Kalshi’s 15-minute gold markets have quickly gained traction, generating nearly twice the estimated trading fees of Ether markets in September. Just weeks after their August launch, the gold contracts brought in about $5 million in estimated fees, compared to $2.6 million for Ether contracts, according to Predict Charts. Bitcoin remained the dominant market, with $60.4 million in estimated fees.
The rapid growth of short-duration gold markets comes as Kalshi’s commodities business expands. The company reported that commodities trading volume reached $400 million within seven months, surpassing the volume of its crypto markets at the same stage. Kalshi highlighted that crypto markets demonstrated the potential for new categories to scale significantly.
Despite Ether’s 15-minute contracts increasing to 318 million in September, they were overtaken by gold, which recorded 542 million contracts traded that month. Bitcoin’s 15-minute markets also became Kalshi’s largest market series outside parlays in July, after launching in December.
Short-duration markets are becoming a larger part of Kalshi’s business, generating $20.4 million in fees in the seven days through Oct. 5, accounting for 80% of the platform’s non-sport fees. These markets generate higher fees because Kalshi’s fee formula depends on the odds of a contract, with higher fees on contracts priced near 50/50 odds.