Binance Launches Over 1,000 US Stocks and ETF Physical Options
Binance has launched over 1,000 physical delivery options for US stocks and ETFs for eligible non-US users; upon exercising the options, users will receive or deliver the corresponding physical US stocks, with the underlying stocks held by US-registered broker Alpaca Securities.
The product is offered through Abu Dhabi-regulated broker Nest Trading Limited, with orders executed, cleared, settled, and held by Alpaca. US users cannot access this service; the product covers a "selected" range of US-listed stocks and ETFs, rather than being open to all US stocks.
The difference between physical delivery and cash settlement is that exercising at expiration does not only settle the cash difference of the option's intrinsic value. Call option buyers receive the underlying shares upon exercising, while put option holders must deliver the corresponding shares; this extends Binance accounts from merely crypto assets or derivatives accounts to a multi-asset entry point that can hold custodial US stock rights.
Binance reported that the trading volume of traditional financial perpetual contracts in August was approximately $433.4 billion, about 15 times that of January's $29.5 billion. Among this, the trading volume of stock-linked perpetual contracts was about $342.9 billion, accounting for approximately 79% of TradFi perpetual contract volume; this category had a trading volume of $410.9 million in January, growing over 800 times in eight months. This data was disclosed by Binance.
The platform launched trading for over 7,000 US stocks and ETFs in June, and this options offering is a continuation of its product line for spot stocks, ETFs, and TradFi perpetual contracts. Binance integrates spot, perpetual, options, and stablecoin settlements within a single account, directly targeting the multi-product account stickiness of traditional internet brokers.
In terms of market mechanics, buyers are international traders looking to hedge or amplify their US stock risk exposure using crypto platform accounts in non-US time zones; sellers include market makers providing implied volatility quotes, inventory management, and delta hedging. Funds will flow into Nest, Alpaca, custodial, clearing, options market making, stablecoin deposits and withdrawals, and cross-market hedging; traditional brokers will face pressure from account asset outflows and product integration competition, but Binance remains limited by regional access, regulatory approvals, securities custody arrangements, and US stock market trading hours.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Binance's evolution path has shifted from a "cryptocurrency spot exchange" to a multi-asset risk trading entry point. Previously, its growth relied mainly on BTC, ETH, stablecoins, spot matching, and crypto perpetual contracts; now it first launched US stock and ETF trading, then packaged stock indices, commodities, forex, and individual stock risks into TradFi perpetuals, and finally introduced physical delivery US stock options. Unlike FTX's launch of tokenized stocks in 2021, Binance has outsourced order execution, clearing, and physical custody to Alpaca, and is leveraging Nest Trading for broker access, attempting to embed securities rights into the existing platform rather than just providing price contracts.
The focus of the capital path has shifted from cryptocurrency price fluctuations to global stock volatility and collateral efficiency. Users can keep their stablecoin balances in the same account while establishing US stock spot, options, or perpetual positions; this increases margin utilization, trading frequency, and cross-selling opportunities for the platform. Among the approximately $433.4 billion trading volume of TradFi perpetual contracts in August, stock-linked contracts accounted for about $342.9 billion, indicating that most of the incremental volume did not come from gold, forex, or indices, but from directional trading demand in US stocks. The value of this path for Binance lies in the ability to continuously earn trading fees and liquidity network effects from AI stocks, earnings reports, interest rates, and index fluctuations without waiting for a crypto bull market.
Historical comparisons should be made with the product expansions of Robinhood and Interactive Brokers, rather than traditional crypto exchanges. Robinhood aggregates retail users through zero-commission stocks, options, crypto, and cash management, while Interactive Brokers locks in more professional funds with global market access and margin systems; Binance's difference is that it first has global crypto users, stablecoin liquidity, and 24-hour derivatives trading habits, then reversely accesses regulated securities infrastructure. This model is in the expansion phase of "crypto platform securitization," but physical delivery is still managed by US brokers, indicating that the ultimate legal layer of securities ownership has not departed from the traditional financial system.
Essentially, this is a reconstruction of the industry chain. In the past, securities accounts, crypto wallets, derivatives exchanges, clearing institutions, and custodial banks separately controlled customer assets and trading entry points; Binance is attempting to integrate front-end accounts, collateral, market data, trading strategies, and cross-asset risk management into a single interface, while the backend connects to traditional regulatory and custodial chains through Nest and Alpaca. Pricing power will shift to platforms that have user access, stablecoin settlement capabilities, and liquidity networks, but clearing, custody, KYC, and regional regulations still control whether physical securities can ultimately be delivered. The real competition is not about "whether options can be launched," but whether the platform can keep more assets long-term in the same account without sacrificing compliance and asset segregation.
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