Kalshi Tops $5.5 Billion in Perpetual Futures Volume, Plans Broader Asset-Class Expansion
Summary
- Kalshi said perpetual futures became its fastest-growing product for customer acquisition and adoption, reaching $5.5 billion in trading volume within two weeks of launch.
- Kalshi currently offers 11 perpetual futures contracts tied to cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether, and is in talks with the CFTC on additional listings and a broader expansion across asset classes.
- While some in the industry raised concerns including leverage risk, Kalshi pushed back, saying the response reflects the start of competition as it opens a new market.
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Kalshi has logged more than $5.5 billion in trading volume within two weeks of launching perpetual futures.
Tarek Mansour, Kalshi's co-founder, said at the Bloomberg Market Structure Conference on June 16 that perpetual futures had become the company's fastest-growing product for customer acquisition and adoption. Volume has exceeded $5.5 billion since launch, he said, according to Bloomberg.
Kalshi currently offers 11 perpetual futures contracts tied to cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether. The company is discussing additional listings with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and plans to expand the service into other asset classes over the longer term.
Kalshi will scale as quickly as possible as long as doing so does not create problems for its system, Mansour said.
Perpetual futures are derivatives with no expiration date. They are structured so contract prices continuously track the spot price of the underlying asset. The products had previously traded mainly on offshore crypto exchanges, but entered regulated U.S. markets after the CFTC allowed U.S. exchanges to list perpetual futures last month.
Kalshi is the first perpetual futures platform approved by the CFTC. The company is expanding beyond its existing prediction-market, or event-contract, business into derivatives.
Still, some in the industry have raised concerns. CME Group Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy recently said the products have little practical use for institutional investors while exposing retail traders to excessive leverage risk.
Mansour rejected that criticism. New markets always draw opposition, he said, adding that competition begins when incumbent players see the established order being challenged.
Separately, Kalshi recently posted more than $1 billion in daily trading volume for three straight trading days as prediction-market activity tied to the World Cup and the NBA Finals surged. It was the first time in the company's history.
Suehyeon Lee
shlee@bloomingbit.ioI'm reporter Suehyeon Lee, your Web3 Moderator.
