Coinbase is opening derivatives trading in the UK to professional investors, offering more than 170 contracts across crypto, commodities, equities, and foreign exchange, with leverage of up to 50x.
In a post, UK and international vice president Keith Grose said the lineup will include three product types: perpetuals, dated futures, and crypto options.
Three product categories
Perpetuals will span the full 170-plus asset range, have no expiry date, trade around the clock, and offer up to 50x leverage.
Dated futures settle on fixed dates. Their pricing includes cost-of-carry at entry rather than charging funding rates, and leverage is capped at 20x.
Crypto options will be limited to crypto underlyings and include both calls and puts across single-leg and multi-leg strategies. Coinbase said payoff diagrams are built into the interface.
Access limited to professional clients
Only investors classified as professional clients will qualify for the service, and Coinbase said access will roll out progressively over the coming months.
In a post on X, the company said eligible professional investors in the UK will soon be able to access futures, perpetuals, and options across more than 170 contracts in crypto, FX, equities, and commodities.
Launch built on FCA authorization
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has barred the sale of crypto derivatives to retail consumers since 2021, leaving offshore venues as the main route for individual traders.
Coinbase said the new launch rests on the investment services authorization it secured from the FCA on July 7, commonly called a MiFID licence. That approval cleared the company to offer instruments beyond crypto.
In March, Coinbase had already expanded crypto futures into 26 European countries under MiFID II, with leverage of up to 10x.
Part of the “Everything Exchange” push
Grose described the UK launch as part of Coinbase’s “Everything Exchange” strategy, which aims to bring crypto, stocks, derivatives, and prediction markets into one app.
Coinbase also said global crypto derivatives volume routinely runs at 4.4 times spot market volume, a gap the company argues leaves professional traders reliant on venues outside regulated markets.
Comes during a rapid expansion
The UK derivatives launch arrives five days after Coinbase introduced 24/5 U.S. stock trading for UK users, covering nearly 4,000 stocks. It also comes six days after the company opened perpetuals to wholesale clients in Australia.
Coinbase describes itself as the most comprehensively regulated crypto firm in the UK market.
That expansion is moving ahead of the rulebook it will eventually fall under. The FCA finalized its crypto framework in June, but the regime will not become mandatory until October 2027.
Banking access remains unsettled
The launch also comes as the relationship between the crypto sector and the UK financial system remains unsettled. On Tuesday, Parliament’s Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group wrote to bank chief executives as part of an inquiry into banking access after complaints that crypto firms cannot reliably open accounts.