Kalshi files for equity index perpetuals after $16.1B perp launch

Kalshi is pushing perpetual futures into the equity market, filing with the CFTC for a contract tracking 500 large U.S. companies.

Kalshi, the prediction market platform, filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday to launch perpetual futures tied to a U.S. large-cap equity index, escalating its challenge to CME Group's core derivatives business.

"This is the next step towards building the largest exchange on the planet," Kalshi engineer Lior Hirschfeld said during a June event launching the company's perps product.

The proposed "US500" contract would track the MerQube U.S. Large Cap Index, which follows the 500 largest companies listed and based in the U.S. Perpetual futures, or "perps," carry no expiration date, letting traders hold leveraged long or short positions without rolling contracts. Kalshi's perps generated $16.1 billion in trading volume by July 9, about six weeks after launch, with much of the activity coming from institutional investors, the company told Reuters.

The filing puts Kalshi in direct competition with CME, which sued the CFTC in June over the regulator's approval of the company's bitcoin perps, arguing the contracts should be treated as swaps rather than futures. CME shares rose 2 percent and CBOE Global Markets gained 0.8 percent in early trading Tuesday.

US500 targets CME's E-mini franchise

Kalshi's filing repeatedly cites CME's E-mini equity-index futures as the traditional alternative, arguing that perpetuals eliminate the costs and risks of rolling quarterly contracts. Conventional equity-index futures expire on scheduled dates, forcing traders who want to maintain exposure to close or roll positions into later contracts. Kalshi says that process introduces transaction costs, liquidity considerations and basis risk that a perpetual avoids.

"The Contract collapses that maintenance into a single, continuously held instrument," Kalshi said in the filing, calling perpetuals "functionally superior to dated alternatives" for investors seeking continuous equity exposure. US500 would also trade Sunday evening through Friday afternoon, including overnight when U.S. stocks are closed, avoiding the routine weekday maintenance breaks used for CME's E-mini contracts. The contract would be available to retail traders, who could put up margin rather than buy the underlying stocks, with the filing not setting a specific leverage level.

CME sued the CFTC in federal court in June, arguing that Kalshi's bitcoin perpetual does not qualify as a futures contract because it lacks a fixed expiration or delivery date. The exchange operator contends the product fits the legal definition of a swap, which would subject it to a different regulatory framework. Kalshi pushes back directly in the US500 application, calling CME's focus on a fixed delivery date a "red herring" and arguing that federal law does not require every futures contract to expire on a predetermined date. The company also points to comments CME previously submitted to the CFTC acknowledging that some perpetual-style products could qualify as futures, arguing the exchange operator's current litigation position is inconsistent with its earlier stance. The outcome of CME's lawsuit could determine whether perpetual contracts remain in the regulated futures market or face treatment as swaps.

Beyond crypto

The equity index filing follows Kalshi's expansion beyond the cryptocurrency products with which it launched perps in late May. The company filed for gold, silver and platinum perps in July and added copper to its application on Tuesday. Kalshi said perps had more than $90 trillion in global volume in 2025, and its own contracts crossed $1 billion in notional volume within a week of launch.

Kalshi would not need Securities and Exchange Commission approval for the equity index contracts because broad-based equity baskets are regulated by the CFTC. The company has said it is not launching single-stock perpetuals "at this time," though it has reportedly discussed offering 15-minute markets tied to individual stocks. Kalshi's expansion broadens its business well beyond the event contracts for elections, sports and other outcomes for which the platform is best known, using its CFTC-regulated exchange and clearing infrastructure to compete more directly with established futures markets.

The filing extends Kalshi's transformation from a prediction market into a multi-asset derivatives exchange competing directly with CME and CBOE. CME shares, which fell in early June on the initial perps approval, were up 2 percent Tuesday as investors weighed the competitive threat against the legal challenge now before a federal court. For investors, the question is whether Kalshi can convert its early perps momentum into sustained volume in equity and commodity markets, and whether CME's legal challenge or a regulatory reversal slows the expansion.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.