Kalshi could apply for approval as soon as next week to launch a perpetual futures contract linked to West Texas Intermediate crude oil, according to Bloomberg, in a move that would extend the exchange’s use of the product beyond cryptocurrency.
The proposed contract would not have a fixed expiry date and would be available around the clock from Monday to Friday. It would not trade continuously throughout the weekend, Bloomberg reported on 2 September.
If the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approves the application, the product would be the first WTI perpetual futures contract to be offered through a regulated US exchange. The details were provided by an unidentified person familiar with Kalshi’s plans because the proposed filing had not yet been made public.
No application for the contract was listed in the CFTC’s public product filing database as of 3 September. Its specifications, margin requirements, position limits, funding arrangements and possible launch date have therefore not been confirmed.
Traditional WTI futures expire in a particular contract month. A trader seeking to maintain exposure must either close or settle the existing position and then open a new contract with a later maturity.
A perpetual contract would remove that repeated rollover process. In theory, traders could keep positions open indefinitely, provided they held enough collateral and complied with the product’s other rules.
Perpetual futures generally rely on regular payments or a separate price-adjustment mechanism to keep the contract close to the value of its underlying market. On offshore cryptocurrency exchanges, this is commonly achieved through funding payments exchanged between traders holding long and short positions.
Kalshi has not said publicly how its proposed WTI contract would track the underlying oil benchmark. The structure should become clearer if the exchange files detailed terms with the CFTC.
The contract would also have to address the relationship between a financial product and the physical oil market. CME Group’s benchmark WTI futures contract represents 1,000 barrels and is settled through physical delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma. More than one million WTI futures and options contracts change hands each day, according to CME’s product page.
Kalshi’s product could instead use cash settlement or another arrangement designed to avoid physical delivery. No settlement method has been confirmed because the proposed regulatory filing is not yet public.
Expansion beyond cryptocurrency
Kalshi already has experience offering perpetual futures. The CFTC approved its Bitcoin perpetual contract on 29 May under Commission Regulation 40.3, and Kalshi began making the product available in June.
The regulated Bitcoin contract gave US traders exposure to the asset without a set expiration date. That approval established that the CFTC could classify a contract without a fixed expiry as a futures product under the Commodity Exchange Act.
However, the decision did not give Kalshi automatic permission to list perpetual contracts based on other assets. Every new product must meet the relevant CFTC requirements, including rules relating to market manipulation, reliable price discovery and protections for participants.
CFTC Chair Michael Selig has defended the regulator’s approach. He said US law does not require every futures contract to have a predetermined expiration date.
Selig has also dismissed the suggestion that regulated perpetual futures would automatically carry the extreme leverage available on some offshore platforms. In related coverage, the CFTC chair said products approved in the US remain subject to domestic leverage restrictions and risk controls.
Kalshi’s reported weekday schedule would provide 24-hour trading for five days, while leaving the market closed for part of the weekend. That approach would sit between conventional commodity-market hours and a fully continuous trading system.
Longer access could allow traders to respond immediately to geopolitical developments, production outages and government policy announcements that occur while regulated exchanges are shut. Opponents of extended hours argue that overnight and weekend sessions can have less liquidity, wider spreads and fewer market makers.
Those issues may be particularly significant in energy markets, where commercial firms use futures to hedge physical production and consumption. A perpetual WTI product could also perform differently from contracts tied to specific delivery months when the market is in contango or backwardation.
Contango describes a market in which later-dated contracts cost more than near-term contracts. Backwardation is the reverse pattern. Both structures reflect factors including storage costs, supply conditions and demand for immediate delivery.
Kalshi’s eventual filing will need to show how its perpetual contract accounts for those relationships without using one particular delivery month. The formula governing funding payments or other price adjustments will be central to assessing how closely the product tracks the oil market.
Competition with CME Group
Kalshi’s plans come as CME Group challenges the CFTC’s decision to classify perpetual contracts as futures rather than swaps. CME chief executive Terry Duffy has argued that products without expiry dates should instead be covered by the swaps framework established by the Dodd-Frank Act.
CME has threatened legal action over the approval of cryptocurrency perpetual contracts. As crypto.news reported, the dispute centres on whether perpetual products can legally be treated as ordinary futures.
The disagreement would take on added significance if the underlying asset were WTI crude oil. CME operates the leading regulated US market for WTI futures and has licensing arrangements linked to energy benchmarks.
A Kalshi WTI perpetual contract could therefore compete with an established commodity business, rather than solely with offshore cryptocurrency exchanges. The proposed product’s potential size, target customers and settlement structure remain unknown.
CME is also preparing smaller WTI futures that would trade continuously throughout the week, subject to regulatory review. Its website promotes planned 10-barrel contracts intended to provide access to global oil markets at all times.
The CFTC will assess Kalshi’s application independently of the wider dispute with CME. Approval is not guaranteed, and Bloomberg’s report gave no regulatory timetable beyond Kalshi’s reported intention to submit the proposal.
The next confirmed step will be the filing itself. A public submission should set out the contract specifications, reference price, settlement process, position limits and measures designed to prevent manipulation.
It should also explain the trading timetable and how the exchange would operate during periods when physical and futures markets are less active. Margin and liquidation arrangements will be important in determining how Kalshi manages abrupt movements in oil prices.
The route used for the application could also be significant. Kalshi previously sought formal CFTC approval for its Bitcoin perpetual under Regulation 40.3 rather than relying on immediate self-certification.
If it follows the same process for WTI, the regulator could approve or reject the contract, or ask for further information and extend its review. The product cannot be regarded as confirmed until Kalshi submits the filing and the CFTC completes the applicable regulatory process.
