Invest1 publisher2 min readPublished
Kalshi and Coinbase filed near-identical US stock perpetual futures on the same day
Both venues want cash-settled contracts on the largest US listings, with funding payments in place of an expiry date, and because the underlyings are securities the products need the SEC as well as the CFTC.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Kalshi filed with the CFTC on or about September 18, 2026 for cash-settled perpetual futures on up to 58 large-cap US stocks and ETFs, each with a market capitalisation above $100bn.
- Coinbase Derivatives filed the same day for nearly identical products, covering roughly 50 to 60 liquid US equities on a 24/5 schedule with hourly funding rate adjustments.
- Because the underlyings are securities, both products fall under the security futures regime. That puts oversight jointly with the SEC and the CFTC.
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Why it matters
- constraint Launch dates sit with the regulators: the Shad-Johnson jurisdictional line means two agencies have to act, and the slower one sets the timetable.
- exposure CME's suit goes at the enabling structure, so a win there reaches past these two equity filings to the crypto perpetual futures already trading under it.
- cost The cost of holding becomes a funding stream priced 120 times a week on Coinbase's schedule, with the market setting it hour by hour.
- capability An earnings release printed after the 4 PM Eastern close becomes tradeable immediately; a cash equity position cannot be adjusted until the next open.
The 15.5% minimum margin decides who these contracts are for. A dollar posted at the floor carries about $6.45 of notional [1], and a 15.5% move against the position consumes the whole posting [2]. Cryptobriefing, which reported both filings, called that "leveraged but not reckless exposure, roughly 6x leverage at the margin floor" [14].
The two scopes come out of the same universe, so whoever lists second is listing a substitute [4]: up to 58 names above $100bn for Kalshi [2], roughly 50 to 60 liquid US equities for Coinbase Derivatives [7].
These contracts run on indefinitely, so the roll date disappears [3]. The holder pays or receives funding instead, hourly in Coinbase's filing, across a week that trades 24 hours a day for five days [7], which is 120 resets between Monday and Friday [3]. There is no domestic precedent for what that stream costs on a single stock, because no equity-linked perpetual future has launched in the US market [10].
Both venues filed at the CFTC, and both already hold CFTC approval for crypto perps granted in May 2026 [8]. Equities take a different route. Because the underlyings are securities, cryptobriefing reports, the products fall into the security futures framework and require joint SEC and CFTC oversight, with the Shad-Johnson Accord governing jurisdiction [11][12]. CME Group, separately, has been litigating against the framework that enables perpetual futures at all, on the argument that it does not properly account for the risks of never-expiring contracts [9]. That case is aimed at the structure, so a CME win would reach the crypto contracts already approved under it [5].
Both venues are staying off the spot side. The contracts settle in cash, which leaves the shares with whoever already holds them, along with the ownership rights and the dividends [2][4]. Kalshi would clear through Kalshi Klear, its own CFTC-registered clearinghouse, and trade on the central limit order book it already operates [5], so the incremental spend comes down to a margin model and a listing [6].
In my view the binding constraint here is the SEC's calendar, since neither filing can be cleared by the commodity futures process alone [11]. The counter-case is respectable: May 2026 showed both agencies can move on a perp when they want to [8], and cash settlement on 58 companies each worth more than $100bn is about the mildest version of the instrument anyone could file [2]. If either venue lists these contracts without a joint SEC action, I have the constraint wrong.
What to watch
- A joint SEC and CFTC action on the two filings, and whether it arrives as an approval order or a request for comment.
- Any ruling or hearing schedule in CME Group's litigation against the perpetual futures framework.
- Whether the proposed margin floor survives review, and whether Coinbase keeps hourly funding at listing.