A group backed by Cboe and Citadel Securities has sued the CFTC to block single-stock perpetual futures that the regulator cleared for US exchanges. The fight could decide whether Hyperliquid's market, which handles about $5 billion a day, reaches American traders.
A group backed by Cboe and Citadel Securities sued the CFTC on November 3 to block stock perps, hours after the regulator cleared them for US exchanges. The approval named no offshore venue, but the biggest of those venues runs on Hyperliquid.
Trade.xyz, Hyperliquid's largest builder market, did $4.99 billion in volume over 24 hours across 142 contracts, with $4.42 billion in open interest. However, the lawsuit did not knock HYPE over: the token dipped to $81.01 early Wednesday and stood at $85.93 by 08:00 UTC.
What the Capital Markets Alliance wants from the court
The Capital Markets Alliance, whose members include Cboe, Citadel Securities and the Healthy Markets Association, filed in federal court in Manhattan. It argues the contracts are security-based swaps, which belong to the SEC. It asks the court to vacate the CFTC's approval, declare the contracts security-based swaps and freeze trading while the case runs.
The CFTC pushed back. A spokesperson said, "Our markets should be governed by law, not litigation campaigns intended to block innovation," according to Coinspeaker.
Why Hyperliquid has the most at stake
Trade.xyz launched in October 2025 as the first market built on HIP-3, and it now handles about 98% of HIP-3 volume. Its markets made up about 41% of everything traded on the chain. Hyperliquid's own crypto perpetuals did $7.14 billion over the same 24 hours.
The case cannot touch trades on Hyperliquid itself. Instead, it decides whether US exchanges can compete for the same flow, and whether ICE can bring trade.xyz onshore. If the alliance wins, single-stock perpetuals become SEC products, closed to retail. If the CFTC wins, Coinbase and Kalshi get the first shot at American traders.
The freeze decision comes first
Neither outcome will arrive soon, because ICE's exchange still needs its own CFTC approval. The first real test is whether the court freezes the approval while the case runs. A freeze would stall US listings before Kalshi or Coinbase trade a single contract.
Source: Coinspeaker
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
