Webull plans November launch of bitcoin perpetual futures with 24-hour trading
Key Facts
Webull plans to begin offering perpetual futures to eligible U.S. customers in November, according to a company statement, with the initial lineup covering bitcoin and other crypto assets, Reuters reported. Customers will access the products through their existing Webull futures accounts, which will serve as the trading channel for the new contracts. Initial availability will be limited to eligible customers approved for futures trading on the platform. The contracts will be listed on KalshiEx, which is regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a contract market. Clearing will be handled by Kalshi Clear, a derivatives clearing organization also regulated by the commission, according to Webull's statement. Webull's BULL shares closed at $6.1 on October 21, 2026, according to EL7 data.
The launch comes in a market that has seen trading in these products expand outside the United States. Kalshi said in its perpetual futures launch statement that annual trading volume reached $28 trillion in 2023. It added that annual volume exceeded $90 trillion in 2025, a comparison reflecting the expansion in trading over the period specified by the company. Perpetual futures provide continuous exposure to the underlying asset "without a fixed expiration date," according to Webull's description, and use a periodic funding mechanism to help align the contract price with the asset's price. For Kalshi's bitcoin contract, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission document specifies trading 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, subject to any trading halt imposed by the exchange. Positions are subject to periodic funding payments, as well as "automatic liquidation" if margin falls below maintenance requirements, under the terms outlined by Webull. The company also said its futures accounts are not protected by the U.S. Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
Alongside its plans to offer the products, Webull is in a dispute with the U.S. House committee on China over access to customer data and the systems that process it. The committee said its findings concerned "who can access the data and the systems that process it," clarifying that the dispute concerned access rather than where the data is stored. Webull responded in a statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that "customer data is stored in the United States," on Amazon Web Services infrastructure. It added that U.S. administrators control access to sensitive customer information, as part of its response to the committee's concerns over access permissions. The company denied that employees based in China had any access to sensitive U.S. customer information, saying those employees "cannot access it." Webull criticized the committee's report, saying it relied on an incomplete record, drew broad conclusions and "got important facts wrong."
Under the timetable announced by Webull, the launch will begin in November for eligible U.S. customers approved for futures trading. The company expects to expand availability before the end of the year, following the initial rollout through existing accounts. Webull plans to add contracts beyond cryptocurrencies to its product lineup, according to Reuters' reporting on the company's expansion plans. The introduction of those products will be subject to regulatory review and exchange listing requirements, the conditions attached to the announced expansion beyond crypto assets. In this regulatory context, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission states in its order on Kalshi's bitcoin contract that the analysis it contains "does not extend to underlying asset classes other than digital commodities."