Crypto exchanges are turning into multi-asset platforms where traders buy and sell bitcoin, stocks, and gold from a single account.
Here’s how TradFi products work on five major exchanges, what sets them apart, and what to consider before trading.
Two Approaches to TradFi
Before comparing platforms, it helps to understand the two core models for trading traditional assets on crypto exchanges.
CFD (Contract for Difference) is an agreement on the price difference of an asset. A trader doesn’t buy the stock or gold itself — instead, they enter a contract with a liquidity provider on the spread between the opening and closing price.
If the asset gains 5% and the trader is long, they pocket the difference. If it drops, they lose. The underlying asset never changes hands.
CFDs are the standard in the forex brokerage world: a broad lineup (currencies, commodities, indices, metals), high leverage (up to 500x), and spread-based pricing where the broker bakes its fee into the gap between bid and ask.
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) is the terminal that powers Bitget’s and Bybit’s CFD models. It’s a professional platform popular with forex traders: it supports algorithmic trading via Expert Advisors, advanced charting, hedging, and multiple order types.
Perpetual contracts are the format crypto traders know best. The contract tracks the price of an underlying asset, settles in USDT, and a funding rate adjusts the price every 8 hours.
Trading happens in a familiar crypto interface with no separate account. Leverage is lower (up to 100x), but pricing is more transparent — the price forms in an order book, not at a liquidity provider.
Bitget
Bitget is pursuing the most ambitious strategy — the Universal Exchange (UEX) concept. CEO Gracy Chen introduced it on September 16, 2025, and on January 21, 2026, the exchange published its UEX white paper.
Daily TradFi volume on the platform hit $2 billion on January 9, 2026 — four days after the public launch. By the end of the month the figure doubled to $4 billion per day. Even during the beta-testing phase, gold alone topped $100 million in daily volume.
Bitget offers three TradFi trading models — the broadest range among the five exchanges:
- CFDs via MetaTrader 5 — 79+ instruments at launch, including forex (EUR/USD, GBP/USD), precious metals, commodities (Brent, WTI), and indices (Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, Dow Jones, AUS200);
- perpetual futures on stocks (AAPL, GOOGL, META, TSLA) with up to 10x leverage;
- tokenized stocks through a partnership with Ondo Finance — over 100 U.S. equities and ETFs, including Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, AMD, plus index ETFs (SPY, QQQ, IVV, IWM) and commodity products (IAU, SLV).
MetaTrader 5 is the primary trading terminal for Bitget’s CFD segment. Users create a separate MT5 account; USDT is transferred from the spot wallet and converted to USD. Orders are executed through external liquidity providers rather than matched against other Bitget users.
Standard MT5 features are available: Expert Advisors for algorithmic trading, hedging mode, stop-loss/take-profit, and trailing stops. The terminal runs on desktop, mobile, and web.
TradFi CFDs operate through BTGT Mauritius Capital, licensed by the FSC Mauritius. Leverage reaches 500x on CFDs (forex, metals, commodities) but is capped at 10x for stock futures.
Bitget serves over 125 million users in more than 150 countries. Its user Protection Fund stands at 5,500 BTC ($384 million at the time of writing).
Phemex
Phemex launched TradFi futures on February 5, 2026, positioning itself as an alternative to the CFD model.
Trading volume surpassed $100 million in the first 24 hours. By March 12, 2026, Phemex reported $10 billion in cumulative volume for the first month, with daily peaks reaching $1 billion. Active users grew 340% quarter over quarter.
At launch, seven instruments were available: futures on Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Meta, and Intel stocks, plus gold (XAU) and silver (XAG). Phemex uses a Central Limit Order Book (CLOB), where market participants set the price. The exchange highlights key differences from CFD competitors: transparent pricing with no hidden spreads, a unified margin pool shared with crypto positions, and no need for a separate account. Leverage goes up to 100x. Funding rates update every 8 hours.
