Kalshi launches 'S&P 500 of politics' index to score partisan power
Kalshi Inc. launched the American Power Index (KPOW) on May 28, a real-time composite measure of U.S. political power distribution between the Democratic and Republican parties. The prediction-market platform branded it the 'S&P 500 of politics,' aggregating pricing from its political event contracts to produce a single live score ranging from +50D to +50R. The index combines current control of the White House, House, and Senate with market-implied forecasts. Kalshi, which is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, described the product as expanding beyond discrete event contracts into composite political indicators. The index is live on Kalshi's indices page but is non-tradable as of launch.
Kalshi's KPOW is non-tradable at launch, leaving open whether CFTC will greenlight futures or ETFs tracking the index. Any tradable derivative would test the regulator's comfort with bundled political exposure after years of fighting event-by-event.
Joins Kalshi's fine art vertical and Polymarket's SpaceX valuation contracts as the third platform-specific product expansion in three days, intensifying the race to convert prediction-market infrastructure into differentiated asset classes.