Kalshi launches single-stock perps, logging over $300 million in early trading

Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated platform best known for letting people bet on elections and economic data, now wants a piece of your stock portfolio too. The company has rolled out single-stock perpetual futures, and trading volume passed $300 million before the product was even formally announced.

That figure came from co-founder Luana Lopes Lara on the morning of November 5, 2026. It covers activity since a quiet stealth rollout, so the product had a head start before anyone officially knew it existed.

What Kalshi actually launched

Think of a perpetual future as a stock bet that never has to end. A traditional futures contract carries an expiration date, so traders eventually have to close out or roll into a new contract. A perp simply stays open for as long as the trader wants to hold it.

Kalshi’s version lets users go long or short on individual stocks without owning a single share. The lineup includes household names such as McDonald’s, Palantir, Meta, Qualcomm and NVIDIA.

At launch, the menu covers more than 50 stocks and ETFs listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ. The contracts carry no expiration date and no rollover fees.

The contracts are deliberately small. Each one represents 0.02 shares, meaning 50 contracts add up to the equivalent of one full share.

Instead of an expiry, the contracts use daily funding payments settled at 4:00 PM ET.

Leverage varies by stock. For some assets it starts around 4.9x at launch, a level Kalshi says complies with CFTC rules. Put another way, $100 of margin can control a position worth roughly $490.

All contracts are cleared by Kalshi Klear LLC, the company’s own clearing entity.

How it got approved

Kalshi filed its application for single-stock perps on September 18, 2026. The CFTC’s 45-day review window then closed on November 2, 2026. Because the agency did not block the filing in that period, the product was approved automatically. The stealth launch followed within days, and the public announcement came on November 5.

The move marks Kalshi’s first step into equity derivatives. Until now, the platform focused on event contracts and crypto offerings.

Why the timing matters

Single-stock perps are not a new idea. They have traded offshore, where annual transaction volume has exceeded $4.5 trillion, largely outside the reach of US regulators.

Kalshi is now pulling that product category inside a regulated US framework.

The launch also arrives as Kalshi’s ambitions grow alongside its balance sheet. The company recently raised $1 billion at a valuation of $40 billion.

What this means for traders and competitors

One widely shared post on X predicted that Kalshi will become Robinhood’s biggest rival as its single-stock perps catch on.

Kalshi’s pitch differs in important ways. Users get leverage, the ability to short easily, and no need to own the underlying shares.

Leverage near 4.9x means a modest move against a position can erase a meaningful chunk of a trader’s margin quickly. Daily funding payments also add a recurring cost that stock owners never pay.

Kalshi has faced ongoing regulatory scrutiny as it expands, and legal hurdles could shape how far and how fast this product grows. Automatic approval through a lapsed review window is not quite the same as an enthusiastic endorsement.