Bitget’s stock-linked futures surge past $1B in trading volume

Bitget, the global crypto platform positioning itself as the world’s largest Universal Exchange (UEX), says trading in its US stock-linked perpetual futures has crossed the $1 billion (approx. Ksh.129 billion) mark, doubling in just two weeks and signalling rising demand for stock-style exposure within crypto apps.

The exchange attributes the growth to users who already fund their accounts in USDT and prefer switching between crypto markets and stock-linked futures without leaving the app.

“Crossing the $1 billion mark in such a short time shows how fast traders are embracing stock futures as part of a unified digital trading experience,” said Bitget CEO Gracy Chen.

“It’s a signal that the line between traditional markets and digital assets is disappearing, and our Universal Exchange model is where that convergence is happening first.”

Bitget recently rolled out USDT-margined perpetual futures tied to 25 US stocks—including Apple, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft—and later added contracts such as NFLXUSDT, JDUSDT and QQQUSDT.

These products mirror price movements of underlying equities but do not provide ownership or dividends. Users can go long or short with fees “at or below 0.0065%” and leverage of up to 25x.

Unlike US markets, the futures trade 24/7, a feature Bitget says is drawing traders who want continuous exposure to major tech names.

The exchange notes increased uptake in African markets, where many traders now convert local currency to USDT via P2P channels, then pursue both crypto trading and exposure to familiar tech tickers such as AAPL, NVDA and TSLA within the same platform.

According to Bitget, users favour the ability to use one USDT balance across multiple strategies without switching apps, describing it as the core of the UEX concept—centralized, decentralized, and tokenized markets under a single interface.

Bitget emphasises that the stock-linked futures are derivatives, not actual shares, and therefore come without dividends or voting rights.

The 24/7 structure can also cause gaps relative to the underlying stock when US markets are closed. The exchange restated typical warnings on leverage and crypto-market volatility.