Leveraged crypto trading in the US: the CFTC's on-exchange rule and what changed in 2025 and 2026

If you’ve seen a crypto app advertise 10x or 20x leverage, you may have noticed that many of them don’t serve customers in the US, or offer leverage only through particular products. That’s because of a specific rule in US commodity law, and the way the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) applies it to crypto changed significantly in 2025 and 2026.

This guide explains the rule, the guidance the CFTC withdrew, the arrival of listed spot crypto, and the new proposals. For how leverage itself works, see crypto leverage and derivatives rules.

The rule: leveraged retail trading belongs on an exchange

The CFTC’s announcement of August 2025 states the starting point plainly: the Commodity Exchange Act requires that retail trading of commodities with leverage, margin or financing be conducted on a designated contract market (DCM), meaning a CFTC-registered futures exchange.

The CFTC regards bitcoin as a commodity, and its 2020 guidance applied this rule to crypto used as virtual currency. So if a platform offers retail customers leveraged, margined or financed trades in such crypto, the transactions are generally treated as if they were futures, with the on-exchange and broker registration requirements that come with that, unless an exception applies.

The CFTC’s October 2026 notice describes the exceptions in the law as the “sole off-ramps” from that on-exchange requirement.

The exception: actual delivery within 28 days

The most important exception is in the statute: a transaction that results in actual delivery within 28 days, or a longer period the CFTC sets by rule. The idea is that a genuine spot purchase, where the buyer really gets the asset, shouldn’t be treated like a futures contract just because it was financed.

The hard question is what “actual delivery” means for a digital asset. In March 2020, the CFTC issued final interpretive guidance answering it. Actual delivery occurred, it said, when:

1. the customer secured possession and control of the entire quantity purchased, including the part bought with leverage, and the ability to use it freely in commerce, away from the trading venue, no later than 28 days after the transaction; and
2. the offeror and the seller, and their affiliates, retained no interest, legal right or control over the crypto at the end of those 28 days.

Without actual delivery, the CFTC said, the transactions would be subject to on-exchange trading and broker registration requirements “as if” they were futures contracts.

December 2025: the guidance is withdrawn

On 11 December 2025, the CFTC announced it was withdrawing that guidance. Its then Acting Chairman described it as “outdated and overly complex guidance that penalizes the crypto industry and stifles innovation”.

The CFTC’s 2026 notice gives two reasons: to reevaluate the guidance’s relevance given how quickly crypto and blockchain technology had evolved, and in response to recommendations in the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets report of July 2025.

It’s important to be precise about what changed. The 28-day exception is still in the law. What disappeared was the CFTC’s 2020 interpretation of how it applies to crypto, which leaves a gap the CFTC now says it wants to fill with binding rules.

Listed spot crypto arrives on regulated exchanges

Alongside the withdrawal, the CFTC opened a new route. In August 2025 it launched an initiative for spot crypto contracts listed on CFTC-registered futures exchanges, and invited feedback on how to do it.

On 4 December 2025, it announced that listed spot crypto products had begun trading for the first time on CFTC-registered futures exchanges. The announcement repeated the principle that leveraged retail commodity trading can only occur on futures exchanges, and presented the move as bringing spot crypto under the customer protections of those markets.

October 2026: proposals for new rules

On 5 October 2026, the CFTC approved an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, published in the Federal Register on 13 October, on two sets of rules:

• Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions (Regulation CTX), covering retail commodity transactions involving crypto assets under the relevant section of the Commodity Exchange Act;
• Regulation Crypto Asset Markets (Regulation CAM), which would tailor the requirements that apply to futures exchanges to crypto trading, and create a purpose-built category of exchange for these transactions.

An advance notice isn’t a rule. It sets out the CFTC’s thinking and asks for comment. The CFTC said comments must be received within 60 days of publication in the Federal Register, which points to mid-December 2026. Any actual rules would come later, through a further proposal.

The timeline

What it means for you

• Leverage isn’t a free-for-all. The withdrawal of guidance didn’t remove the on-exchange requirement for leveraged retail trading. A platform offering US customers leverage outside a CFTC-registered exchange is a red flag. See how to check a trading platform with the CFTC and NFA.
• Regulated options are growing. Listed spot crypto and crypto futures on registered exchanges give US customers routes that come with CFTC oversight.
• Leverage magnifies losses. Whatever the venue, a leveraged position can be liquidated quickly in a fast market. See crypto leverage and derivatives rules.
• Watch the rulemaking. The 2026 proposals could change how platforms offer leveraged crypto in the US. We’ll update this guide as they progress.

For perpetual futures specifically, see perpetual futures in the US.