CFTC clears single-stock perpetual futures as Kalshi prepares launch
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved trading in single-stock perpetual futures. Kalshi expects to launch the product within days, according to its head of institutional business. The approval opens a new derivatives category tied to individual equities and marks Kalshi's expansion beyond event contracts into equity-linked derivatives. The move comes as prediction market platforms broaden their product offerings.
Single-stock perpetuals put Kalshi into direct competition with CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange for equity derivatives volume. That is a far larger market than event contracts. The CFTC clearance also gives Kalshi a product that Robinhood cannot self-clear. Robinhood routes event-contract flow through Kalshi and its Rothera joint venture but holds no designated contract market license of its own. Any regulatory freeze or partner outage would force instant volume migration with no fallback.
Kalshi's $40 billion valuation and explicit IPO exploration already pressure rivals to show comparable exit paths or lose institutional capital. Wellington and Sequoia's co-lead signals that traditional finance treats prediction markets as a derivatives exchange category. The single-stock perpetuals timeline requires CFTC clearances that competitors cannot accelerate. Rivals with weaker balance sheets must match this fundraising pace or accept secondary positioning when banks and indices choose primary partners.
Kalshi's equity derivatives push joins a broader race among prediction market platforms to own the full product stack: Polymarket and Robinhood rely on partner-dependent models, while Plus500 holds its own Fed, jobs and sports contracts and now Kalshi adds single-stock perpetuals to its vertically integrated lineup.