Kalshi has filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for approval of an oil-linked futures contract that never expires, Bloomberg reported on 7 October.[1] The contract is tied to the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude benchmark and would trade 24 hours a day, five days a week. The CFTC has 45 days to approve or block it.
What is a perpetual contract?
Most futures contracts have an expiry date: an oil future for December stops trading in late November. Perpetuals never expire. Instead, a periodic "funding" payment between buyers and sellers keeps the contract's price close to the underlying benchmark. They're hugely popular in crypto trading and are now spreading into regulated US markets.
Kalshi's design trades on weekdays only — a response to industry concerns, and earlier CFTC pushback, that weekend trading could undermine stable benchmark pricing in the physical crude market.[1] The CFTC has separately been consulting on 24/7 futures trading and perpetual contracts on energy commodities.[2]
Why it matters
Kalshi started as an event-contract exchange — yes/no questions on elections, the economy and sports. An oil perpetual is a very different product, closer to what CME Group offers. It shows how prediction market operators are trying to become full derivatives exchanges, especially as their sports contracts face state lawsuits.
It also comes as the CFTC reportedly looks into heavy trading clusters in Kalshi's ether perpetual contracts, following public wash-trading allegations that the company denies.
What it means for you
Nothing changes for everyday prediction market users for now. If you trade Kalshi's event contracts, our Kalshi review explains fees and markets, and our economy markets page covers oil- and inflation-linked event contracts.
Sources
- Kalshi submits bid for perpetual-style oil contract to CFTC — Bloomberg, 7 October 2026 ↩
- CFTC extends comment period on 24/7 trading and perpetual energy contracts — CFTC press release ↩
