The CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight said on October 5 that it has issued no-action relief to designated contract markets that want to convert their perpetual-style broad-based security index futures into true broad-based security index perpetual futures.
What happened
According to the CFTC’s release, an exchange may remove the expiration date from an existing perpetual-style contract and amend it into a true perpetual once it satisfies the conditions in the letter, CFTC Staff Letter No. 26-29. The conditions are soliciting feedback from market participants with open positions, giving advance notice and an opportunity to exit positions, offering appropriate risk disclosures, and making sure no other material contract term changes. Each exchange must also file the amendments under CFTC Regulations 40.5 or 40.6 and certify that it has met every condition.
The no-action positions in the letter expire on October 20, 2026.
Why it matters
Every condition in the letter protects someone who already holds a position. They get asked for feedback, told in advance and given a chance to leave before the contract changes shape. The exit route for the existing holder comes first in the sequence the staff set out.
Our read
This is staff-level relief with a 15-day window from announcement to expiry, so an exchange that wants to convert contracts has to complete the feedback, notice and exit steps quickly or wait for different terms. The CFTC has used the same tool recently on the broker side, as in our coverage of no-action relief for passive trading software, and on the crypto side in its expanded compliance FAQs.
Source: CFTC
