Coinbase Opens AI Agent Perps Trading to Traders Outside the US

Coinbase flipped the switch on Nov. 2: AI agents connected to user accounts can now place trades in its Deribit-powered global derivatives markets, opening agent-directed perpetual futures to eligible traders outside the United States.

Coinbase for Agents hooks existing accounts into AI apps including Claude, ChatGPT and Grok, letting them research markets, build strategies and fire off trades inside limits the user sets. Access is not automatic. Traders need a spot account, must clear derivatives onboarding and verification, and have to fund a Global Derivatives portfolio on their own. In Australia, the door only opens for wholesale investors.

The international rollout trails Coinbase's October promotion of agent-directed index and crypto perpetuals through Coinbase Financial Markets, its US futures broker. That earlier offering's disclosure said index perps were available only in the US.

Guardrails come with caveats. Coinbase says users pick what their agent can reach, can revoke the connection and, in most agent apps, can demand approval before every trade. The company says it caps agent trades and stops agents from sending funds off Coinbase. But Coinbase's own MCP setup guide still describes isolated agent portfolios as spot-crypto-only, and lists US futures trading as available only in the default portfolio.

The underlying retail gateway guide lists at least 125 perpetual contracts, spanning equity and commodity perpetuals, with maximum leverage of up to 50 times. That is the gateway's catalogue rather than an agent-specific contract list, and the guide notes options and dated futures are not yet available through it.

The plumbing behind all this shifted on Oct. 1, when international derivatives migrated from Coinbase International Exchange to Deribit, a consolidation that also moved institutional accounts, positions and balances onto the combined venue. Under the Coinbase Bermuda brokerage agreement, Coinbase Bermuda Limited acts as broker and custodian and routes orders to Deribit for execution, and says it is not the trade counterparty. Coinbase also warns that AI agents can make errors and that users stay responsible for reviewing and authorizing their trades.