LMAX Launches Perpetual Futures Tied To Bitcoin And Ethereum For Institutional Traders

London-based FX and digital assets exchange LMAX Group has unveiled perpetual contracts tied to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) for institutional traders. The fintech operates forex brokers in the UK, Europe, New Zealand, and Mauritius that average over $40 billion in daily spot trading volume.

While these futures products have thrived on offshore crypto exchanges, regulated trading platforms in major financial centers are now racing to capture the institutional demand for crypto derivatives.

London-Based LMAX Exchange Launches BTC and ETH Perpetual Futures with 100x Leverage

According to a Bloomberg report, the move came following increased demand from institutional clients for high-leverage access to cryptocurrency markets. The company’s CEO, David Mercer, noted that perpetual futures have been dominating the market over the past “three or four years”. LMAX’s derivatives offerings will allow investors to have as much as 100x leverage on BTC and ETH. 

Perpetuals, or “perps”, are cash-settled contracts that let traders hold futures positions indefinitely, without an expiration date. These products give institutions exposure to cryptocurrency price movements without requiring them to hold the underlying asset directly.

Unlike traditional futures contracts, which require periodic rolling, perps are structured as single, long-dated contracts with no expiration date, thereby reducing the need to roll positions over time while simplifying position management. They are cash-settled and aligned to real-time spot market prices of the pegged crypto asset through daily cash adjustments, leveraging a transparent funding rate method.

U.S. and European Markets Embrace High-Risk Crypto Bets Amid Rising Investor Demand

LMAX’s entry into the crypto perpetuals market follows similar moves made by other established players. In July, Coinbase Financial Markets (CFM) launched two perpetual futures contracts – nano Bitcoin Perpetual Futures (BTC-PERP) and nano Ether Perpetual Futures (ETH-PERP) – with 10x leverage to its U.S. customers. Last week, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced plans to begin offering its own version of the products in November.

Across the pond, One Trading, a leading European digital asset exchange, launched a BTC and ETH perpetual futures trading venue for its institutional investors that is compliant with the bloc’s MiFID-II regulation. It became the first exchange in Europe to offer fully-regulated, cash-settled BTC/EUR and ETH/EUR perpetual futures trading pairs. The company has plans to expand its products to eligible retail clients.

Crypto Perpetuals Trading Volume Hits $1.39 Trillion in 24 hours

Perpetual futures accounted for 68% of all Bitcoin trading volume so far in 2025, and are up 66% from last year. Leading crypto exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, and OKX hold nearly 70% of the open interest in perps, with daily volumes ranging from $10 billion to $30 billion. On Binance alone, the metric can hit as high as $80 billion during peak days.

As per data from CoinMarketCap, perpetuals have dominated the crypto derivatives market in the past 24 hours with $1.39 trillion in volume, far outpacing traditional futures contracts, which saw a volume of just $670.61 million during that time. Meanwhile, DefiLlama data shows that decentralized perpetual platforms collectively processed $20.5 billion in 24 hours, with their 30-day total reaching $683.5 billion, reflecting a 16.84% weekly surge. Hyperliquid alone was responsible for over $65 billion of the seven-day volume.