On February 20, 2026, Phemex integrated Ondo Finance tokenized stocks — 14 instruments, including Nvidia (NVDAon), Tesla (TSLAon), Apple (AAPLon), Amazon (AMZNon), plus Nasdaq 100 (QQQon) and S&P 500 (SPYon) ETFs. Tokens trade on Phemex’s on-chain platform (Solana, Base, BNB Chain) as spot tokenized securities — separate from TradFi futures.
Phemex also just completed a three-month zero-fee period for TradFi futures to mark the launch, designed to bring traders in and help them get familiar with the product.
Phemex exchange review: fees, security, trading bots, and Earn products
Bybit
Bybit was the first major crypto exchange to enter the TradFi market. Its Gold & FX platform, built on MetaTrader 5, went live in August 2024. In June 2025, the service was rebranded as Bybit TradFi, adding CFDs on U.S. stocks, indices, and commodities.
The trading model is contracts for difference. Traders don’t own the underlying asset — they speculate on price movements. Settlements use USDx, an internal unit pegged to USDT at a 1:1 ratio. Five asset classes are available: currency pairs (major, minor, exotic), precious metals (gold, silver), energy (oil), global indices (S&P 500, Nasdaq, Nikkei 225, HK50), and U.S. stocks — over 100 CFDs, including AAPL, TSLA, NVDA, META, and COIN.
Maximum leverage reaches 500x on currencies and metals. Two fee tiers are available:
- Zero-Fee — spread baked into the quote;
- Tight-Spread — from $0.02–6 per lot, requires a deposit of at least 3,000 USDT.
TradFi services operate through Infra Capital Limited, a Mauritius-based company with an SEC-2.1B license from the local Financial Services Commission (FSC).
Trading requires a separate TradFi sub-account and a USDT transfer with conversion to USDx. Level 2 KYC verification is mandatory.
OKX
OKX took a different path — it built perpetual futures on stocks with USDT margin and signed a partnership with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange.
The Stock Perpetuals category launched in stages starting February 25, 2026. HOOD, TSLA, and MSTR came first, followed by INTC, PLTR, AMZN, COIN, and CRCL on February 26. By March 4, NVDA, GOOGL, MSFT, AAPL, META, plus QQQ and SPY ETFs had been added. As of March 20, 2026, 23 instruments are available: 19 stocks and 4 ETFs. Leverage goes up to 5x. Contracts trade 24/7 with no expiration date.
On March 5, 2026, ICE announced a strategic investment in OKX at a $25 billion valuation. According to Bloomberg, the amount was roughly $200 million. Under the deal, OKX’s 120 million users will gain access to ICE’s regulated futures markets in the U.S. and tokenized stocks listed on the NYSE. Tokenized stock integration is expected in the second half of 2026.
OKX became the first global exchange to obtain a full MiCA license and passport its services across the European Economic Area.
Binance
Binance entered the TradFi race later than its competitors, but a community of 300 million users drove explosive volume growth.
Its first product in this direction — a perpetual contract on gold (XAUUSDT) — launched on January 5, 2026. Silver (XAGUSDT) followed on January 7, and on January 8 the exchange unveiled the TradFi Perpetual Contracts category. Platinum (XPTUSDT) and palladium (XPDUSDT) appeared on January 30, rounding out the precious metals lineup.
Starting in late February, stock futures began rolling out: Tesla, Intel, and Robinhood came first, then Strategy, Amazon, Circle, Coinbase, and Palantir.
As of March 2026, Binance offers 12 TradFi instruments: 4 precious metals and 8 stocks. The model is perpetual contracts settled in USDT, identical to crypto futures. The minimum entry is 5 USDT for gold. Multi-Asset mode lets traders use BTC or ETH as collateral.
Cumulative TradFi trading volume exceeded $130 billion by early March 2026, spanning 90 million trades.
Contracts trade around the clock, including outside standard exchange sessions. They are executed on the regulated Nest Exchange Limited, with clearing handled by Nest Clearing and Custody Limited. Both entities are licensed by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) financial regulator.
