Kalshi launches gold and silver perpetual futures after CFTC approval

Kalshi has launched perpetual futures contracts for gold and silver following approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The new contracts, which launched on Thursday, allow traders to take leveraged positions on precious metal prices without the requirement of owning the underlying assets.

This expansion marks Kalshi’s first CFTC-approved perpetual futures product outside of the cryptocurrency sector. The company previously launched crypto-linked perpetuals in late May, which have since generated approximately $44 billion in notional trading volume. The move into commodities follows high interest in metals as inflation hedges.

Perpetual futures, or ‘perps’, are characterized by having no expiration date and utilizing a funding mechanism to ensure the contract price remains aligned with the market price. Kalshi is currently seeking further CFTC approval for contracts tied to copper, currencies, and U.S. equities.