Kalshi wants traders betting on gold and silver around the clock with new ‘perps’

Kalshi has started offering gold and silver perpetual futures to U.S. traders after getting clearance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The move gives the company another business line outside prediction markets and puts precious metals into the same contract structure already popular with crypto traders. Kalshi filed the request in July. The CFTC, which oversees derivatives markets, approved it this week, and the contracts went live on Thursday through Kalshi’s website.

The company entered the perp market through crypto first. Regulators cleared those products in late May, bringing a market that handled about $90 trillion in yearly volume during 2025 into a regulated U.S. venue for the first time.

Kalshi says its crypto perps have since reached $44 billion in notional volume, based on figures published on its platform.

Udesh Jha, chief risk officer at Kalshi Klear, the company’s clearing house, said trader demand made metals the next target. “Metals, especially gold and silver, have a story to tell because of inflation,” Udesh said.

Kalshi pushes its perp business into metals as Wall Street exchanges push back

The event markets at Kalshi were already attracting investments even before the announcement of the launch. The company revealed that the trading volume of its contracts on metals and oil went past $400 million within seven months. The crypto event markets, meanwhile, took double the time to reach the same mark.

A perp is similar to a futures contract in the sense that it has no expiration date. The trader does not have to own the asset but just has to trade according to the price fluctuations in the market. Funding payments in regular intervals will help align the perp with the spot price of the asset.

Meanwhile, in August, Kalshi filed for approval to introduce perps on U.S. equities, copper and foreign currencies. Gold and silver become the first non-crypto assets that have been cleared by the CFTC to be traded as perps.

It also comes at a time when there is competition among the derivatives exchanges. The shares of Cboe Global Markets (NYSE: CBOE) and CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) have dropped due to the regulation by US regulators to allow perpetual futures since there were fears that it might affect regular futures.

CME Group has taken the fight to court. The exchange sued the CFTC and is trying to block U.S. approvals for perps, arguing that the regulator allowed the contracts through an improper process.

Udesh said Kalshi believes regulation is a major reason its perp business has grown so quickly. “It all goes back to the regulated platform,” he said. “Doing it the right way, a way with proper risk controls… Unregulated platforms, they have always hit a ceiling.”