Cboe’s Market Intelligence team published a research paper on July 14, 2026 demonstrating that perpetual futures and zero-days-to-expiration (0DTE) options are fundamentally different instruments. This publication follows the CFTC’s approval on May 29, 2026 of Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual futures contracts and comments by the CFTC Chair suggesting the two products were comparable. A case study conducted on April 21, 2026 illustrates this difference: while the S&P 500 declined 0.94% intraday, a 10x leveraged short perpetual future generated a +9.4% return, versus +404% for an at-the-money SPX 0DTE put purchased at the start of the session. 0DTE options feature capped risk (maximum loss equals the premium paid), unlike perpetual futures which carry linear and unlimited risk. As of Q2 2026, 0DTE contracts accounted for over 60% of typical SPX options volume, with average daily notional peaking at $2.3 trillion.
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