Kalshi Files Proposal for Stock Perpetual Futures, Following Coinbase's Lead
In a move mirroring Coinbase and Bitnomial, Kalshi has submitted a filing to offer perpetual futures contracts on individual US equities to American traders.
The prediction market platform Kalshi has submitted a filing to introduce perpetual futures contracts based on individual US equities, entering the race alongside Coinbase to introduce derivatives products inspired by cryptocurrency markets into traditional stock trading.
The platform submitted its proposed rule change to the Securities and Exchange Commission while also filing it with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for regulatory approval on Friday. At this time, the CFTC has not yet granted approval for the proposal.
Under the proposal, these contracts would feature no predetermined expiration dates and would utilize periodic funding payments exchanged between participants holding long and short positions to maintain price alignment with the stocks they track. According to Kalshi, these contracts would be classified as security futures products and would undergo clearing through Kalshi Klear, its CFTC-registered clearinghouse.
This filing was submitted on the identical day that Coinbase filed its own separate proposal for offering perpetual futures contracts based on individual US stocks, demonstrating how both firms are pursuing efforts to introduce a derivatives instrument that has gained popularity within cryptocurrency markets into conventional equity trading.
The prediction market already provides perpetual futures contracts linked to various cryptocurrencies for US customers, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP), following the CFTC's approval of its Bitcoin perpetual contract offering in May.
US stock perpetual futures race expands
Both Kalshi and Coinbase are not the only entities pursuing authorization to introduce single-stock perpetual futures to American markets. Payward, which serves as the parent entity of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has also submitted its own filing via its Bitnomial Exchange subsidiary to offer these same products, with intentions to make them accessible to US traders through the Kraken platform.
According to Payward's filing, the company intends to launch perpetual futures contracts tied to 10 US equity securities initially, featuring companies such as Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, while also pursuing the implementation of 24/5 trading capabilities.
These regulatory filings arrive just days following the failure of the CLARITY Act to move forward in the Senate on Sept. 15, as the legislation did not secure the 60 votes required for advancement.
Following the voting outcome by one day, SEC Chair Paul Atkins declared that "with or without legislation," the regulatory agency would "act decisively" utilizing its existing statutory authority to deliver regulatory certainty for American investors and entrepreneurs.
