Binance plans to extend forex derivatives trading into periods when traditional markets are closed, launching the USDBRLUSDT perpetual contract on Sept. 21. The contract tracks the U.S. dollar against the Brazilian real, settles in USDT and offers leverage of up to 100x. Its two-part pricing model will allow trading to continue through weekends and public holidays, although the source of pricing will change outside regular forex hours.
The product addresses a limitation of the conventional foreign-exchange market, which typically shuts over the weekend. During that period, investors cannot use standard forex venues to adjust positions or hedge exposure in response to new developments. Binance’s structure extends access around the clock, but traders will need to monitor how the contract’s reference price is formed and how weekend liquidity affects execution.
External index pricing during regular hours
During normal forex market hours, USDBRLUSDT will track a weighted index compiled by a third-party data provider. Binance has not structured the product as a spot instrument requiring users to hold U.S. dollars or Brazilian reais. Instead, the perpetual contract gives users exposure to movements in the exchange rate, with all settlement conducted in USDT.
The platform will switch to an order-book-based pricing mechanism during weekends and public holidays. Binance said the weekend price will be calculated using an index-weighted moving average of prices on its order book, rather than continuing to rely on external quotes. This allows the contract to remain active when traditional forex pricing is unavailable, but the depth of the order book, bid-ask spreads and number of participants will still influence price formation.
Shunyet Jan, Binance’s head of trading, said the contracts are intended to extend price discovery beyond traditional forex trading hours while giving users a venue to hedge or establish positions around the clock. For leveraged traders, the switch between the weekday index and weekend pricing, along with changes in margin requirements and liquidation rules, will be important practical considerations.
Crypto platforms expand into foreign exchange
Binance is not the first crypto platform to introduce round-the-clock forex perpetual contracts. Less than two weeks earlier, Bybit launched 24-hour perpetual contracts tracking the euro against the U.S. dollar, the pound against the U.S. dollar and the U.S. dollar against the yen. Those products also settle in USDT and offer leverage of up to 100x.
Kraken launched forex perpetual contracts in April 2025 tracking the euro, pound, Australian dollar, yen and Swiss franc, with maximum leverage of 50x. The platform has offered spot forex trading since 2020 and disclosed spot forex volume of $5.7 billion during an earlier period in 2025.
These products allow crypto-market participants to trade exchange-rate movements without directly holding the underlying fiat currencies. For trading platforms, foreign exchange offers a large market closely linked to global macroeconomic events and provides a route for expanding existing margin and derivatives businesses into traditional financial products.
A $9.6 trillion daily market
Bank for International Settlements data showed that average daily turnover in the global over-the-counter foreign-exchange market reached $9.6 trillion in April 2025. By adding forex perpetuals, crypto exchanges are bringing exposure to one of the world’s most actively traded markets into their established leveraged-trading infrastructure.
Round-the-clock access, however, does not guarantee liquidity comparable to the interbank forex market at every hour. Because USDBRLUSDT will use Binance’s order-book prices on weekends, execution prices may be affected by the number of participants, available order depth and market volatility. Binance has disclosed the launch date, settlement currency, leverage ceiling and pricing framework; weekend volumes, spread performance and the gap between the two pricing methods will become clearer only after the product begins trading.