OKX has launched more than 20 equity perpetual swap contracts, offering users across Asia, the CIS region, Latin America, and Türkiye exposure to trade major global stocks around the clock using crypto as collateral.
The launch includes the full “Magnificent 7”—Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, according to a statement shared with Decrypt.
It also covers crypto-linked firms such as Strategy, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Circle, as well as technology stocks Palantir, Intel, Micron, and SanDisk, and the S&P 500 tracker SPY.
The equity perp launch is framed as the first phase of a broader rollout, with OKX planning to expand its range of equity contracts and tokenized real-world asset exposure in the coming months.
It’s OKX’s latest push into real-world assets, as crypto exchanges increasingly compete to offer traditional market exposure to retail investors who face hurdles accessing U.S. equities through conventional brokerages in many parts of the world.
All contracts are denominated in $USDT and offer up to 5x leverage, allowing traders to respond to earnings releases, macroeconomic developments, and market-moving events even when traditional equity markets are closed, the statement said.
Unlike tokenized equities that represent actual shares, equity perpetual swaps are derivatives that track price movements without granting ownership, placing them closer to synthetic exposure products already offered by other exchanges.
“I think these instruments will command a good following from momentum-driven retail investors,” Peter Chung, head of research at Presto Labs, told Decrypt. “Crypto exchanges are far more accessible venues for retail investors in many jurisdictions around the world.”
“On traditional rails, these names are often beyond their reach due to various hurdles,” he added.
Asked how the product differs from those offered at rival platforms, including Binance, an OKX spokesperson told Decrypt its offering is differentiated by its “unified trading account.”
The spokesperson said the platform allows users to stake assets and use them as collateral for equity perpetual positions, with those assets continuing to generate yield while positions remain open.
A unified trading account allows users to deploy a range of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, $USDT, and staked holdings, as collateral across positions.
“This is one step towards bringing a broader range of real-world assets into our platform,” the spokesperson said when asked about the choice of perpetual swaps over tokenized equities representing 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 said.
The rollout follows OKX’s high-profile tie-up with Intercontinental Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company, which invested in OKX earlier this month at a $25 billion valuation.
The deal is also expected to enable OKX users to trade tokenized stocks and derivatives listed on the NYSE starting in the second half of the year.
OKX’s native token, OKB, is trading at $85, up 0.3% in the last day, and down 11.7% in the last 7 days, according to CoinGecko data.
