Robinhood (HOOD) Unveils Crypto Perpetual Futures and Round-the-Clock Stock Trading

Key Takeaways

• Robinhood will introduce perpetual crypto futures contracts for qualified US customers in the upcoming months.
• Contracts on Bitcoin and Ether will feature leverage up to 10x, with six additional digital assets limited to 3x.
• Bitstamp will power the trading infrastructure with a fee of 0.01% per transaction valid until the close of 2026.
• The platform is developing continuous weekend trading capabilities for certain US equities and exchange-traded funds, subject to regulatory clearance.
• Robinhood has unveiled Robinhood Agents, enabling customers to create AI-driven bots for market analysis and autonomous trade execution.

Robinhood has revealed its intention to provide perpetual futures trading on cryptocurrencies to qualified US-based clients. The disclosure came during the company’s HOOD Summit presentation held on September 29.

Robinhood is bringing America its first true perps.

No expiry, with P&L settled every 15 minutes.

A new chapter for US derivatives.

— Vlad Tenev (@vladtenev) September 30, 2026

This upcoming offering will enable traders to establish bullish or bearish positions across eight cryptocurrency assets. The supported coins comprise Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, ADA, LINK, and HYPE.

The platform will provide maximum leverage of 10x for Bitcoin and Ether trading pairs. Meanwhile, the remaining six digital currencies will have leverage restrictions set at 3x.

According to Robinhood’s announcement, transaction fees will remain at 0.01% until December 31, 2026. The company has not specified a precise deployment timeline, stating only that availability will occur within the next several months.

Unlike traditional futures, these instruments carry no settlement deadline. Chief Executive Vlad Tenev described them as “America’s first true perps” via a social media message on X, noting that positions will undergo profit and loss settlements at 15-minute intervals.

Traders will have access to automated risk management tools including stop-loss and take-profit parameters. The platform will also display real-time liquidation thresholds and send notifications when positions approach dangerous levels.

Perpetual Futures Gain Regulatory Clarity in America

Federal oversight bodies established a more defined framework for these financial instruments during the current year. On May 29, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission granted approval to KalshiEX for a Bitcoin-referenced perpetual contract classified as a futures instrument.

The regulatory body additionally indicated that other perpetual trading products would require individual examination. Robinhood’s statement did not reference any particular regulatory decision as the basis for its new contracts.

These trading products will be available through Robinhood Derivatives, which operates as a registered futures commission merchant. Bitstamp, the cryptocurrency platform Robinhood acquired for $200 million in 2025, will provide the underlying trading infrastructure.

The company currently provides comparable perpetual instruments in European markets via Bitstamp. Those European contracts initially launched with more conservative leverage parameters compared to the proposed US offering.

Continuous Weekend Markets and Artificial Intelligence Trading Tools

Robinhood is developing round-the-clock trading access for a selected group of US equities and ETFs. This weekend market functionality is targeted for early 2027 and requires additional regulatory authorization.

The planned feature expands upon Robinhood’s current extended-hours platform. That existing infrastructure already operates from Sunday evening through Friday evening for hundreds of publicly traded securities and funds.

Chief Brokerage Officer Steve Quirk emphasized that market-moving events occur regardless of traditional market schedules. Bruce ATS, functioning as an alternative trading system, will facilitate the weekend trading sessions.

Additional scheduling modifications are coming to the platform this autumn. 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 receive enhanced intraday purchasing capacity. This threshold will increase from 2x to a potential 4x beginning next month.

Complementing the trading enhancements, Robinhood launched Robinhood Agents. This functionality allows customers to construct personalized AI agents within the application for investment research and automated transaction execution.

Over 150,000 clients have established agentic trading accounts following the debut of a related program in May. According to Robinhood, these autonomous agents now interact with its systems approximately 30 million times daily.

A newly introduced capability named Loops will permit users to establish repeating directives for their AI agents. The agents will monitor market dynamics and carry out transactions when predefined criteria are satisfied.

As of September 30, Robinhood has not provided specific deployment dates for either the cryptocurrency perpetual futures or the weekend equity trading platform. Both initiatives remain under development awaiting additional regulatory procedures.