The Singapore Exchange (SGX) will introduce Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures on Nov 24 to meet rising institutional crypto demand, bridging traditional finance and crypto-native ecosystems.
The contracts will offer institutional, accredited, and expert investors a continuous, no-expiry structure coupled with robust clearing and margining standards of listed derivatives.
They will also adopt a funding rate mechanism, which allows for a reset of the basis risk.
This also ensures that the price of the futures contract converges toward the underlying cryptocurrency index price, mitigating the basis risk that typically arises from hedging with traditional futures that have long expiry dates, according to SGX in an FAQ on its website.
The contracts will be benchmarked to iEdge CoinDesk Crypto Indices, which cover real-time benchmarks and reference rates for Bitcoin and Ethereum, SGX said.
Although perpetual futures account for more than US$187 billion (S$243.7 billion) in daily average volumes globally, with Asia at the epicentre of growth, these flows remain largely priced off and settled on offshore platforms outside the region, SGX said.
SGX Group president Michael Syn described the move as applying the same institutional discipline that underpins global markets to crypto’s most-traded payoff.
SGX added in its release that the launch drew encouraging feedback from market participants, as they view it as a timely and strategic step in advancing access to crypto markets, which have become increasingly mainstream.
DBS Bank’s Patrick Yeo noted that crypto perpetuals offer institutional traders enhanced precision and capital efficiency when managing their digital asset portfolios, compared with spot trading.
OKX Singapore’s Gracie Lin highlighted growing demand for regionally anchored benchmarks as institutions seek to integrate crypto exposure with other asset classes.
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