Kalshi weekly open interest hits record $810 million
Kalshi's weekly open interest reached a record $810 million, according to data from Artemis published by Bitget, a roughly 28% increase from the prior period. The milestone comes as traders gravitate toward event contracts that cap losses at the initial stake, a feature that becomes more attractive when prices are volatile and leveraged positions elsewhere are liquidating. Kalshi has been building out a Bloomberg-style terminal to capture institutional flow, though three major quant market-makers have opened competing prediction market desks. The platform is also facing price divergence with Polymarket on World Cup 2026 contracts and competition for retail volume after Robinhood began splitting World Cup contracts across multiple venues.
Kalshi must now monetize this record open interest before DRW, Wintermute, and IMC internalize the spread or route to rival venues. Any leakage of this flow erodes the captive liquidity advantage Kalshi is counting on for its terminal launch and Series F valuation.
Kalshi's record open interest arrives amid intensifying venue competition that has already pulled Robinhood's World Cup flow into a three-venue split and drawn DRW, Wintermute, and IMC into direct institutional competition for the same order book.