Key Highlights
- Robinhood is set to introduce crypto perpetual futures contracts for qualified American customers in the upcoming months.
- Leverage options will reach 10x for Bitcoin and Ethereum, with six additional cryptocurrencies offering 3x leverage.
- Bitstamp will facilitate these transactions at a fee of 0.01% per trade until December 2026.
- Round-the-clock weekend trading for chosen US equities and ETFs is in development, awaiting regulatory clearance.
- Robinhood Agents has been unveiled, enabling customers to create AI-powered bots for market analysis and automated transactions.
The popular trading platform Robinhood has revealed its intention to bring crypto perpetual futures contracts to qualified American traders. This announcement came during the company’s HOOD Summit event held on September 29.
This upcoming offering will enable traders to establish long or short positions across eight different cryptocurrency assets. The lineup features Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, ADA, LINK, and HYPE.
The maximum leverage available for Bitcoin and Ether positions will reach 10x. Meanwhile, the remaining six digital assets will have leverage restricted to 3x.
According to Robinhood, traders will pay 0.01% for each transaction until December 31, 2026. The company has not specified a precise launch timeline, stating only that deployment will occur within the next few months.
Unlike traditional futures, these instruments have no set expiration. CEO Vlad Tenev described them as “America’s first true perps” on his X account, noting that settlements for gains and losses will occur every quarter-hour.
Traders will have the ability to establish stop-loss and take-profit parameters. Additionally, they can monitor liquidation thresholds in real time and receive notifications when positions approach risk levels.
Perpetual Crypto Futures Enter US Markets
Federal regulators created a more transparent framework for these financial instruments earlier in the current year. On May 29, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission granted approval to KalshiEX for a Bitcoin-based perpetual contract as a futures instrument.
The regulatory body also indicated that additional perpetual contracts would typically undergo individual evaluation processes. Robinhood’s announcement did not reference any particular prior regulatory decision.
These financial instruments will be available through Robinhood Derivatives, which holds registration as a futures commission merchant. Bitstamp, the cryptocurrency platform Robinhood acquired for $200 million in 2025, will provide backend support.
Similar perpetual offerings are already available to European customers through Bitstamp. Those European contracts initially launched with more conservative leverage restrictions compared to what’s being proposed for American traders.
Non-Stop Stock Markets and AI Trading Assistants
The platform is also developing continuous trading capabilities for a selected group of US equities and exchange-traded funds. This around-the-clock weekend service is anticipated to debut in early 2027, subject to regulatory approval.
This new functionality expands upon Robinhood’s current after-hours trading infrastructure. The existing platform already operates from Sunday evening through Friday evening for hundreds of securities and ETFs.
Chief Brokerage Officer Steve Quirk emphasized that market-moving news doesn’t follow traditional market schedules. Bruce ATS, functioning as an alternative trading system, will power these weekend trading sessions.
Additional scheduling modifications are coming this autumn as well. Beginning in October, options trading windows will expand to operate from 7:30 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. Eastern time.
Qualified margin account holders will also receive enhanced intraday purchasing power. This threshold will increase from 2x to potentially 4x beginning next month.
Concurrent with these trading enhancements, Robinhood unveiled Robinhood Agents. This capability allows customers to design personalized AI assistants within the application for market research and automated transaction execution.
Since a related functionality debuted in May, over 150,000 users have established accounts for agentic trading. According to Robinhood, these AI assistants now interact with platform tools approximately 30 million times daily.
An upcoming capability named Loops will permit users to establish repeating directives for their AI agents. These agents will monitor market dynamics and complete transactions when predetermined criteria are satisfied.
As of September 30, Robinhood has not provided specific launch timelines for either the crypto perpetual futures contracts or the continuous weekend stock trading feature. Both initiatives remain in development as regulatory processes continue.
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