Binance launched regulated perpetual futures for gold (XAUUSDT) and silver (XAGUSDT) in early January 2026, settling both contracts in USDT to offer 24/7 commodity exposure on a crypto-native platform. The move aims to bridge traditional finance and digital markets by combining regulated market oversight with stablecoin settlement and continuous trading.
The XAUUSDT contract went live on jan 5 and XAGUSDT followed on jan 7 signalling a strategic push to diversify products and attract both institutional and retail traders seeking commodity hedges within the crypto ecosystem.
The new contracts are offered through Nest Exchange Limited, a Binance entity, and are settled in USDT to simplify integration with existing crypto trading flows. XAGUSDT supports up to 50x leverage; leverage for XAUUSDT was not specified in all public material but is positioned to be comparable with commodity derivatives. Funding rates are applied periodically—typically every eight hours—to keep perpetual prices aligned with the underlying spot reference.
Binance implemented continuous pricing controls to manage out-of-hours risk. A multi-vendor Price Index updates every second during market hours and remains fixed at its last value off-hours. The Mark Price is refreshed each second during trading and uses an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) smoothing mechanism when markets are thin.
Regulation, market access and risks
The contracts are issued under the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) framework by Nest Exchange Limited and regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). That regulatory backing gives these products a different compliance profile than unregulated crypto derivatives and is likely intended to attract institutional flows and market-makers comfortable with recognised oversight.
However, global access is fragmented. Binance Futures remained unavailable to users in the United States, and the exchange earlier removed non‑MiCA-compliant stablecoins, including USDT, for EEA spot trading That prior delisting complicates the product’s reach inside the European Economic Area and could force traders there to migrate to MiCA-compliant alternatives for settlement.
Reduced USDT availability in the EEA may constrain liquidity and affect pricing dynamics for these USDT‑settled contracts unless Binance deploys region-specific settlement options.
Binance offers standard risk tools—customisable leverage, stop-loss/take-profit orders and a liquidation engine—but traders should account for rapid metal-price moves and funding-rate volatility.
Investors and market participants will watch liquidity, funding-rate behaviour and how Binance adapts settlement options for regions where USDT use is restricted; those factors will determine whether these contracts broaden access to commodity exposure or remain a niche within the crypto derivatives market.
