OKX has introduced more than 20 equity perpetual swap contracts, extending access to major global stocks for users across Asia, the CIS region, Latin America, and Türkiye. The contracts allow traders to gain exposure to equities around the clock using cryptocurrency as collateral. All contracts are denominated in USDT and offer leverage of up to five times. The move is framed as the first phase of a broader rollout planned for the coming months.
The initial lineup includes the full group of technology giants known as the “Magnificent 7”: Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. The offering also covers crypto-linked companies such as Strategy, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Circle, alongside technology stocks including Palantir, Intel, Micron, and SanDisk. The S&P 500 tracker SPY is also included in the launch.
Unlike tokenized equities that represent actual share ownership, equity perpetual swaps are derivatives that track price movements without conferring ownership rights. This places them closer to synthetic exposure products already available on other exchanges. The structure allows traders to respond to earnings releases, macroeconomic developments, and market-moving events even when traditional equity markets are closed.
A key feature OKX highlights is its unified trading account, which allows users to deploy a range of crypto assets — including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and staked holdings — as collateral across open positions. The platform also permits users to stake assets and continue earning yield on them while those assets serve as collateral for equity perpetual positions. An OKX spokesperson described this capability as a differentiating factor compared to rival platforms such as Binance.
Peter Chung, head of research at Presto Labs, said the instruments are likely to attract momentum-driven retail investors. He noted that crypto exchanges are more accessible venues for retail participants in many parts of the world, where traditional brokerage infrastructure presents significant barriers. “On traditional rails, these names are often beyond their reach due to various hurdles,” Chung said.
The launch is part of OKX’s broader push into real-world assets, as crypto exchanges increasingly compete to offer traditional market exposure to retail investors who face obstacles accessing U.S. equities through conventional channels. OKX has said it plans to expand its range of equity contracts and tokenized real-world asset exposure in the months ahead. The spokesperson described the perpetual swap launch as “one step towards bringing a broader range of real-world assets” onto the platform.
The rollout follows OKX’s recently announced partnership with Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, which invested in OKX this month at a valuation of $25 billion. That deal is also expected to enable OKX users to trade tokenized stocks and derivatives listed on the NYSE beginning in the second half of the year. OKX’s native token, OKB, was trading at $85 at the time of reporting, up 0.3% over the prior day but down 11.7% over the previous seven days, according to CoinGecko data.
Originally reported by Decrypt.
