You Can Now Trade Official S&P 500 Perpetual Futures via Hyperliquid

In brief

• S&P Dow Jones Indices licensed the S&P 500 to Trade[XYZ], enabling round-the-clock speculation on the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S.
• The development comes as the CFTC develops a regulatory framework for perpetual futures in the U.S., which could be unveiled soon.
• Perpetual futures tied to indices and exchange-traded funds are becoming increasingly popular on Hyperliquid, yet commodities and crypto still lead.

Hyperliquid traders have gained access to perpetual futures that track the S&P 500 under a licensing agreement between S&P Dow Jones Indices and Trade[XYZ], enabling round-the-clock speculation on the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. For the first time, investors outside the U.S. will be able to gain leveraged exposure to the stock index using an officially licensed product that’s also digitally native, the index provider said in a Wednesday announcement. In recent months, Trade[XYZ] has broadened access to markets based on real-world assets like gold and oil on Hyperliquid. The startup offers contracts that are settled in Circle’s USDC stablecoin and accessible through the decentralized exchange.

“We developed XYZ with a vision of bringing the world’s most important markets on-chain,” Collins Belton, chief operating officer and general counsel at Trade[XYZ]’s parent company, said in a statement. “The S&P 500 is a natural starting point.”  Perpetual futures tied to indices and exchange-traded funds are becoming increasingly popular on Hyperliquid, following an upgrade last year that allows firms like Trade[XYZ] to create markets independently. On Sunday, perpetual futures tied to those products commanded 5.5% of Hyperliquid’s trading volumes at $215 million, according to a Dune dashboard. Although that was far less than crypto (76%) and commodities (17%), the new licensing agreement shows that companies forming the bedrock of traditional finance are taking a closer look at the proliferation on-chain of perpetual futures.

Hyperliquid’s native token changed hands around $43 on Wednesday, a 7% increase over the past day. Its price has tumbled 27% from an all-time high of $59 in September. Still, HYPE has soared 225% over the past year. Earlier this month, CFTC Chair Mike Selig indicated alongside SEC Chair Paul Atkins that his agency plans to establish a regulatory framework for perpetual futures in the U.S. soon. At the time, he argued the prior administration drove associated activity offshore. Perpetual futures allow a trader to speculate on an asset indefinitely, and their prices are anchored to their underlying asset through periodic payments, known as a funding rate. Over time, they have become the dominant form of derivatives across global crypto markets.