Binance is entering the $9.6tn-a-day foreign exchange market with a perpetual futures contract tracking the US dollar against the Brazilian real.
The USDBRLUSDT contract will launch on 21 September and will be available for trading around the clock, including weekends and public holidays. It will be settled in Tether’s USDT stablecoin and offer leverage of up to 100 times.
Binance said in a Friday announcement that the product would begin trading on Monday. Eligible users will be able to gain exposure to movements in the US dollar-Brazilian real exchange rate without owning either currency.
Unlike dated futures, perpetual contracts have no fixed expiry. Positions can remain open as long as traders meet margin requirements and pay or receive the applicable funding charges.
Availability will depend on Binance’s regional restrictions and account requirements. The exchange advised users to check local rules before trading, with its standard futures eligibility conditions and risk controls applying to the new contract.
Weekend pricing model
Traditional institutional foreign exchange markets generally operate continuously from Monday to Friday, but major venues and liquidity providers close at weekends. Binance said its new product would remain active through those closures using two separate pricing methods.
During normal FX trading hours, the contract’s index price will be based on weighted data from external market providers. The index is intended to reflect the underlying USD/BRL exchange rate while those reference markets are open.
When conventional FX markets close for weekends or public holidays, Binance will use data from its own order book. Prices during those periods will be calculated with an exponentially weighted moving average, which gives greater importance to recent observations while reducing the effect of brief fluctuations.
As a result, weekend pricing could be influenced solely by trading activity on Binance while the institutional currency market is shut. Once normal FX trading resumes, the contract will return to the exchange’s external-data pricing process.
Binance head of derivatives Shunyet Jan said the structure would extend price discovery beyond the hours observed by conventional currency venues. He added that it could allow traders to hedge currency exposure or take a directional position at any time.
The Brazilian real can be affected by domestic interest-rate decisions, fiscal policy, commodity prices and changes in demand for emerging-market assets. Binance’s product will give eligible crypto traders a USDT-based way to trade those movements, although leverage can increase both profits and losses.
At 100x leverage, traders can control a position worth 100 times the collateral they provide. Binance’s futures risk disclosures state that unfavourable price movements can lead to liquidation if the collateral falls below the required maintenance margin.
Exchanges expand into traditional assets
Binance’s FX launch follows its expansion into perpetual futures linked to equities and other conventional financial assets. In May, it introduced TradFi perpetuals connected to Oracle, Disney, Uber, Cisco and Home Depot, as well as Litecoin.
Those contracts were also settled in USDT but offered leverage of up to 10x. Binance said the equity-linked products were designed to bring exposure to traditional and digital markets together within the same futures interface.
Binance Wallet separately introduced on-chain perpetuals in April. Powered by derivatives venue Aster, the service offered access through a keyless interface on BNB Smart Chain to cryptocurrency pairs, major stocks, exchange-traded funds and commodities.
Other centralised exchanges have also moved into FX derivatives. Bybit launched 24/7 perpetual contracts tracking EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY less than two weeks before Binance’s announcement. Its contracts are settled in USDT and also offer maximum leverage of 100x.
Kraken entered the market earlier, launching FX perpetuals in April 2025 for the euro, British pound, Australian dollar, Japanese yen and Swiss franc. It set maximum leverage at 50x, building on a currency business that had offered spot FX trading since 2020.
Kraken reported $5.7bn in spot foreign exchange volume during the first part of 2025. Its derivatives products allowed customers to trade currency price movements without taking delivery of the currencies involved.
Self-custodial trading applications have followed a similar route. Coinbase Wallet launched Pulse Mode, a simplified mobile perpetual-trading service through Hyperliquid, covering eligible cryptocurrency, stock and commodity-linked markets.
Coinbase said the wallet-based service was restricted to non-US users in selected jurisdictions. It has not announced access to Pulse Mode for US users or filed a related product notice with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Restrictions for US users
Binance’s global announcement did not say that the new contract would be available to US residents. Binance.com does not serve US users, while Binance.US does not provide the same global futures range.
US access would also face additional regulatory considerations because leveraged retail commodity and derivatives products can fall under Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules. Certain intermediaries and derivatives venues serving US customers must register and comply with requirements covering customer protection, reporting and market conduct.
In November 2023, the CFTC announced a $2.85bn settlement with Binance and former chief executive Changpeng Zhao over allegations that the exchange had operated a digital asset derivatives platform illegally and evaded US law.
A federal court order required Binance to pay $1.35bn in disgorgement and a separate $1.35bn civil monetary penalty. Zhao agreed to pay an additional $150m penalty.
The CFTC said Binance had offered futures, options, swaps and leveraged retail commodity transactions to US customers without the necessary registration. Under the settlement, Binance also agreed to improve its compliance controls and prevent US customers from accessing its global platform.
For eligible users outside restricted markets, the USD/BRL contract will provide synthetic exposure rather than ownership of US dollars or Brazilian reais. Gains and losses will be calculated and settled in USDT under Binance’s futures terms.
Foreign exchange remains the world’s largest financial market by turnover. The Bank for International Settlements said in its triennial survey that global over-the-counter FX trading averaged $9.6tn a day in April 2025, a 28% rise from $7.5tn in April 2022.
FX swaps remained the largest part of the market, accounting for $4tn in daily turnover. Spot transactions averaged $3tn, while outright forwards generated $1.8tn a day during the survey period.