Comparison Table
| Parameter | Bitget | Phemex | Bybit | OKX | Binance |
| Trading model | CFD (MT5) + perpetual futures + tokenized stocks | Perpetual futures + tokenized stocks | CFD (MT5) | Perpetual futures | Perpetual contracts |
| Number of TradFi instruments | 79+ (CFD) + 100+ (tokenized stocks) | 7 (futures) + 14 (tokenized stocks) | 100+ (CFD) | 23 (19 stocks + 4 ETFs) | 12 (4 metals + 8 stocks) |
| Asset classes | Forex, metals, commodities, indices, stocks, ETFs | Stocks, gold, silver | Forex, metals, commodities, indices, stocks | Stocks, ETFs | Precious metals, stocks |
| Max leverage | 500x (CFD), 10x (stocks) | 100x | 500x (currencies/metals) | 5x | Not disclosed |
| Separate account | Yes (for MT5) | No | Yes (TradFi sub-account) | No | No |
| Pricing | Spread (CFD) / order book (futures) | Order book (CLOB) | Spread (CFD) | Order book | Order book |
| Settlement currency | USD (CFD) / USDT (futures) | USDT | USDx (pegged to USDT) | USDT | USDT |
| Tokenized stocks (Ondo) | Yes (100+) | Yes (14) | No | Planned (H2 2026) | No |
CFD Brokers vs. Crypto-Native Futures
The competitive landscape splits into two camps.
Bybit and Bitget built classic CFD brokerage platforms inside a crypto exchange shell — through Mauritius-licensed entities running MetaTrader 5. This approach offers the widest instrument selection and a familiar environment for forex traders.
The trade-off: a separate account, spread-based pricing, and an offshore regulatory model. Bitget, however, expanded beyond CFDs: perpetual futures on stocks and tokenized securities via Ondo Finance make it the only platform with three TradFi trading models.
Binance, OKX, and Phemex chose a crypto-native approach — perpetual contracts settled in USDT on the same infrastructure as crypto futures. One account, a transparent order book, no dependency on MT5, but a narrower instrument lineup.
The ICE–OKX deal is the most notable institutional endorsement in this race. It could give 120 million crypto users access to tokenized NYSE stocks as early as the second half of 2026. Ondo Finance has emerged as the key tokenization infrastructure provider — integrated by both Phemex and Bitget.
FAQ
How do TradFi products on crypto exchanges differ from traditional brokers?
Crypto exchanges let traders access traditional assets — stocks, gold, currencies — from a single account, without opening a brokerage account. Settlements run in USDT or USD, and contracts trade 24/7, including outside standard market hours. The trader doesn’t become a shareholder — they trade a contract that tracks the asset’s price.
What are tokenized stocks, and how do they differ from futures?
Tokenized stocks are digital representations of real securities issued on a blockchain. Unlike futures, they trade as spot assets without leverage or a funding rate. Ondo Finance is the primary provider of these instruments for Bitget and Phemex.
What’s the difference between the CFD model and perpetual contracts?
A CFD (Contract for Difference) is an instrument from the forex brokerage world. The price is set by a liquidity provider, the fee is built into the spread, and trading is available through the MetaTrader 5 terminal or the exchange’s built-in interface. Perpetual contracts follow the model crypto traders are used to: the price forms in an order book, the funding rate recalculates every 8 hours, and trades go through a standard crypto interface.
Which exchange suits a forex trader?
Bitget and Bybit — both offer MT5-based CFDs with a familiar toolkit: Expert Advisors, hedging, trailing stops. Bybit also integrated CFDs into its own app. Bitget additionally offers perpetual futures and tokenized stocks via Ondo Finance.
What if I only trade crypto and want to try stocks?
Binance, OKX, and Phemex don’t require a separate account or additional software. Perpetual contracts on stocks work in the same interface as crypto futures: familiar order types, USDT settlement, unified balance.