Kalshi Joins Race to Launch Perpetual Stock Futures

The proposed contracts would operate from Sunday evening through Friday, utilizing a 15.50% minimum customer margin and cash settlement via the Kalshi Klear clearinghouse. Under the filing, these perpetual instruments—which lack preset expiration dates—would be classified as security futures products. Trading would pause during regulatory halts affecting the underlying securities, and funding payments would typically exchange at 4:00 p.m. ET daily.

Kalshi’s entry intensifies a broader scramble to capture the U.S. derivatives market. Both Coinbase and Bitnomial submitted competing proposals on the same day, signaling a unified industry push to expand beyond crypto-native assets. While the CFTC has yet to grant approval, Kalshi has set a target effective date of November 2, 2026. The exchange’s listing standards are strict: to qualify, an underlying security must generally maintain a market capitalization of at least $100 billion and an average daily transaction value exceeding $450 million.

This regulatory maneuver follows the CFTC’s May approval of Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual contract, a decision that remains the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. As the Commission reviews the new stock-linked filings, the SEC retains a secondary oversight role, holding the authority to abrogate the rule changes within 60 days of their effective date. For now, the applications for major tickers—including Microsoft, Amazon, and the SPY and QQQ ETFs—remain in pending status.