Kalshi seeks approval to list perpetual futures tied to gold

Kalshi Inc. is seeking approval to expand precious metals trading on its platform with a popular type of derivative that never expires for gold, silver and platinum.

The company filed for regulatory approval with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to expand its perpetual contracts outside of crypto.

Kalshi’s request was filed under a process that gives the regulator 45 days to approve or disallow the contract. Typically most event contracts are “self-certified” by exchanges as meeting CFTC requirements, but new products such as perps on registered exchanges have become subject to greater scrutiny by the agency.

The precious metals contracts would initially trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, matching the hours of the underlying markets, rather than the 24/7 schedule offered for crypto-linked perpetuals, Kalshi chief risk officer Udesh Jha said. The prediction-market platform will also assess whether to expand those hours, he said.

A representative for the CFTC didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Perpetual futures, or “perps,” are a type of derivative with no expiration date and built-in leverage that allow customers to amplify the risk they are taking with each trade. The contracts, largely confined to crypto markets for a long time, have surged into the mainstream during the Iran war, when they became one of the only ways for retail investors to trade oil while traditional futures exchanges were closed.

Most perpetual products are offered on offshore exchanges and aren’t regulated in the way traditional commodity exchanges such as Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and CME Group Inc. are in the US. Competition from upstart venues such as Hyperliquid, which offers contracts tied to real-world assets including gold and crude oil, has accelerated traditional exchanges’ efforts to widen their trading hours.

The never-expiring contracts have also become a source of tension between CME and its top regulator. The Chicago-based exchange sued the CFTC in June after the agency allowed Kalshi to launch crypto-linked perps, making it the first US-regulated venue to offer the products.

“We have spent a huge amount of time looking at these products and determining the appropriate classification,” Kalshi Chief Compliance Officer Sudhir Jain said in an emailed statement. “CME’s lawsuit does not change that.”

Not long after its lawsuit, the CFTC blocked a CME bid to offer round-the-clock trading in oil futures, contracts that would expire unlike perpetuals. The regulator said it’s still reviewing a separate request for continuous oil futures trading that CME filed through a different process that allows the regulator to give formal approval over a longer timeline.

Separately, the Chicago-based exchange is also launching gold futures trading 24/7 this week, putting them in competition with Kalshi’s new perpetuals offering. Representatives for CME didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kalkshi’s Jha said there are different use cases for each product.

“The marketplace has different needs,” he said. “Perpetuals are very important, and will thrive because they will help improve risk-management, alongside a lower cost to traditional futures.”

The company is seeing growing demand for perpetual contracts in other asset classes such as foreign exchange and equities, and is actively evaluating those areas, according to Jha.

“The market is evolving on all aspects,” he said. “We have to evolve, and be ready to evolve.”

(By Katherine Doherty and Mia Gindis)