---
title: "Coinbase and Robinhood's futures brokers hold $581 million, more than all six US forex dealers' $470 million"
description: "CFTC filings put the futures brokers of Coinbase and Robinhood at $581 million of segregated client money in August, past the entire $470 million US retail forex pool, and the rule the CFTC proposed on October 5 would route US retail crypto leverage through exactly that channel."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Money"
published: 2026-10-13T21:21:02.999Z
modified: 2026-10-13T21:21:02.999Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/coinbase-and-robinhood-s-futures-brokers-hold-581-million-more-than-all-six-us-forex-dealers-470-million
language: en
keywords: "Coinbase, Robinhood, Crypto, Derivatives, Regulation, CFTC"
---

# Coinbase and Robinhood's futures brokers hold $581 million, more than all six US forex dealers' $470 million

> CFTC filings put the futures brokers of Coinbase and Robinhood at $581 million of segregated client money in August, past the entire $470 million US retail forex pool, and the rule the CFTC proposed on October 5 would route US retail crypto leverage through exactly that channel.

In January the two brokers' pool crossed above the forex dealers' total. The futures brokers inside [Coinbase](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/coinbase) and [Robinhood](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/robinhood) began holding more segregated client money than all six registered US retail forex dealers combined, according to FM Intelligence, the research arm of Finance Magnates, which [reads the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's monthly filings](https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/coinbase-and-robinhood-futures-arms-now-hold-more-client-money-than-the-us-retail-forex-pool/) [1]. By August the count was $581.4 million against $470 million [1]. Two years earlier the same two futures commission merchants, the licensed brokers that carry retail margin, held $40.3 million between them [1].

*Chart: **From $40.3 million to $581.4 million in two years, past the whole forex pool** Column chart showing Coinbase Financial Markets and Robinhood Derivatives combined segregated client money rising from $40.3 million in August 2024 to $581.4 million in August 2026, against $470 million across all six US retail forex dealers in August 2026*

*Segregated client money held by Coinbase Financial Markets and Robinhood Derivatives combined, August 2024 versus August 2026, against the combined balance of all six US retail forex dealers, August 2026. FM Intelligence analysis of CFTC monthly FCM filings. [1]*

## A rule that pays the incumbents

On October 5 the CFTC published [an advance notice covering Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/cftc-issues-advance-notice-of-proposed-9095600/) [1][4]. Retail crypto loans could run only through futures commission merchants or banks they sponsor, and the notice sets no leverage ratio [1][5]. It asks whether margin belongs with clearing houses or the National Futures Association, the industry body that caps forex dealing at 50:1 [1][4].

Law firm Lowenstein Sandler reads that as a moat. Adoption, its alert says, "could also increase the value of existing DCM, FCM, and other registrations," the exchange and futures-broker licenses the rule would build on [4]. Coinbase Financial Markets held $346.9 million in August and Robinhood Derivatives $234.5 million, while Kraken's NinjaTrader Clearing, a CFTC-registered futures broker bought for $1.5 billion, held $586.5 million [1][8]. One Kraken subsidiary alone now sits on more client money than every US forex dealer combined [1].

*Chart: **One crypto futures broker now tops all six US forex dealers combined** Bar chart of segregated client money at three crypto-owned futures commission merchants at end-August 2026, with a reference line at the combined balances of all six US retail forex dealers*

*Segregated client money at CFTC-registered futures commission merchants owned by crypto firms, end-August 2026. FM Intelligence analysis of CFTC monthly FCM filings. [1]*

## Coinbase and Robinhood have already built the channel

Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong declared the Deribit integration complete on October 11: US and international derivatives, one collateral pool [2]. Deribit is the [crypto options exchange Coinbase bought for about $2.9 billion in August 2025](https://theinference.org/article/cftc-registers-coinbase-clearing-completing-a-derivatives-stack-that-now-includes-the-2-9-billion-deribit) [3]. Coinbase says CFTC guidance from May makes Coinbase Financial Markets the first US-regulated futures broker able to connect US clients to global derivatives liquidity, with balances migrated on October 1 and US retail options due later this year [9][10][3].

For Coinbase investors the stake runs through that stack, not the spot exchange: the rule's payoff lands in the derivatives business Armstrong just finished, and no source yet quantifies the revenue. Robinhood moved the same way. It [launched perpetual futures, contracts with no expiry, on September 29](https://cryptobriefing.com/robinhood-10x-leveraged-crypto-trading/) at up to 10 times leverage on bitcoin and ethereum through Robinhood Derivatives, its own CFTC-registered futures broker [7], against a 2:1 cap in Europe [1].

