Kalshi files to launch perpetual futures tied to US stock index, copper

Kalshi has filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to launch perpetual futures tied to equity indexes and copper, as the prediction market platform continues its push to expand into a financial exchange.

According to a Tuesday filing with the CFTC, Kalshi intends to offer its "US500 Contract," which would track the MerQube US Large Cap Index. The broad-based securities index gauges the performance of the 500 largest companies listed and based in the U.S.

Kalshi also filed Tuesday to offer perps tied to industrial metal copper. The "COPPERPERP Contract" would be a perpetual futures contract on the spot price of copper, quoted in U.S. dollars per pound, referencing the Pyth Network XCU-USD price feed, per the filing.

Perpetuals, or perps, are a type of futures contract with no fixed expiration and allow investors to bet on the price movement of assets without owning them directly.

The Block has reached out to Kalshi for further information.

The latest filings come after the CFTC greenlit Kalshi to list a perpetual contract tied to bitcoin's price in late May, officially opening the door for those assets to trade in the U.S. for the first time. 

In June, the CME Group took the CFTC to court, alleging that the agency violated the Commodity Exchange Act when it approved the first set of perpetual futures for Kalshi and Coinbase in May. CME argued that the products would directly compete with its offerings and harm the derivatives exchange.