Coinbase and Robinhood Futures Arms Now Hold More Client Money Than the US Retail Forex Pool

The futures brokers of Coinbase and Robinhood held $581.4 million of segregated client money at the end of August. That is more than the $470 million all six US retail forex dealers owed their clients in the same month.

Two years earlier the two firms' futures commission merchants (FCMs) held $40.3 million, according to FM Intelligence calculations from Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data.

The comparison matters because of who the CFTC has in mind for retail crypto leverage. Its advance notice on a retail crypto framework, published on October 5, contemplates loans for retail crypto purchases only through FCMs or banks they sponsor.

London's trading industry is coming home!

A broker license from Cyprus, the UK or Australia is not on that list. In June the CFTC fined two firms $2.5 million for a white-label service that let offshore brands offer leveraged trades to US retail clients.

The figures come from a new FM Intelligence analysis of the CFTC's monthly FCM filings, covering the 24 months to August 2026.

Crypto Firms' Futures Brokers Passed Forex in January

Coinbase Financial Markets held $346.9 million in August and Robinhood Derivatives $234.5 million. Together they crossed the retail forex total in January 2026.

Kraken owns two more FCMs. Its NinjaTrader Clearing, bought with NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion in 2025, held $586.5 million and clears Kraken's US perpetual futures. NinjaTrader already held $281.5 million in September 2024, before Kraken owned it.

The forex side has moved the other way. As FinanceMagnates.com reported in August, balances owed to clients at the registered dealers kept falling through the first half. At $470 million they are 15% below their August 2015 level, and Gain Capital and OANDA hold 71% of the total.

FCM balances cover every futures client at those firms, not only crypto traders, while the forex figure is retail only. The comparison measures the size of each licensed channel.

No Leverage Cap in the CFTC Notice

The plan has two parts, Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets, and sets no leverage ratio.

It asks whether margin should be left to clearing houses or delegated to the National Futures Association (NFA), as with forex dealers, whose 50:1 cap on major currency pairs dates from 2010.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the agency wants rules that "prevent, rather than only prosecute after the fact," fraudulent schemes such as FTX.

Retail crypto leverage in the US already runs higher than in Europe, a gap FM Intelligence also found for single-stock perpetuals in September. Coinbase lists perpetual-style bitcoin futures at up to 10 times leverage, and Robinhood has announced the same ceiling.

The European Securities and Markets Authority told firms in February that perpetual futures likely fall under EU CFD rules, which cap crypto leverage at 2:1.

Comments on the notice close on December 14. The full FM Intelligence analysis projects where the platform-owned balances could stand by August 2027 and sets out what buyers have paid for CFTC licenses since 2021.

This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.