Polymarket launches perpetual futures for crypto, stocks and oil at up to 20x
Polymarket has launched perpetual futures contracts tied to cryptocurrencies, stocks, and commodities including oil, expanding beyond its core binary event-contract business into leveraged derivatives trading. The CFTC-regulated platform initially supports 10 markets and offers traders up to 20x leverage. The 24/7 trading push positions Polymarket in direct competition with incumbent futures exchanges and rival Kalshi, which has filed for its own crude oil and equity index perpetual contracts.
Polymarket's perpetual futures launch turns a prediction-market operator into a direct competitor of CME Group and other incumbent derivatives venues. The up-to-20x leverage on crypto, stocks, and now oil futures targets the same retail and institutional desks that currently roll dated CME contracts or trade offshore. Kalshi has already filed for crude oil, Bitcoin, and S&P 500 perpetuals, so the race is on to set the margin and fee templates that rivals must match.
Both platforms hold CFTC designations that offshore venues lack, but CME has already sued the CFTC over Kalshi's earlier crypto perps. Any legal block on self-certification would hit both operators equally. The first platform to build real open interest wins the liquidity loop that attracts market makers and sticks users.