CFTC Announces Derivatives Roundtable in Washington, D.C. for December

United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig has announced that the agency will hold an in-person roundtable discussion on the topic "of derivatives markets moving to 24/7" trading. While Selig has not announced who may take part in the event, it will be open to the public and live streamed.

The discussion could provide clues as to the agency's policies for regulation of derivatives trading on a continual basis. While the panel could help form an industry consensus on issues, it is not necessarily a signal that derivatives of all kinds will be broadly available around the clock soon.

Selig shares some details of upcoming event

Selig announced the roundtable on Thursday, stating that the event "will provide a public venue for dialogue on the evolving market structures shaping derivatives markets, including overnight trading, tokenization, infrastructure and staffing needs, and operational readiness." Announcements on who will take part should be forthcoming and the release contains a form through which participants can be nominated.

Selig's Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been moving on the issue of opening derivatives to perpetual trading since April 2025. At that time, he solicited public comment on many of the same issues that the roundtable will examine.

In May 2026 and June 2026, Selig took four more actions toward that end. Those actions included approval for Bitcoin perpetual futures (perps) on Kalshi and a no-action letter regarding Coinbase's funneling of access to foreign perps for traders in the US.

However, Selig says that the current iteration of regulation for those perps may not necessarily simply expand to cover other types of derivatives.

Selig decries "one size fits all" regulatory approach

In the roundtable release, Selig quotes himself discussing the event's purpose.

"I have been consistently clear: under my leadership, the CFTC will not take a one‑size‑fits‑all approach to 24/7 trading. Market structure evolves best through thoughtful and responsible progress, and that’s exactly why we’re hosting a roundtable to hear directly from industry on their views for 24/7 trading across different asset classes."

For example, in May, part of Selig's actions was the release of a policy statement that other perps outside the Kalshi Bitcoin futures would be subject to pre-approval under Rule 40.3. CFTC Staff Letter No. 26-17 also stressed that perps are not appropriate for all assets in the CFTC's view.

It's still unclear how the CFTC will deem that appropriateness under 40.3 at this time. That may depend on the results of a lawsuit that Selig's actions inspired.

CME lawsuit challenging Kalshi Bitcoin perps, regulatory basis

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) sued Selig in June 2026 in the US District Court for the District of Washington, D.C. In that action, the CME argued that Selig violated federal statutes requiring publication of rule changes for public comment periods and that Selig failed to consider comments that had been submitted in good faith.

At issue are Selig's approval for Bitcoin perps on Kalshi and Selig's treatment of cryptocurrency derivatives as futures. The CME holds in its complaint that such derivatives should be regarded as swaps instead.

It's unclear if a CME representative will take part in the December 15 roundtable or if the discussion will include whether futures or swaps are the correct regulatory framework for cryptocurrency derivatives. With the litigation ongoing, it's likely that Selig himself won't speak on those issues.

Regardless, this event could be a step toward ensuring that future 24/7 perps rules don't meet with similar industry resistance. While the participant list will probably be carefully curated to ensure that viewpoints matching Selig's are the dominant if not sole voices, even friendly comments count as comments.