US CFTC Chair Clarifies Perpetual Contract Controversy: No Fixed Maturity Does Not Affect Futures Attributes, Funding Rate Mechanism Aids Price Anchoring

Odaily Planet Daily News: US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Mike Selig responded on the X platform to clarify several misconceptions about perpetual futures contracts and address the controversy surrounding the CFTC's recent approval of related contracts.

Mike Selig stated that the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC rules do not explicitly require a "futures contract" to have a fixed maturity or delivery date. Since Congress did not provide a clear definition for the term, the determination of futures contracts primarily relies on judicial precedents and CFTC interpretations, and a fixed maturity date is not a necessary condition.

Regarding the claim that "the CFTC-approved BTCPERP contract allows US users to use 250x leverage," high leverage is not an inherent feature of the perpetual contract structure but rather a characteristic of previous offshore platform trading models. Perpetual contracts regulated by the CFTC will adhere to the same leverage limits as other regulated futures products.

In response to the criticism that "the CFTC did not provide the industry with opportunities for participation and feedback," the CFTC had already publicly requested comments on "perpetual contracts" and "24/7 trading" in April 2025, receiving over 100 submissions from industry participants, including several CFTC-registered entities. Furthermore, regarding the view that the funding rate mechanism incurs high costs and induces adverse market behavior, after considering costs such as opening and rolling over traditional term futures contracts, the annualized holding cost of perpetual contract funding rates is essentially comparable to that of traditional futures. The funding rate mechanism actually helps maintain the contract price's anchoring to the spot market and serves a market disciplinary function.