What Has Bybit Added To Its Derivatives Platform?
Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit has expanded its traditional finance derivatives offering with USDT-settled perpetual contracts tracking three of the world’s most heavily traded foreign exchange pairs.The new contracts cover EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY, giving traders exposure to movements in the underlying currency pairs without requiring them to own euros, pounds, dollars or yen directly.Unlike conventional futures contracts, the products have no expiration date. Profits and losses are settled in USDT, while leverage is available at up to 100x.Bybit also allows trading around the clock, including during periods when the underlying foreign exchange markets are closed. That gives the contracts a different trading structure from traditional spot FX, where liquidity and price formation remain concentrated around established market hours.The launch extends Bybit’s TradFi Perpetuals suite, which debuted in April and now covers more than 200 assets across equities, commodities, exchange-traded funds, foreign exchange and shares of pre-IPO companies.
Why Are Crypto Exchanges Moving Into Forex?
Foreign exchange gives crypto exchanges access to one of the deepest pools of trading activity in global markets. Average daily turnover in over-the-counter FX markets reached $9.6 trillion in April 2025, according to the Bank for International Settlements.For crypto derivatives venues, the attraction is straightforward. The infrastructure already used for leveraged perpetual contracts can be extended to price movements in traditional assets while traders continue using stablecoins as collateral and settlement assets.That allows customers who already hold USDT to trade macro markets without moving funds into a conventional brokerage account or converting collateral into fiat currencies.Bybit’s product design also keeps the trading experience closer to crypto perpetual futures than traditional FX. There is no expiry date, settlement remains in USDT and leverage can reach levels more commonly associated with high-risk retail derivatives trading.The result is a growing overlap between crypto exchanges and established CFD, futures and FX brokers as digital asset venues add products linked to currencies, stocks and commodities.
Investor Takeaway
How Does Bybit Compare With Kraken And BitMEX?
Bybit is not the first major crypto exchange to bring foreign exchange exposure into a perpetual futures format.Kraken introduced five forex perpetual futures in April 2025, offering leverage of up to 50x. BitMEX followed in April 2026 with six FX pairs carrying leverage of up to 100x.Bybit is therefore entering an area where several large crypto derivatives platforms are already testing demand, but its wider TradFi product catalogue gives the FX contracts a broader context.Rather than operating as a stand-alone currency product, EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY sit alongside perpetual contracts linked to equities, ETFs, commodities and private companies. Traders can therefore use a single stablecoin-based account to take leveraged exposure across several traditional asset classes.That model could increase competition with multi-asset CFD brokers, particularly among traders who already keep capital on crypto exchanges and prefer USDT as their base collateral.
What Are The Risks Of 24/7 FX Perpetuals?
The around-the-clock structure creates advantages for access but also introduces risks that differ from those in the underlying FX market.Major currency pairs usually trade with deep liquidity during the working week, but the institutional foreign exchange market is not continuously active through weekends. A perpetual contract that remains open while the reference market is closed may therefore face thinner liquidity, wider spreads or sharper price adjustments when conventional FX trading resumes.Leverage amplifies those risks. At up to 100x, relatively small adverse price moves can produce substantial losses or trigger liquidations, making collateral management particularly important during periods of market stress or reduced liquidity.There is also a structural difference between trading a Bybit perpetual and owning a currency or trading spot FX. Customers receive synthetic price exposure through a derivative contract, with their gains and losses ultimately denominated in USDT.For Bybit, however, the launch broadens the exchange’s attempt to become a multi-asset derivatives venue rather than a platform focused only on crypto markets.If demand grows, the competitive line between crypto exchanges and traditional leveraged-trading brokers could become increasingly difficult to distinguish, with both groups offering exposure to many of the same markets through different collateral, regulatory and trading structures.