Review · By Stephan Kulik · Updated 2026-08-05

Kalshi Perpetuals (US)

Review · facts checked 2026-08-05 · documentation-based (no hands-on claims yet) · US-only product

⚠︎ Risk warning: leveraged derivatives on unregulated platforms — you can lose everything you deposit. Not investment advice.

On 29 May 2026, US retail traders got something that had never existed: perpetual futures approved by the CFTC through a formal order. Kalshi — the regulated event-contracts exchange — listed BTCPERP under a CFTC approval issued under Section 5c(c)(4) and grew the line-up to 13 crypto perpetuals within weeks. If you're in the US, this is the most consequential venue on this site. If you're not: Kalshi's perpetuals are not available to you — the product is US-only (the wider Kalshi platform's international reach applies to event contracts, not perps), and this review says so up front rather than after a sign-up pitch.

Why the structure matters

This is real US futures-industry architecture, not an offshore exchange with a legal wrapper: the exchange (DCM) lists, an affiliated clearinghouse (DCO) clears, and a registered FCM — Kinetic Markets — holds your margin "in a segregated account, separate from Kalshi's own funds, as mandated by CFTC regulations" (Kalshi's own help center). Segregated customer funds at a regulated FCM is the protection model US futures traders have had for decades, now applied to crypto perps. The CFTC's own approval carried a sober caveat worth quoting: "The perpetual contract design may not be suitable for all asset classes."

Mechanics: conservative by design

Funding settles every 8 hours, like the offshore convention. Margin is isolated per position — "the risk on each trade is ring-fenced to that position only" — with variation margin settled twice daily against VWAP. Two genuinely unusual features: your posted margin earns interest while held at the clearinghouse (approximately 3.25% APY when we checked — a rate that changes), and leverage is deliberately modest: Kalshi publishes no fixed table, states limits "may vary" per asset, and reported figures sit in the low single digits (roughly 5–6x on BTC, less on smaller assets — reported, not Kalshi-published; check the order ticket before sizing anything). Fees are a volume-tiered maker/taker schedule published as a PDF we could not machine-read — check Kalshi's fee schedule at signup.

What we could not verify

• A per-asset leverage table (Kalshi's site hard-blocks automated access; the help center confirms the mechanism, not current numbers).
• The fee schedule verbatim (PDF unreachable to our tools; tiered bps figures circulating are secondary).
• The referral program's full formal terms (kalshi.com/tc/500, same block). Kalshi's general referral FAQ states referral incentives are available to US users; the new-user perps promo above is per Kalshi's own help article, and exact current conditions vary — Kalshi's terms govern.

Verdict

For a US trader, Kalshi perps are the cleanest expression yet of "regulated perps": real CFTC oversight, segregated margin that pays interest, honest low leverage — and the trade-offs that come with it (13 assets vs hundreds offshore, single-digit leverage, US-only). The direct US comparisons are Kraken Derivatives US (true perps, 9 assets, on the Bitnomial DCM) and Coinbase's nano perpetual-style futures; the background is in trading perps legally in the US. EEA readers: your regulated options are on the EU track — Kalshi isn't one of them.

Disclosure: the sign-up link above is a referral link (disclosed beside the button); we may earn if you sign up through it, at no cost to you. See the affiliate disclosure.