Kalshi plans to seek approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission as early as next week for a perpetual futures contract linked to West Texas Intermediate crude oil, according to the published report on the proposed WTI product. If approved, it would be the first oil perpetual available through a regulated U.S. venue.
The plan brings Kalshi, described in the report as a $22 billion CFTC-regulated prediction-market exchange, into another matter involving the derivatives regulator. It follows other regulatory developments concerning the company, including the earlier CFTC order involving Kalshi’s prediction markets in New York. The proposed oil contract, however, remains a separate product and is presented as awaiting the approval process.
Approval comes before a regulated launch
The key status is that Kalshi plans to seek approval; the report does not say that the CFTC has already authorized the contract. The timing is also framed as an intention to approach the regulator as early as next week, rather than as a confirmed launch date. Those distinctions leave the product at the proposal stage in the information currently available.
The reported first-of-its-kind description is similarly conditional. The contract would become the first such oil perpetual on a regulated U.S. venue only if the CFTC approves it. The source does not provide an approval timetable or state when trading would begin after any authorization.
Kalshi proposes a five-day trading week
Kalshi plans to make the contract available for trading 24 hours a day, five days a week. That schedule differs from continuous 24/7 trading: it extends access throughout each covered trading day while retaining a weekly period outside the stated five-day window.
The five-day design is part of the regulatory context reported with the proposal. Regulators are scrutinizing round-the-clock energy trading, according to the source. Kalshi’s intended schedule therefore does not amount to a plan for uninterrupted seven-day trading, even though it would operate around the clock on the five days when the product is available.
What the current report establishes
The available details establish the underlying reference, the intended venue, the proposed schedule and the need for CFTC approval. The underlying reference would be WTI crude oil, while Kalshi would offer the perpetual through its CFTC-regulated exchange. The report does not specify contract size, settlement mechanics, margin terms or an expiration structure beyond describing the product as perpetual.
The next reported milestone is Kalshi’s intended request to the CFTC, potentially as early as next week. Until the regulator acts, the product should be understood as a planned WTI-linked contract rather than an approved or live market. Any eventual launch remains dependent on regulatory approval.
