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The market for perpetual contracts on exchange-traded funds (TradFi-Perps) is experiencing explosive growth. In the first seven months of 2026, the total trading volume in this segment exceeded $116 billion, with Binance's share reaching an impressive 74% in July. This is not just statistics — it is a marker of a fundamental shift in how traders access traditional assets through crypto infrastructure.

These contracts provide exposure to a basket of ETF stocks without the need to purchase the fund itself and without being tied to the operating hours of traditional exchanges. At the beginning of 2026, the segment's weekly turnover was close to zero, but by July it had soared to $30 billion. The monthly figure reached $100 billion, corresponding to an annualized rate of about $700 billion. The average monthly growth over the past seven months was 170% — a pace rarely seen even in the crypto industry.

The total historical trading volume of TradFi-Perps in 2026 (from January to July) exceeded $1.6 trillion. ETFs accounted for 7.25% of this volume, or $116 billion. Binance's share in ETF TradFi-Perp trading grew from 18% at launch to the current 74%, giving the exchange a dominant position. Binance began listing ETF perps in March 2026, and within its own line of TradFi contracts, funds already account for 30% of trading.

Semiconductors and Korea Oust S&P 500

The leader in turnover was SOXL — a fund with triple daily leverage on the semiconductor index. It is followed by the Korean KORU and EWY, then QQQ and SPY. The top 10 ETF perps by turnover on Binance are as follows:

• SOXL (Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X) — $41.97 billion
• KORU (Direxion Daily South Korea Bull 3X) — $16.15 billion
• EWY (iShares MSCI South Korea ETF) — $8.43 billion
• QQQ (Invesco QQQ Trust) — $5.94 billion
• SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust) — $1.71 billion
• TQQQ (ProShares UltraPro QQQ) — $202.9 million
• EWJ (iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund) — $104.8 million
• SOXS (Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X ETF) — $86.8 million
• SQQQ (ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ) — $65.6 million
• UVXY (ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF) — $46.6 million

Two key reasons for this skew are demand for leverage and accessibility. SOXL and KORU offer triple daily exposure, and Binance users hold about 73% of their stock portfolio in the technology sector, where turnover is 23 times higher than other categories. The second reason is time zones: KORU and EWY reflect Korean stocks but trade during U.S. exchange hours, which barely overlap with the Asian session. Futures on the KOSPI 200 trade on the Korea Exchange and are inaccessible without a local broker. The perpetual contract bridges this gap with round-the-clock pricing.

In July, the turnover of the KORU perp was 148% of the fund's own trading: $16.16 billion versus $10.89 billion. This means that the primary price discovery for leveraged exposure to the Korean market is shifting from the traditional venue to Binance.

Segment Accounts for Less Than 1% of the ETF Market, but Potential Is Colossal

Fund trading in the first half of the year exceeded $40 trillion in notional volume, up 50% compared to the same period last year, and in March the figure reached a record $7.8 trillion. Against this backdrop, the $100 billion perp turnover represents less than 1% of March's ETF result. If the segment captures 10% of this volume, trading would grow to approximately $780 billion per month, and at 20% — to $1.56 trillion.

My comment: The market for perpetual contracts on ETFs is not just a niche product but a bridge between TradFi and DeFi that is only beginning to gain momentum. Binance's dominance here is explained not only by its early entry but also by synergy with its core user base, which is already accustomed to 24/7 leveraged trading. If this trend continues, we may see crypto exchanges become the primary price benchmarks for traditional assets, especially during Asian hours.