OKX has unveiled over 20 equity perpetual swap contracts, allowing users in Asia, the CIS region, Latin America, and Türkiye to engage in round-the-clock trading of major global stocks using cryptocurrency as collateral. This comprehensive launch includes renowned companies, often referred to as the “Magnificent 7”—Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta—as well as prominent crypto-related firms like Strategy, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Circle. Additionally, technology stocks such as Palantir, Intel, Micron, and SanDisk, along with the S&P 500 tracker SPY, have been incorporated into the offering.
This launch marks the first phase of a larger initiative by OKX, which plans to broaden its range of equity contracts and provide tokenized real-world asset exposure in the upcoming months. The move is part of a strategic effort by crypto exchanges to compete by offering traditional market access to retail investors, who often encounter challenges when trying to access U.S. equities through standard brokerage services globally.
All contracts will be valued in $USDT and provide up to 5x leverage, enabling traders to engage with market movements related to earnings releases, macroeconomic trends, and other significant events even when conventional equity markets are not operational. Unlike tokenized equities that represent actual ownership in shares, these equity perpetual swaps are derivatives designed to mirror price changes without conferring ownership, putting them closer to synthetic exposure products that other exchanges have been offering.
Peter Chung, head of research at Presto Labs, expressed optimism about these new instruments, stating, “I think these instruments will command a good following from momentum-driven retail investors.” He elaborated that crypto exchanges present a more accessible venue for retail traders in various jurisdictions, circumventing traditional roadblocks where these equities are often hard to reach.
When addressing how OKX’s products differ from those available on competing platforms such as Binance, an OKX spokesperson highlighted their “unified trading account” feature. This unique structure enables users to stake their assets for collateral on equity perpetual positions while those assets continue to accrue yield during the open positions. This approach allows users to leverage an array of crypto assets—including Bitcoin, Ethereum, $USDT, and staked holdings—to back their positions.
“This is one step towards bringing a broader range of real-world assets into our platform,” the spokesperson commented regarding the decision to pursue perpetual swaps instead of tokenized equities that correspond to actual shares. “We will keep expanding our infrastructure to support exposure to global equities while allowing traders to use their crypto portfolios for this,” they added.
This rollout follows a significant partnership with the Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, which invested in OKX earlier this month at a valuation of $25 billion. The collaboration is anticipated to facilitate OKX users’ ability to trade tokenized stocks and derivatives listed on the NYSE starting in the latter half of the year.
As for OKX’s native token, OKB, it is currently priced at $85, reflecting a slight increase of 0.3% over the last day, although it has experienced a decrease of 11.7% over the past week, according to CoinGecko data.