*Chart: **The 10x US crypto launch sits between Europe's 2x and forex's 50x** Column chart comparing maximum retail leverage: Robinhood's US perpetual futures at 10x, Robinhood's European crypto offering at 2x, and the National Futures Association's 50x cap on US retail forex dealing*

*Maximum retail leverage: Robinhood Derivatives' US perpetual futures launch of September 29, 2026, versus its European crypto offering and the National Futures Association's cap on US retail forex dealing. Sources: Crypto Briefing; FM Intelligence. [7][1]*

## The comparison is narrow and the rule may not survive

The comparison has limits: futures-broker balances cover every futures client, not only crypto, while the forex figure is retail only [1]. The rule also may never bind. Lawyer Renato Mariotti calls the CFTC's reading clever but warns that courts, less deferential since Loper Bright, the 2024 Supreme Court ruling that ended judicial deference to agencies, may refuse it [6]. The route is voluntary, and Congress walked away when the CLARITY Act, the crypto market-structure bill, failed 49 to 50 on September 15 [6].

The losers are shrinking anyway. Forex dealers' balances sit 15 percent below their August 2015 level, and Gain Capital and OANDA, two of the six, hold 71 percent of what is left [1]. Outside the fence, two offshore white-label providers paid a $2.5 million fine in June for letting offshore brands sell leveraged trades to US clients [1].

## What December decides

[Comments close December 14](https://theinference.org/article/robinhood-ships-sleep-trading-ai-agents-and-10x-crypto-leverage-as-the-cftc-opens-a-60-day-comment-window) [1]. Chairman Michael Selig [says he wants rules that "prevent, rather than only prosecute after the fact,"](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/cftc-unveils-plan-bring-crypto-164603288.html) schemes like FTX [5]. The next monthly filing will show whether three crypto-owned brokers keep pulling away from six forex dealers that have been shrinking for a decade [1].

## Takeaway

Coinbase Financial Markets and Robinhood Derivatives held $581.4 million of segregated client money in August, more than all six US retail forex dealers combined, and the CFTC's October 5 notice would steer retail crypto leverage through the futures-broker licenses those firms already hold, if courts let it stand.

## Sources

1. [Finance Magnates, "Coinbase and Robinhood Futures Arms Now Hold More Client Money Than the US Retail Forex Pool", 11 October 2026](https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/coinbase-and-robinhood-futures-arms-now-hold-more-client-money-than-the-us-retail-forex-pool/)
2. [Brian Armstrong on X, "Our institutional platform is even more powerful now that the Deribit integration is complete", 11 October 2026](https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2109337768153252068)
3. [The Block, "Coinbase Pro to return; Deribit integration creates Coinbase Global Exchange", 6 October 2026](https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-10-06-coinbase-pro-deribit-integration-coinbase-global-exchange-417867)
4. [JD Supra, Lowenstein Sandler LLP, "CFTC Issues Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets", 8 October 2026](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/cftc-issues-advance-notice-of-proposed-9095600/)
5. [Yahoo Finance (Decrypt), "CFTC Unveils Plan to Bring Crypto Exchanges Under Federal Oversight", 5 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/cftc-unveils-plan-bring-crypto-164603288.html)
6. [Crypto Briefing, "CFTC's new crypto market plan faces scrutiny after Loper Bright", 11 October 2026](https://cryptobriefing.com/cftc-crypto-plan-loper-bright-scrutiny/)
7. [Crypto Briefing, "Robinhood launches 10x leveraged crypto trading for US users", 29 September 2026](https://cryptobriefing.com/robinhood-10x-leveraged-crypto-trading/)
8. [TheStreet, "Crypto exchange Kraken to acquire futures trading exchange for $1.5B", 20 March 2025](https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/crypto-exchange-kraken-to-acquire-futures-trading-exchange-for-1-5b)
9. [LeapRate, "Coinbase says Deribit integration is complete", 7 October 2026](https://www.leaprate.com/news/coinbase-says-deribit-integration-is-complete-but-its-30bn-liquidity-pool-is-still-soon/)
10. [Cointelegraph, "Coinbase Opens Deribit Markets to US Institutions", 7 October 2026](https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-deribit-us-crypto-options-perpetual-futures)


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Coinbase and Robinhood's futures brokers hold $581 million, more than all six US forex dealers' $470 million — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/coinbase-and-robinhood-s-futures-brokers-hold-581-million-more-than-all-six-us-forex-dealers-470-million