Kalshi is seeking regulatory approval to launch about 60 perpetual futures tied to large-cap U.S. stocks and ETFs, with Tesla, Apple, and Nvidia among the potential underlying names. If cleared, the products would allow U.S. investors to keep trading price exposure to those companies while the traditional stock market is closed.
The plan has already triggered a regulatory debate. Citadel Securities warned that if a large number of stock-linked derivatives trade outside the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s traditional securities framework, the U.S. could gradually end up with a parallel “shadow market” alongside the formal equity market.
Kalshi moves a crypto-native perpetual model toward Wall Street
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 11 that Kalshi is seeking approval to list roughly 60 perpetual futures linked to high-market-cap stocks and ETFs, including major U.S. technology shares such as Tesla, Apple, and Nvidia.
Unlike standard futures, perpetual contracts do not have a fixed expiration date. Traders can, in theory, hold positions indefinitely as long as they maintain sufficient margin. Prices are kept close to the related spot asset through a periodic funding-rate mechanism.
Kalshi’s existing perpetual products already support leveraged trading. Examples in company documents show leverage of up to 6x. At that level, a move of about 17% against a position could leave margin close to fully depleted.
Crypto perpetuals came first, then gold and silver
Kalshi is not entering stock derivatives from a standing start. In May, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual futures contract, BTCPERP. After that, the platform added products tied to Ethereum, Solana, and XRP, and more recently obtained certifications for perpetual contracts linked to gold and silver.
CFTC documents show that GOLDPERP and SILVERPERP completed certification on Sept. 8.
24-hour trading would apply to derivatives, not spot equities
If Kalshi eventually launches perpetual contracts tied to Tesla or Nvidia, that would not mean Nasdaq or the U.S. cash equity market has switched to a 24-hour schedule. Traders would be buying and selling derivatives that track stock prices, not the shares themselves.
Kalshi’s platform is already open for trading almost around the clock, with a regular maintenance window from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. Eastern Time each Thursday. The CFTC in May also issued guidance on “24/7 trading, clearing and settlement,” pointing to a faster push toward around-the-clock derivatives markets in the U.S.
The SEC held a “24-hour trading” roundtable this week to discuss liquidity, overnight trading, cybersecurity, and clearing infrastructure. Citadel Securities, Nasdaq, Interactive Brokers, and Jane Street were among the participants.
Citadel says the products could create a parallel market
A central question is whether these products should be supervised by the CFTC or the SEC.
In a Sept. 9 comment letter submitted to regulators, Citadel Securities said derivatives tied to listed-company shares, corporate revenue, earnings, or other key indicators could involve securities-market risks, including insider trading and manipulation of spot stock prices.
Citadel said that if such products sit outside the SEC’s existing oversight structure, they could create a “parallel shadow market linked to U.S. stocks” without the same level of best execution, order handling, trading halts, disclosure, or cross-market surveillance.
The firm also pointed to differences between the two agencies’ approval systems. In some cases, a CFTC-registered exchange can use self-certification to file a new product and begin trading as soon as the next business day. Under the SEC system, new securities products typically go through public comment and formal approval.
On that basis, Citadel argued that trading venues should not be able to choose their regulator simply by changing a product’s legal definition.
Trading volume is rising as Kalshi targets stock-linked products
Kalshi’s move into stock derivatives comes as its volumes have expanded. Reuters data showed Kalshi’s prediction-market trading volume reached about $40 billion in August, ahead of Polymarket. Combined volume for Kalshi and Polymarket was about $48.4 billion.
Its commodities markets have been live for only about seven months, yet monthly trading volume there has already surpassed $400 million.
The broader U.S. stock market is also dealing with elevated valuations and volatility. Nvidia’s market capitalization recently reached about $5 trillion, making it one of the world’s most influential stocks. As of Sept. 10, the S&P 500 closed at 7,591.70 and the Nasdaq closed at 26,081.72. Major indexes have come under pressure as U.S. Treasury yields approached 5%, energy prices jumped, and markets repriced the possibility of Federal Reserve rate hikes.
That means if price exposure to heavily traded names such as Tesla and Nvidia remains available over weekends or after the stock market closes, capital could shift beyond pre-market and after-hours trading and into an around-the-clock derivatives venue.
Perpetuals are blurring the line between crypto trading and Wall Street
The significance of Kalshi’s proposal is not limited to adding around 60 more derivatives products. It also shows how a trading structure long used in crypto markets is moving in the other direction, into traditional finance.
Round-the-clock trading, no expiry date, funding rates, and high leverage were previously associated mainly with crypto exchanges such as Binance and Hyperliquid. Now the same structure is being applied to gold, indexes, and potentially to some of the most liquid U.S. stocks, including Tesla and Nvidia.
For investors, that could shift price discovery beyond the 9:30 a.m. New York cash open. For regulators, the harder question is what a Nvidia perpetual contract becomes if it can swing sharply on a Sunday morning: still a futures product, or another market in U.S. equities in practice? That is the core of the “shadow market” dispute raised by Citadel.