Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, said on October 29 that it signed a definitive agreement with Trade[XYZ] to build a regulated U.S. market for Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures, pending CFTC approval.
Under the deal, announced by ICE in a press release, ICE will run the exchange and clearing infrastructure, Trade[XYZ] will design the markets, and Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework will supply the underlying technology. ICE is also taking a strategic minority stake in Trade[XYZ]; it disclosed neither the amount nor a launch date. The planned contracts span crypto, equities, indices, commodities and forex, and would reach retail traders through participating brokers and platforms.
ICE says the retail venue will operate separately from its institutional futures business, with a dedicated clearing structure, so institutional customers carry no exposure to the new platform’s trading or counterparty risks. ICE chair and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher framed the move as a response to how retail traders already behave: “We’ve seen a clear increase in retail participation in markets, and that participation is becoming far more global, with retail traders increasingly seeking short-duration exposure, often around the clock.” He added: “We see these perp markets as additive to our futures markets, not a replacement for them.”
A reversal five months in the making
The agreement marks a sharp turn for ICE. In May, ICE and CME Group were reported to be pressing U.S. regulators to scrutinize Hyperliquid over manipulation and sanctions-evasion risk. Later that month, Sprecher told a Bernstein conference that ICE had held multiple talks with Hyperliquid’s team and called the eleven-person operation “bigger than Nasdaq” by some trading measures. By October 29, it was taking a stake in a company that builds markets on it.
The regulatory runway was already in place. The CFTC issued a staff advisory and no-action relief in May that cleared the way for perpetual futures in the United States, and cleared Kalshi to offer a bitcoin perpetual contract. Webull is also preparing to launch bitcoin perpetual futures for its U.S. clients. The new ICE market is still pending approval, and Hyperliquid’s existing platform remains geofenced for U.S. participants.
HYPE jumps, Druckenmiller discloses a stake
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token surged on the news. It opened October 29 at $80.69 on KuCoin and traded above $96 later that day on CoinGecko, near its September all-time high of $97.96, for a market capitalization of about $22.4 billion.
Stanley Druckenmiller disclosed an investment in Trade[XYZ] the same day, writing on X: “I am excited to be an investor in trade(xyz) as they partner with ICE to bring 24/7 perpetual futures on Hyperliquid to the United States.”
Trade[XYZ], which launched on Hyperliquid in October 2025 as the first builder-deployed venue under HIP-3, says its markets have handled more than $650 billion in cumulative trading volume in just over a year. Its existing markets will keep running alongside the planned U.S. venue, which has no launch date and still needs regulatory approval.
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