selected beyond the liquidity condition attached to launch. (help.coinbase.com) Saturday, May 16 is the latest date on Coinbase’s derivatives market-data page, which shows the company operating more than 170 derivatives markets across venues. If the AI-linked contracts go live on May 18 as planned, eligible users would find them through Coinbase Advanced and Coinbase International Exchange, where Coinbase says stock perpetual futures are offered to non-U.S. customers in supported jurisdictions. (coinbase.com 1) (coinbase.com 2)