Kalshi launches single-stock perpetual futures as court fight over them continues
Kalshi began offering perpetual futures on more than 50 US stocks on November 5, while a lawsuit challenging the CFTC's approval is pending.
Kalshi launched perpetual futures on individual U.S. stocks on November 5, 2026, saying in an announcement that it is the first company in the United States to offer the product. Traders can take positions on the price of more than 50 companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, including McDonald’s, Palantir, SpaceX and Meta.
The launch comes two days after a federal judge declined to block the CFTC’s approval of these contracts, while finding that the trade group challenging them is likely to win its core claim.
How the contracts work
Single-stock perpetuals track a stock’s price without the trader owning the shares, and they have no expiration date. Traders can go long or short. Kalshi pitches them as simpler than options, with no strikes or time decay, and cheaper than dated futures because there are no rollover fees.
The contracts can be traded with leverage. Kalshi says its leverage levels are approved under CFTC rules and are significantly lower than on offshore perpetual products. It charges a trading fee rather than using payment for order flow.
Kalshi says the contracts trade under the joint oversight of the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The launch follows its perpetual futures on crypto in May and on gold and silver in September.
“Just this morning, since the stealth launch, our users traded over $300m,” co-founder and COO Luana Lopes Lara said, calling it “one of the most consequential products we’ve launched.”
The legal backdrop
The Capital Markets Alliance Association, a trade group, sued the CFTC in federal court in New York to undo the approvals that cover Kalshi, Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial. On November 3, Judge Valerie Caproni denied its request for a temporary restraining order because it had not shown irreparable harm.
The same order found the group likely to succeed on its claim that the CFTC lacks authority to allow these contracts for retail investors on CFTC-regulated platforms, because they do not appear to be security futures and instead appear to be swaps. The CFTC’s opposition to a preliminary injunction is due November 6, and the group’s reply on November 10.
What it means for traders
As of November 5, U.S. traders on Kalshi can trade stock perpetuals on a regulated exchange, and no court order blocks the approvals. The court will next consider the group’s motion for a preliminary injunction, while a judge has already signaled doubts about the CFTC’s authority to approve these contracts.
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