Why Kalshi wants to let traders buy and sell Tesla and Nvidia stock around the clock

Kalshi reportedly wants to bring a popular crypto trading product to some of America’s biggest stocks. The company’s goal is to offer nonstop, leveraged price exposure that does not require traders to own shares or repeatedly replace expiring contracts.

The plan could make it possible to react to Tesla or Nvidia news during nights and weekends. It could also expose individual traders to risks rarely encountered when simply buying shares through a brokerage account.

The proposal has not received regulatory approval, and Kalshi has not publicly released complete contract specifications.

What is Kalshi proposing?

Kalshi reportedly plans to seek approval for roughly 60 perpetual futures connected to individual stocks and exchange-traded funds. Tesla, Nvidia and Apple are among the companies named in the reported plan.

The products would be derivatives tied to stock prices, not ordinary shares purchased through Nasdaq. Traders could speculate on a company’s direction without becoming shareholders in that company.

This difference matters because derivatives do not automatically provide voting rights, direct dividends, or ownership in the underlying business. The National Futures Association explains that security-futures buyers do not receive shareholder voting rights or dividends.

According to the supplied reporting, Kalshi would generally limit its single-company contracts to businesses valued at $100 billion or more. That requirement would focus the service on large, heavily traded companies.

The proposal remains a reported plan rather than an approved product lineup. The original Wall Street Journal report relied on people familiar with the matter, while Benzinga said Kalshi did not immediately provide clarification.

If approved, the products could become the first regulated single-stock perpetual futures offered in the United States. They would not be the first American futures connected to individual companies, but their never-expiring structure would be new.

Fun fact: Perpetual futures, usually called perps, let traders bet on whether an asset will rise or fall, often with borrowed money, without the contract ever expiring. Traders instead make regular payments to one another that help keep the contract near the price of the asset it tracks.

Why does Kalshi want a nonstop market?

Kalshi wants to capture growing demand for markets that remain available when traditional exchanges are closed. Crypto traders have become accustomed to entering or exiting leveraged positions at any hour.

A Tesla contract could continue moving after the company released weekend news or an executive posted a major announcement. An Nvidia contract could respond immediately to overseas developments affecting chips, trade restrictions, or artificial intelligence demand.

Offshore platforms have demonstrated that traders will use these products in large numbers. The supplied articles cite rapid growth in equity-linked perpetual trading on platforms such as Hyperliquid.

The lack of an expiration date also makes the product easier to understand operationally than traditional futures. Traders would not need to close an expiring contract and replace it with one covering a later period.

Kalshi is also expanding beyond its original prediction-market business. It has moved into Bitcoin and precious-metal perpetuals while exploring contracts tied to stock indexes, energy, currencies and other financial markets.

Tesla and Nvidia are natural attention magnets because both companies generate heavy interest among technology-focused traders. However, Kalshi has not publicly explained why it selected these names, so popularity should not be presented as the confirmed reason.

How would the contracts actually work?

A perpetual future lets a trader take a long position when expecting a price increase or a short position when expecting a decline. Unlike a standard future, the contract has no scheduled expiration date.

Regular funding payments help keep a perpetual contract close to the price of the asset it tracks. Depending on market conditions, traders on one side pay those holding the opposite position.

This means a position can remain open indefinitely, but holding it is not necessarily free. Repeated funding charges could reduce a trader’s return even when the eventual price prediction proves correct.

Leverage would allow customers to control positions worth more than the money deposited as margin. The same feature could multiply losses and cause the platform to close positions automatically when available margin becomes too low.

Kalshi’s existing margin guide explains initial margin, maintenance margin, and liquidation for current perpetual products. Its existing leverage limits should not be applied to the proposed stock contracts because their terms remain unpublished.

Kalshi must also explain how it would handle dividends, stock splits, mergers, delistings and trading suspensions. Those company-specific events make equity perpetuals more complicated than contracts linked to decentralized assets such as Bitcoin.

Fun fact: Kalshi has reportedly asked the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to jointly regulate its never-expiring futures contracts.

Why are regulators divided?

The disagreement centers on which regulatory system should control a perpetual contract linked to a public company. The CFTC oversees futures, while the SEC regulates stocks and many stock-related products.

Single-stock futures have historically operated under joint SEC and CFTC oversight. The agencies must now determine whether a never-expiring version fits existing rules or requires a different classification.

The CFTC approved Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual contract on May 29, 2026. However, that decision covered one cryptocurrency product and did not grant automatic permission for perpetual contracts tied to other asset classes.

The SEC and CFTC are currently examining how emerging derivatives should be classified. Their joint request for public comment specifically seeks greater clarity around swaps, security-based swaps, and novel financial products.

Citadel Securities argues that products connected to American public companies should remain primarily under SEC oversight. Its comment letter warns that a separate system could weaken cross-market surveillance and certain investor protections.

Another legal dispute adds uncertainty to Kalshi’s expansion. CME Group has sued the CFTC over its treatment of cryptocurrency perpetuals, arguing that the products should be classified as swaps rather than futures.

What risks would individual traders face?

Leverage creates the clearest danger because a relatively small price movement can produce a much larger percentage loss. A trader could lose the posted margin quickly during a sharp move in Tesla or Nvidia.

Automatic liquidation can make that problem worse during volatile periods. The position may close before the trader can add money or wait for the market to reverse.

Around-the-clock trading could also suffer from weak liquidity during quiet hours. Fewer participants can produce wider price gaps, less favorable execution, and abrupt moves caused by comparatively small orders.

Trading while Nasdaq is closed creates another problem because the most reliable public share price may not be updating. Kalshi would need a clear method for calculating reference and liquidation prices during those periods.

Corporate announcements could move a perpetual contract while the underlying shares were halted or unavailable. Regulators would need coordinated rules to prevent traders with confidential information from exploiting that difference.

Kalshi has partnered with Nasdaq to add advanced surveillance technology to its platform, according to Reuters. That system may detect suspicious activity, but it does not by itself resolve every cross-market monitoring concern.

Could these contracts reshape Wall Street?

The products could push American markets closer to continuous trading if regulators approve them and customers provide enough liquidity. Their success would still depend on pricing, fees, safeguards, and public trust.

Kalshi would be competing with offshore perpetual platforms while offering access through a regulated U.S. exchange. That position could appeal to traders who want crypto-style products without using an overseas venue.

However, Kalshi will not be the only company extending market access. Nasdaq is preparing a 23-hour trading day, 5 days per week, for actual listed securities.

Kalshi’s main differences would be weekend availability, leverage, and the lack of expiration dates. Nasdaq customers would trade shares, while Kalshi customers would trade contracts tracking those shares.

The United States has tried single-stock futures before, with limited success. OneChicago stopped trading in September 2020, according to its Federal Register notice, after the products failed to establish lasting popularity.

Kalshi is betting that today’s traders are more prepared for leveraged, nonstop markets than investors were during that earlier experiment. Approval remains uncertain, but the proposal shows how quickly ideas developed in crypto are moving toward mainstream finance.

TL;DR

• Kalshi reportedly wants approval for roughly 60 perpetual futures linked to major stocks and ETFs, including Tesla, Nvidia and Apple.
• These products would let traders bet on price movements around the clock without owning the underlying shares.
• Kalshi sees an opportunity to capture demand currently flowing to offshore platforms, but leverage, automatic liquidation and funding costs could produce major losses.
• The proposal faces difficult questions about SEC and CFTC jurisdiction, insider trading, market surveillance and investor protections.
• Kalshi has not publicly filed the proposed contracts, so their leverage limits, fees, pricing rules and launch date remain unknown.

This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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