Kalshi Pursues US Stock Index Perpetual Futures Amid Exchange Competition

Kalshi is pushing to bring perpetual futures to US stock indexes after filing a request with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The proposed contract, called 'US500,' would track the MerQube U.S. Large Cap Index.

This is not Kalshi's first move; it has already received approval for crypto perps and filed for gold and silver perps in July. The company wants to become a fully-fledged multi-asset exchange, trading everything from crypto to stock indexes to commodities like copper and precious metals.

Kalshi engineer Lior Hirschfeld said that the goal is 'the next step towards building the largest exchange on the planet.' Global perp volume surpassed $90 trillion in 2025, with Kalshi's own crypto perps hitting $1 billion in notional volume within a week of launch.