Interactive Brokers deepens prediction market aggregation with expanded Kalshi, CME access
Interactive Brokers is expanding its prediction-market offerings with a unified interface that lets its 2.5 million clients access and trade event contracts across Kalshi and CME Group from a single platform alongside stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto, bonds and other holdings with consolidated reporting. Chairman Thomas Peterffy, who had sought to acquire Kalshi in 2021, said prediction markets are a vital source of information for the firm's customers and expects more institutional investors to enter once liquidity deepens. The brokerage launched a feature called Trading the Future that integrates event contracts into its existing multi-asset infrastructure rather than operating a standalone platform. The move comes as SEC chair Atkins has indefinitely blocked two dozen prediction market ETF applications, pushing brokers to build their own structures, and as the CFTC has eased reporting requirements for prediction market operators.
Polymarket and DraftKings must now match IBKR's single-interface liquidity pool across three regulated venues or lose trader acquisition to a model that offers Kalshi and CME Group immediate exposure to 2.5 million client accounts.
Interactive Brokers' deepening aggregation play extends a two-week pattern in which Kalshi has locked in both broker and data-vendor distribution partners while Polymarket has countered with a Nasdaq-backed pre-IPO vertical, leaving the two platforms pursuing divergent institutional credibility strategies after the SEC blocked the ETF channel both might have used.