Kalshi Launches Gold and Silver Perpetual Futures After CFTC Approval — First Non-Crypto Perps Cleared in the US
Kalshi launched perpetual futures on gold and silver on September 10 after the CFTC approved the contracts — making them the first non-cryptocurrency perpetual futures to receive US regulatory clearance. The contracts are cash-settled, never expire, and trade 24/7 using Pyth Network price feeds. Kalshi simultaneously has pending applications for perpetual futures on US equities, copper, and currencies. Since receiving CFTC approval for crypto perpetual futures in late May, Kalshi has done $44 billion in notional volume on those contracts. The gold and silver launches represent Kalshi's most direct competitive move yet against the CME and COMEX as established US commodity exchanges.
Kalshi launched perpetual futures contracts on gold and silver on September 10, 2026, following CFTC approval of the contracts — the first time the US commodities regulator has cleared perpetual futures on a physical commodity, a contract type that has been available internationally on crypto exchanges since BitMEX introduced it in 2016. The contracts are cash-settled with no expiration date, trade 24 hours a day including weekends and holidays, and use Pyth Network for real-time pricing. No physical delivery of gold or silver is involved. Kalshi originally filed the self-certification applications with the CFTC in July; the approval and launch on September 10 reflects the standard CFTC review window for new contract types on an existing registered DCM. The contracts join Kalshi's existing crypto perpetual futures, which have generated $44 billion in notional volume since receiving CFTC clearance in late May — a figure that reflects the scale of demand for 24/7 derivatives access that existing US exchanges do not provide on weekends and holidays.
The competitive significance is directed at the CME Group and COMEX, the dominant US venues for gold and silver futures. CME's standard gold futures contract (GC) is the global benchmark and settles in physical gold; COMEX mini-gold and E-mini contracts offer smaller-denomination access. All CME/COMEX contracts have expiration dates and do not trade around the clock. Kalshi's perpetual format removes the expiration and rolling management that active futures traders deal with — a product simplification that appeals to a different user profile than institutional CME traders. Kalshi's funding rate mechanism, which periodically transfers payments between long and short positions to keep the perpetual price close to spot, is the same infrastructure crypto perp exchanges use and will be familiar to the growing cohort of retail and semi-institutional traders who have used perpetuals in crypto. Whether that overlap between crypto-native traders and gold/silver market participants is large enough to generate meaningful volume against CME's liquidity depth is the commercial question the launch tests.
Kalshi's pending filings extend well beyond gold and silver. The platform submitted applications in August 2026 for perpetual futures on US equities, the industrial metal copper, and foreign currencies. If CFTC approves single-stock perpetual futures — a product that does not exist in any regulated US venue — Kalshi would enter direct competition with the options market, stock lending desks, and CFD providers for leveraged directional exposure to individual companies. The implications for the broader market structure are significant: single-stock perps on a CFTC-regulated exchange would be accessible to retail traders without the pattern day trading rules that govern margin equity accounts, the complexities of options pricing, or the offshore counterparty risk of CFD providers. Whether the CFTC approves single-stock perps given their potential for concentrated manipulation risk is not certain; the agency has historically been cautious about contracts that could affect underlying equity markets.
The trajectory Kalshi is following in 2026 — binary event contracts, commodity event contracts, crypto perpetuals, now gold/silver perps, then equities, currencies, copper — is the trajectory of a financial exchange, not a prediction market platform. The platform's legal identity as a CFTC-registered designated contract market has always implied this: a DCM license permits listing financial derivatives of all kinds, not only binary event contracts. The prediction market brand and sports/election contracts that drove Kalshi's growth in 2025-2026 now represent one product vertical within a business that is building toward full-service derivatives exchange capabilities. The litigation across a dozen states over sports event contracts, while still unresolved, is being prosecuted in parallel with a product roadmap that doesn't depend on winning that litigation: a Kalshi that processes $44 billion in crypto perps and hundreds of millions in commodity contracts can sustain its business even if sports event contracts are restricted in multiple states.
Operators mentioned in this article
Recent updates
Kalshi Suspends Congressional Candidate for Trading on Own Race — Senate Already Banned Members
Kalshi disclosed on August 31 that it suspended North Carolina congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout for three years and fined her $2,589 for trading on her own race — the first publicly known enforcement action against a candidate for prediction market insider trading. Kalshi said it found multiple politicians trading on races they were involved in, including former Congressman George Santos. The Senate had unanimously banned its members and staffers from prediction market trading on April 30. CNN published a major feature on September 24 documenting election officials' concerns about disinformation and insider trading risk from prediction markets as the midterms approach.
Pew Research: Prediction Market Volume Doubled May-July, Sports Now Largest Category
A Pew Research Center analysis published September 23 found that combined monthly trading volume on Kalshi and Polymarket more than doubled from May to July 2026 — rising from $26 billion in May to $53 billion in July — driven primarily by sports contracts. Sports is now the largest trading category on both platforms. During the FIFA World Cup in June and July, Kalshi's monthly sports volume reached $58 billion. Over the same period, Americans wagered roughly $40 billion at licensed sportsbooks — suggesting prediction market sports volume has approached or exceeded licensed sports betting in dollar terms.
Democrats Now 60% Senate, 90% House Favorites on Prediction Markets — Biggest Shift Since 2024
Prediction markets on Kalshi and Polymarket have moved decisively toward Democratic control of both congressional chambers in the 2026 midterms. Democrats are priced at approximately 60% to win Senate control (Republicans 40%) and roughly 90% to win House control as of September 21. Republicans had been at 80%+ in Senate control markets when the market opened in November 2024. The shift began in February 2026 following the Iran war and has accelerated through fall as rising gas prices pushed Trump's approval ratings lower. More than 500 active midterm markets are live across Kalshi and Polymarket combined.