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Binance Launches Physical Options for US Stocks for Non-US Users

Binance has launched physical delivery options for over 1,000 US stocks and ETFs for eligible non-US users through Abu Dhabi-regulated broker Nest Trading Limited; US users are not included in the service.

The service is provided by Nest Trading Limited for brokerage access, while Alpaca Securities is responsible for order execution, clearing, settlement, and custody of the underlying securities. The products are not directly held by Binance but are executed through regulated brokers and US securities infrastructure.

Physical delivery means that when options expire and are exercised, the buyer will receive the corresponding shares or ETF units, while the seller of put options must deliver the underlying securities; this differs from cash settlement based solely on the price difference at expiration for index or contract-for-difference options.

The options cover a "selected" range of US stocks and ETFs, not all securities listed in the US. Binance stated that users can trade the related options within their existing multi-asset accounts, allowing stablecoins, crypto assets, traditional financial perpetual contracts, and custodial US stock risk exposure to be presented on the same platform.

Binance has previously launched over 7,000 US stock and ETF products and disclosed that its TradFi perpetual contract trading volume reached approximately $433.4 billion in August, a nearly 15-fold increase from January's $29.5 billion. The launch of these options is the latest step in its expansion from crypto spot and perpetual contracts to global securities trading access.

In market mechanics, buyers are international traders looking to manage crypto assets, stablecoin, and US stock option risks within the same account; sellers are market makers providing implied volatility quotes, inventory management, and delta hedging. Fund flows are directed through regulated brokerage channels, securities custody, options clearing, cross-market hedging, and stablecoin settlement; traditional brokers face competition for user access, but Binance is still constrained by regional licensing, KYC, US securities custody, and compliance boundaries across different jurisdictions.

Source: Public Information

ABAB AI Insight

Binance is advancing along the path of "first aggregating trading behavior, then accessing asset ownership." Initially, it relied on cryptocurrency spot and perpetual contracts to establish a global user, liquidity, and stablecoin collateral network, then launched TradFi perpetual contracts and US stock ETF products, and now adds physical delivery options. Unlike FTX's past approach of providing price exposure through tokenized stocks, Binance's use of Nest Trading and Alpaca for brokerage, execution, clearing, and custody indicates it aims to encrypt the front-end user experience while keeping securities delivery within the traditional compliance framework.

The key to the capital path is upgrading stablecoin balances to serve as collateral for trading across all asset classes. Users could previously configure BTC, ETH, USDT, or USDC within Binance, and now can observe and trade US stocks, ETFs, perpetual contracts, and options risks from the same account. Therefore, the platform is competing not just for trading commissions but also for account retention, cross-margining, fund dwell time, and user trading frequency. The approximately $433.4 billion TradFi perpetual trading volume in August indicates that Binance has formed a high-frequency demand for directional risk in traditional markets among its existing user base.

Historical comparisons are closer to Robinhood and Interactive Brokers rather than purely crypto exchanges. Robinhood enhances retail account stickiness by integrating stocks, options, crypto, and cash management; Interactive Brokers locks in cross-border funds through multi-country markets, margin tools, and professional trading infrastructure. Binance's difference lies in first having global crypto users and stablecoin liquidity, then reverse-accessing the regulated backend of US securities. Its current stage is still one of expansion: while the front-end can be unified, physical stocks must ultimately go through broker custody, clearing rules, and jurisdictional access.

Essentially, this is a restructuring of the industry chain. Exchanges, brokers, clearing institutions, custodians, and crypto wallets previously controlled users, assets, and transaction chains separately; Binance seeks to consolidate account access, collateral, trading interfaces, and cross-asset strategies at the platform front-end, then connect to backend securities infrastructure through regulated partners. Whoever controls global user access and stablecoin liquidity may redistribute customer relationships in retail securities trading; however, whoever controls clearing, custody, investor protection, and cross-border licenses still holds the final boundaries of asset delivery.

ABAB News · Cognitive Laws

  1. The platform must first unify accounts for capital to flow uniformly

  2. The front-end can redo brokers, but the back-end is still defined by clearing

  3. Stablecoins connect trading, while regulation determines ownership