Kalshi's CFTC-approved BTC and ETH perpetual futures went live June 3-4. Here is what the product is, what it costs, and how it compares to prediction market fees.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Kalshi's first perpetual futures contract on May 29, 2026, in press release 9240-26. That cleared the way for the company to list BTCPERP, a continuous contract referencing the bitcoin spot price. Bitcoin perpetuals went live on June 3. Ethereum perpetuals followed on June 4. Both are available to U.S. traders under full CFTC oversight, making them the first regulated on-exchange crypto perpetual futures products offered to retail U.S. accounts.
The contracts have no expiry date. A position stays open until the trader closes it or is liquidated. Each BTCPERP contract represents 1/10,000 of one bitcoin, so at a BTC spot price of $100,000, one contract controls $10 in notional value. Trading runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Kalshi has also filed product certifications for perpetual contracts on XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, Stellar, Shiba Inu, and Hedera. Each requires a separate CFTC review before it can trade.
During the launch period, Kalshi waived trading fees on both BTCPERP and ETHPERP for traders who joined through its waitlist. The company has not published the fee schedule that will apply after the promotional period closes.
Even at zero trading fees, perpetual futures are not zero-cost products. The mechanism that keeps a perpetual contract anchored to the spot price is called a funding rate. Every eight hours, longs pay shorts (or shorts pay longs) based on how far the perp price has drifted from the spot index. When longs dominate positioning, longs pay. When shorts dominate, shorts pay. The funding payment comes directly out of or into your margin account.
Kalshi has not disclosed its post-launch funding rate formula. For context, major offshore perpetual exchanges commonly apply a rate near 0.01% per 8-hour session when positioning is roughly balanced. That rate rises when crowded directional flow pushes the perp price away from spot.
Here is how that reference rate compares to Kalshi's prediction market taker costs at similar notional exposure:
| Product | Cost mechanism | Example: $10,000 exposure for 30 days |
|---|---|---|
| Kalshi perpetual (post-launch, illustrative) | Funding rate 3 sessions per day | ~$90/month at 0.01% per 8-hour session |
| Kalshi prediction market (taker, 1 entry) | 0.07 x C x P x (1 - P) | $1.75 for 100 contracts at $0.50 |
The prediction market figure is a one-time fee on entry. The perp figure accrues every eight hours as long as the position is open. A two-week prediction market position on 100 contracts at 50 cents costs $1.75 to open and nothing to hold. A two-week leveraged perp position costs nothing to open during the promotional period but accumulates funding every eight hours for the duration.
Run prediction market scenarios through the fee calculator to see the after-fee cost on any contract before you place it.
Here is the arithmetic on a concrete example. BTC at $100,000, a 1,000-contract position, and a 0.01% per session reference rate.
That $90 is the cost of staying long for one month at a balanced funding rate using an offshore reference rate as context. The cost climbs if the market is heavily one-sided and the rate rises. On a leveraged position, a single elevated session matters.
This structure is different from prediction market fees at the mechanical level. Prediction market takers pay once at entry. Perpetual positions pay continuously. See the prediction market fee comparison guide for a breakdown of how per-trade costs vary across platforms. For post-fee expected value on individual event contracts, the PM EV calculator runs the full calculation including entry fee drag.
Kalshi built its platform on event contracts: binary outcomes that resolve YES or NO when a specific event occurs. Perpetual futures are a structurally different product. They track an asset price continuously, use leverage, and never resolve unless the trader closes the position or is liquidated.
The launch is significant on two levels. First, it is the first time U.S. retail traders have had access to regulated, on-exchange perpetual futures. Offshore platforms have dominated this market, which grew to over $90 trillion in annual trading volume as of 2025. Kalshi's entry gives domestic traders a regulated onshore alternative.
Second, it reflects where Kalshi is going. The company raised $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation in May 2026, with institutional trading volume up 800% in the preceding six months. Perpetuals extend the product line from event outcomes into continuous price exposure. The two products share a platform and a regulatory wrapper but answer different questions: event contracts ask "will this happen?"; perpetuals ask "which direction will this price move?"
For prediction market traders already on Kalshi, the perpetuals launch does not change event contract fees. The 2026 Kalshi fee schedule and the formula behind it remain unchanged for event trading.