Kraken launches CFTC-regulated spot margin trading in the US — up to 10x leverage, no forced selling.

Kraken has rolled out CFTC-regulated crypto spot margin trading for U.S. retail users, letting traders borrow against their holdings at up to 10x leverage without liquidating their positions. The launch is the first product built on the Bitnomial licenses acquired by Kraken's parent company Payward earlier this week — perpetual futures and options are expected to follow.

The move directly targets a long-standing gap in the U.S. market. Regulated spot margin has been largely unavailable to retail traders stateside, pushing volume to offshore, unregulated venues. Kraken Pro Head Darius Tabatabai called it a foundational fix: "For too long, U.S. traders have been excluded from accessing this functionality in a regulated environment."

The timing is deliberate. Payward confidentially filed a draft S-1 with the SEC in November, and building out a regulated derivatives stack — alongside a…