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Kalshi seeks CFTC approval for perpetual WTI crude oil futures
The planned contract would trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, which could reduce its usefulness around weekend oil-price moves even if it avoids fixed expiration.
Kalshi, the US-regulated exchange that won CFTC approval for a Bitcoin perpetual in May, is preparing to seek approval for a perpetual futures contract tied to West Texas Intermediate crude oil, Reuters reported on Sept. 2.
If approved, it would be the first oil perpetual to trade on a regulated US platform, bringing a crypto-style derivatives structure to the benchmark US oil market. In a perpetual futures setup, the fixed expiration is replaced by a funding mechanism, with payments between long and short positions calculated at regular intervals to keep the contract aligned with a reference price.
Kalshi’s reported plan is to offer the WTI contract 24 hours a day, five days a week, leaving it closed during the period when traders may want an always-on oil price. The swap in timing could weaken one of perpetuals’ strongest use cases, because oil pricing ultimately reflects physical supply and storage expressed through futures delivery months.
The filing also highlights how regulators are differentiating between trading hours and contract maturity. Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual, which trades 24/7, uses a real-time Bitcoin index and applies funding every eight hours, while Kalshi’s reported oil proposal separates contract maturity from trading hours, according to Reuters.
Conventional WTI futures already trade for nearly 24 hours a day from Sunday evening through Friday, and the extra focus is on how closely the CFTC will scrutinize extended-hours oil products.
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