CFTC Cites CME Data Showing No Harm From Perpetual Futures

The filing is notable less for the volume figure than for the CFTC turning to an exchange's own commercial data as regulatory evidence — a sign that the perps debate is being fought on market-structure grounds rather than legal doctrine. It matters most to offshore perp venues and U.S. platforms weighing product expansion, since the agency's stance now leans on the absence of customer demand as much as on harm. Whether that demand argument holds as offshore volumes persist is the open question.