Coinbase launches 24/7 leverage
Coinbase has rolled out round-the-clock stock trading with up to 10x leverage on names like Nvidia, Tesla, and Apple for non-U.S. users — introducing perpetual-style microstructure to U.S. equities outside regular hours. Analysts note leading AI stocks are trading at what some call 'bargain' multiples after recent sell-offs, which combined with 24/7 leveraged access raises new market-structure and risk-modeling challenges. (benzinga.com) (fool.com)
Coinbase posted its product announcement on March 20, 2026, naming the new instruments "stock perpetual futures" and describing them as an expansion of its global derivatives offering. (coinbase.com) Trades on the new contracts settle in USDC on crypto rails and run on the same perpetual‑futures engine and risk framework Coinbase already uses for its crypto derivatives. (coinbase.com) The product set explicitly includes ETF perpetuals with higher allowed leverage and a design that enables cross‑margining between perpetual futures and spot balances. (coinbase.com) Coinbase made the contracts accessible via its Advanced UI and APIs for professional/trading users and through the Coinbase International Exchange for institutional participants, while indicating an intention to expand the lineup to additional indices and asset classes over time. (coinbase.com) The rollout is being conducted through Coinbase’s international entity, routed via Coinbase Bermuda Ltd. under Bermuda oversight, and the firm stated the offering is not available to U.S. persons at launch. (coincentral.com) To seed order books, public reporting flagged a liquidity incentive program that includes a roughly $200,000 reward pool and temporary volume multipliers aimed at attracting flow from decentralized and offshore venues. (cryptoninjas.net) Market‑structure commentators warned that pricing these perpetuals against U.S. cash‑market references creates a basis and gap‑risk profile that will stress intraday margin models, auto‑liquidation rules, and market‑maker hedging around major news and macro events. (ainvest.com) A concrete quant research angle: calibrate an intraday basis model by pairing Coinbase perps API tick feeds with U.S. consolidated‑tape/TAQ snapshots for ETF contracts such as SPY and QQQ and then validate dynamic‑margin performance via simulated cross‑margin stress tests. (coinbase.com)
