SKN | Kalshi Files for US Stock Perpetual Futures as Crypto-Style Derivatives Expand

Key Points

• Kalshi filed with the SEC to list perpetual futures tied to individual US stocks, with the proposal also submitted to the CFTC for approval.
• The contracts would have no fixed expiration and use periodic funding payments between long and short positions to keep prices aligned with the underlying securities.
• The filing puts Kalshi alongside Coinbase and Bitnomial in seeking regulatory approval for US stock perpetual futures, extending a product structure already widely used in crypto markets.

Kalshi Moves Into Single-Stock Perpetual Futures

Kalshi has filed a proposal to offer perpetual futures tied to individual US stocks, expanding the competition to bring a crypto-native derivatives structure into regulated US equity markets.

The SEC lists KalshiEX’s filing, dated Sept. 18, as a proposed rule change covering listing standards for security futures products. The filing was also submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for approval, meaning the proposed contracts have not yet been cleared for trading.

The move places Kalshi alongside crypto-focused platforms seeking to establish regulated US venues for stock perpetuals.

How the Proposed Contracts Would Work

Unlike traditional futures contracts, the proposed perpetual products would not have a predetermined expiration date.

Instead, periodic funding payments between long and short positions would be used to help keep the contracts aligned with the prices of their underlying stocks.

Kalshi has proposed treating the instruments as security futures products, with clearing handled through Kalshi Klear, its CFTC-registered clearing organization.

The structure is already familiar in cryptocurrency markets, where perpetual contracts allow traders to maintain leveraged long or short positions without rolling contracts at predetermined expiration dates.

Bringing the structure to individual US equities would extend that model into a market governed by both securities and derivatives rules.

Coinbase and Bitnomial Also Enter the Race

Kalshi’s filing arrived alongside regulatory moves by Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial Exchange.

The SEC’s Sept. 18 filings show separate proposals from Coinbase and Bitnomial covering security futures products, including rules associated with cash-settled futures on individual equity securities and exchange-traded fund shares.

Coinbase has been pursuing perpetual futures tied to individual US stocks, while Bitnomial, whose parent Payward operates Kraken, has also sought to establish a regulated framework for similar products.

The simultaneous filings point to growing competition around a derivatives category that has historically been more developed in offshore crypto markets than in regulated US equity markets.

Kalshi Already Offers Crypto Perpetuals

The proposed stock products build on Kalshi’s existing experience with cryptocurrency perpetual futures.

The platform already offers perpetual contracts linked to assets including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and XRP. That provides Kalshi with an existing framework for operating products that do not use conventional expiration dates.

The proposed expansion into stocks, however, introduces additional regulatory considerations because the underlying assets are individual securities rather than cryptocurrencies.

The SEC’s Sept. 18 notice specifically identifies Kalshi’s proposal as a rule change concerning security futures product listing standards.

Regulatory Framework Is Evolving

The filings come as US regulators are actively considering how existing market infrastructure can accommodate around-the-clock and digitally native trading.

On Sept. 17, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the agency was taking steps to facilitate onchain trading of certain tokenized stocks through an “Innovation Exemption.” The SEC described the initiative as a temporary, conditional form of exemptive relief under existing statutory authority.

Atkins had also addressed the regulatory environment following the Senate’s failure to advance the CLARITY Act, saying in remarks on Sept. 14 that the SEC would continue pursuing its agenda with or without the legislation.

The stock-perpetual filings therefore arrive during a broader push to determine how existing US securities and derivatives frameworks can accommodate new forms of digital and extended-hours trading.

Outlook

Kalshi’s filing adds another major participant to the emerging US market for single-stock perpetual futures. If regulators approve the proposed structures, the products could create a regulated pathway for crypto-style perpetual trading on individual equities, potentially extending trading access beyond conventional stock-market hours. For now, however, Kalshi’s proposal remains subject to the regulatory process, with the SEC and CFTC determining how the contracts can operate within the existing framework.