Kalshi Launches U.S. Stock Perps, Hits $300M
Two days after the CFTC cleared single-stock perps, Kalshi went live on 50+ names and said traders moved over $300M that morning.
Kalshi launched regulated single-stock perpetual futures (SSPs) on more than 50 U.S. equities and ETFs, calling itself the first company in the country to offer the product.
What's the Scoop?
The Product: Traders can go long or short individual stocks without owning shares, with no expiry and no rollover fees. Kalshi listed more than 50 NYSE and Nasdaq names and said the contracts sit under joint CFTC and SEC oversight as security futures. The launch comes two days after CFTC Chair Mike Selig cleared single-stock perps on registered exchanges.
The Volume: Co-founder Lopes Lara called SSPs one of Kalshi's most consequential products and attributed the $300M figure to activity since the quiet rollout that morning — Kalshi's own claim, not an audited disclosure.
More Heat Against Kalshi: A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction barring Kalshi sports contracts on the lands of California tribes suing it (Blue Lake, Chicken Ranch, and Buena Vista), after a Ninth Circuit panel found the tribes likely to succeed under tribal gaming law. Sports attorney Daniel Wallach called it the first tribal PI against Kalshi nationwide. The same week, Arkansas AG Tim Griffin sued Kalshi as an illegal gambling platform.
David Christopher
David is a writer/analyst at Bankless. Prior to joining Bankless, he worked for a series of early-stage crypto startups and on grants from the Ethereum, Solana, and Urbit Foundations. He graduated from Skidmore College in New York. He currently lives in the Midwest and enjoys NFTs, but no longer participates in them.
