Kalshi is preparing a perpetual futures contract linked to the WTI benchmark that has no expiration date. Perpetuals let traders crank up their risk on each trade and have become a lightning rod in the debate over whether weekend action skews prices once normal hours resume. To address issues flagged in the CFTC's ongoing review, the oil product is designed to trade continuously five days a week rather than around the clock. That departs from the nonstop schedule Kalshi uses for its crypto perpetuals.
According to someone familiar with the plan - declining to be named since the submission is not public - Kalshi could file with the CFTC as early as next week. If the regulator signs off, it would be the first perpetual futures contract to trade on a regulated U.S. marketplace. Earlier coverage of the development came from Reuters. A CME spokesperson declined to comment, and a representative for the CFTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This move drops into a broader, very public tussle between Kalshi and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange over 24/7 markets. In June, CME sued the CFTC after the agency let Kalshi roll out similar perpetual contracts tied to crypto. Soon after, the CFTC blocked a separate CME effort to offer round-the-clock oil futures, which, unlike Kalshi's plan, would have had expiration dates.
The CFTC is reviewing that suspended CME plan and has invited feedback from a broad set of oil producers and refining companies that depend on precise benchmarks to set prices and coordinate cargo shipments. How that shakeout goes could decide whether oil eventually joins the push toward continuous trading.
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Perpetuals took off during the Iran war, becoming one of the few avenues for retail investors to trade oil when traditional futures were shut. That history is why regulators and energy firms are weighing how off-hours activity spills into regular market prices. If oil edges closer to near-all-hours access, expect easier entry points and potentially livelier price moves when most folks are away from their screens.
