Kalshi Seeks CFTC Approval for Never-Expiring WTI Crude Oil Perpetual Futures

Prediction market operator Kalshi is preparing to take its boldest step yet beyond event contracts, seeking regulatory approval for a West Texas Intermediate crude oil perpetual futures contract that never expires, according to reports from Bloomberg and Reuters.

The contract could be filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as soon as next week, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Reuters reported that the product would trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, if approved. Cointelegraph has approached Kalshi for comment.

If the CFTC signs off, the contract would become the first oil-linked perpetual futures product to trade on a regulated United States platform, marking an unprecedented bridge between the crypto-native derivative structure and the world’s largest commodity market.

Why perpetual futures matter for oil

Perpetual futures, commonly called perps, are derivatives without expiration dates. Traders can maintain positions indefinitely without rolling them into new contracts every month, a structural feature invented in the crypto market that has become its highest-volume product category by far.

Traditional oil futures expire on a monthly cycle, forcing long-term holders into a constant and costly routine of selling expiring contracts and buying newer ones. A never-expiring WTI perp would eliminate that roll cost and complexity for anyone with a multi-month or multi-year view on crude, from speculators to companies seeking flexible energy hedging.

The timing is pointed. In June, the CFTC sought public comments on extending standard futures contracts to 24/7 trading and on allowing perpetual contracts linked to physically delivered or storable energy commodities, including crude oil. Kalshi’s reported filing reads as a direct answer to that invitation: a product designed to fit inside the regulatory conversation the commission itself opened.

The CME precedent looms over the filing

The regulatory backdrop is not entirely friendly, however. In July, the CFTC halted the self-certified listing of a CME Group contract that would have introduced 24/7 crude oil futures trading, while the regulator examined whether the product complied with federal commodities law. That intervention signaled the commission’s caution about round-the-clock energy derivatives, even as it publicly solicits views on exactly that innovation.

Kalshi’s oil perp would land in the middle of that tension. The firm is betting that a formal approval process, rather than self-certification, can carry a never-expiring oil contract over the line where CME’s 24/7 attempt stalled. A successful filing would also set a template for other asset classes: Kalshi’s crypto prediction and event markets already trade continuously, and oil perps would extend that infrastructure to physical commodities.

The move also parallels momentum elsewhere in derivatives. On Aug. 24, Ondo Finance submitted three comment letters to the SEC and CFTC urging US regulators to bring perpetual futures tied to individual stocks onshore, arguing those products could operate under the country’s existing security futures framework without new rules. The common thread across Ondo and Kalshi is a push to domesticate the perp structure, which has flourished on offshore crypto venues, inside regulated US markets.

A jurisdictional fight rages in parallel

Kalshi’s push into oil derivatives arrives while its core prediction market business remains entangled in a jurisdictional dispute over whether federal commodities law preempts state gambling enforcement against event contracts traded on CFTC-regulated exchanges.

The state-level pressure is intensifying. On Tuesday, a Michigan state court issued a preliminary injunction barring Kalshi from offering sports-related event contracts in the state and requiring the platform to maintain geofencing that blocks Michigan residents from accessing them. On Wednesday, New Jersey asked the US Supreme Court to resolve the jurisdictional dispute after federal appeals courts reached conflicting decisions in cases involving New Jersey and Nevada.

The oil perp filing, in that light, may serve a dual purpose. Commercially, it opens a vast new market beyond the legally contested event contract arena. Strategically, it deepens Kalshi’s identity as a derivatives innovator operating under CFTC oversight, strengthening its argument that its product pipeline belongs in the regulated financial system rather than in the state-by-state gambling enforcement patchwork now forming against parts of its business.

What happens next

The immediate milestone to watch is the filing itself, expected within roughly a week if Bloomberg’s source is accurate. Once submitted, the CFTC will face a test case with implications far beyond one contract: whether the perp structure, refined in offshore crypto markets, can be adapted for physically settled energy commodities under US law, and whether round-the-clock oil trading finally clears the bar that stopped CME this summer.

For traders and energy market participants, approval would create a genuinely new instrument, combining WTI price exposure with indefinite holding periods and near-continuous trading hours. For regulators, it would mark a landmark in the ongoing merger of crypto market design with traditional commodity finance. And for Kalshi, it would be the strongest evidence yet that the company intends to compete as a full-spectrum derivatives venue, not merely a prediction market with a legal problem.