CFTC, SEC to collaborate on 24/7 trading, events contracts, cross-margining
5th September, 2025|Luke Jeffs
The two main US markets regulators have signalled a new-found willingness to collaborate and pledged to co-ordinate efforts on 24/7 trading, events and perpetual contracts, and cross-margining of products overseen by the two agencies.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued on Friday a joint statement heralding “a new beginning for co-ordination between US market regulators”.
The watchdogs said: “It is a new day at the SEC and the CFTC, and today we reaffirm the need to ensure regulation does not stand in the way of progress. By working in lockstep, our two agencies can harness our nation’s unique regulatory structure into a source of strength for market participants, investors, and all Americans.”
The two Washington-based agencies announced, in line with this new spirit of collaboration, a joint SEC-CFTC roundtable to discuss regulatory harmonisation on September 29.
The regulators went on to list some areas where they should work more closely, including 24/7 trading, new derivatives products such as events and perpetual contracts, and cross-margining between CFTC-regulated futures and SEC’s options.
On round-the-clock trading, the regulator said: “For on-chain finance to scale, the SEC and the CFTC should collaborate to consider the possibility of further expanding trading hours, where appropriate. Factors that may be relevant to this consideration include operational feasibility and liquidity consistent with investor and customer protections.”
The regulators went on to accept “there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach for all products”.
On the new breed of derivatives contracts, the commissions said: “The SEC and CFTC should examine opportunities to collaborate to consider where event contracts may be made available to US market participants regardless of where the jurisdictional lines fall.”
The last and perhaps most unexpected of the areas for consideration is the idea of enabling cross-margining between products regulated by the two agencies.
The regulators said on Friday: “The two agencies should consider taking action to allow clearing houses to offer portfolio-based margin across their respective product lines that retains resiliency without triggering duplicative registration or conflicting compliance burdens.
“By reducing capital lock-up while maintaining robust risk controls, the agencies could catalyse liquidity, tighten spreads and encourage innovation in market structure.”
US regulation has changed a lot since new US president Donald Trump took charge in January, with the more cautious approach taken under previous president Joe Biden being replaced by a more business-friendly tone.
