According to Michael Syn, who is the president of SGX Group, there is a steady increase in demand for the new bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) perpetual futures on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). He says that the growth seems to be coming from new money, rather than money that has been taken from other investments.
The exchange introduced its regulated BTC and ETH perpetual futures just two weeks ago, and early signs suggest strong institutional interest. Nearly 2,000 lots were traded on Nov. 24, representing roughly $32 million in notional value, with cumulative volumes now reaching about $250 million.
What stands out is that this isn’t money moving from other exchanges. Instead, SGX says the futures are building liquidity incrementally, providing fresh inflows rather than pulling capital from OTC desks or rival platforms.
“Like rupee/CNH futures launches, it creates new markets without killing OTC,” Syn explained, noting that early participation includes institutional-grade hedge funds and crypto-native traders
Regulated Perpetual Futures Gain Traction in Asia
Perpetual futures — or perps — allow traders to speculate on asset prices without any expiry. According to Michael Syn, who is the president of SGX Group, there is a steady increase in demand for the new bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) perpetual futures on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). He says that the growth seems to be coming from new money, rather than money that has been taken from other investments.
SGX aims to change that.
Syn emphasized that the exchange is targeting an “Asian-time-zone mother contract,” positioning its BTC and ETH perps as the benchmark for pricing and settlement during Asia’s active trading hours.
This move gives Asian institutions a trusted, regulated platform to access the perpetual futures market, which has long been dominated by offshore exchanges.
Institutions Are Focused on Arbitrage, Not Bullish Bets
According to Syn, the demand for SGX’s perpetual futures is driven overwhelmingly by basis trading, also known as cash-and-carry arbitrage — not outright bullish speculation.
“Syn” told CoinDesk, “Basis traders, not outright longs, are behind as much as 90% of Bitcoin ETF interest.” They are the ones who are interested, and they trade basis, which means they buy spot or ETFs and then hedge with futures.
Here’s how basis trading works:
Buy BTC or an associated ETF in the spot market
Sell BTC perpetual futures on the exchange
Capture the price spread (known as the basis)
This strategy has been used by crypto traders for years, but traditional institutions largely avoided it due to the lack of reliable, regulated perpetual futures in Asia.
Now that SGX has a compliant venue, a lot more institutions are likely to participate.
Risk Management: SGX Avoids High-Leverage Pitfalls
After the crash on October 8th, crypto futures have been getting a lot of attention. During the crash, platforms like Hyperliquid, which is a decentralized market for perps, automatically lowered the positions of some traders. The sudden sell-offs not only ruined successful trades but also spread the losses among users.
This kind of auto-liquidation chaos has historically scared institutions away from offshore markets.
