Kalshi’s gold silver futures could trade 24/7, challenging CME’s grip

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Kalshi is pushing into precious metals. The prediction-market platform, known for its rapid rollout of crypto-linked derivatives, has asked federal regulators to let it list perpetual futures contracts tied to gold and silver — a move that would bring the Kalshi gold and silver futures products into a market long dominated by traditional exchanges like CME Group. The filings, submitted on September 9 to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, mark the company’s first step outside cryptocurrency since it began building out its no-expiry contract lineup earlier this year.

Key takeaways

Kalshi filed with the CFTC on September 9 to launch GOLDPERP and SILVERPERP, perpetual futures tracking gold and silver spot prices.
Both contracts are cash settled with no physical delivery and carry no expiration date, using a funding rate to stay aligned with spot markets.
Pyth Network will act as the designated price oracle for both products.
Kalshi wants the contracts to trade 24/7, including weekends and holidays — an expansion from an earlier 24/5 proposal.
The filing cites persistent silver supply shortfalls dating back to 2021 and expected to continue into early 2026.

Kalshi Files for Gold and Silver Perpetual Futures with CFTC

Kalshi’s latest regulatory push seeks authorization for two dollar-settled instruments that would give traders exposure to gold and silver prices without ever touching the metal itself. The company submitted its applications through CFTC Regulation 40.2(a), a self-certification pathway that lets a registered exchange launch a new product by attesting it complies with the Commodity Exchange Act, rather than waiting for a formal commission vote on each contract.

Product Names and Regulatory Process

The two proposed instruments are named GOLDPERP and SILVERPERP. Because Kalshi is using self-certification rather than a formal approval proceeding, the contracts can move toward listing without the commission casting an affirmative vote on each one — a faster route than the process Kalshi used earlier this year for its Bitcoin perpetual.

Contract Structure and Settlement

GOLDPERP is built to mirror the U.S. dollar spot price of one troy ounce of gold, while SILVERPERP does the same for silver. Neither contract involves physical delivery. Both settle entirely in cash, meaning traders never receive bars, coins, or any other physical form of the metal, and contract holders cannot demand delivery from Kalshi when they close a position.

What sets these products apart from standard futures is their perpetual structure. Instead of expiring on a fixed date, GOLDPERP and SILVERPERP stay open indefinitely. A funding rate mechanism keeps the contract price tethered to the underlying spot market — traders holding long positions may pay those holding short positions, or vice versa, depending on how the contract trades relative to its benchmark. That design removes the need for the periodic “rolling” that traditional futures traders go through when moving a position from an expiring contract into the next one. Kalshi has said this structure could lower rollover costs for market participants such as bullion dealers, metal refiners, financial institutions, and companies with sustained gold or silver exposure.

Innovative Trading Schedule and Price Oracle Integration

Kalshi wants these contracts trading nonstop, and it wants an independent data source setting the price. Together, those two design choices would make GOLDPERP and SILVERPERP function differently from anything currently available on regulated U.S. metals markets.

Continuous 24/7 Trading Availability

Under the filed specifications, both contracts would operate around the clock, seven days a week, including weekends and recognized holidays. That’s a notable jump from what Kalshi floated back in July, when early discussions pointed toward a more limited 24/5 trading window. For U.S.-based traders, round-the-clock access would mean the ability to react to precious metals price moves even when conventional futures exchanges are shut — though liquidity and pricing outside standard market hours could behave differently than during regular sessions.

Use of Pyth Network as Price Oracle

Pyth Network has been named as the designated price oracle for both GOLDPERP and SILVERPERP. Pyth aggregates pricing data from a range of sources, including market makers, trading venues, and financial institutions, and that consolidated feed will determine the reference price used to settle and fund the contracts. Anchoring the products to an established oracle network is meant to give the perpetual contracts a transparent, continuously updated benchmark rather than relying on a single exchange’s closing price.

Market Context and Strategic Expansion

The timing of the filing isn’t incidental. Kalshi is leaning into a silver market that has been under sustained pressure, while simultaneously building on momentum from its crypto perpetuals business.

Silver Market Supply Shortfalls

Kalshi’s filing points directly to physical market conditions to justify SILVERPERP’s design. The company notes that silver markets have experienced persistent annual supply shortfalls since 2021, with that tightness expected to extend through early 2026. Because SILVERPERP settles in cash and can’t be converted into physical metal, Kalshi argues the contract wouldn’t add delivery pressure to an already strained underlying market — traders get price exposure, but the physical supply-demand balance stays untouched.

Kalshi’s Growth in Perpetual Futures

The gold and silver filings arrive on the heels of an aggressive build-out in crypto perpetuals. Kalshi secured CFTC approval for its Bitcoin perpetual contract, BTCPERP, in May — the first U.S.-regulated product of its kind — following a formal review rather than self-certification. From there, the platform added 17 more cryptocurrency perpetuals covering assets including Ether, XRP, Solana, and Hyperliquid. On September 4, five additional contracts went live tracking BNB, Cardano, Worldcoin, Aave, and Venice Token.

By June, Kalshi’s perpetual futures business had already crossed $8.5 billion in cumulative trading volume, a figure that underscores how quickly the exchange has scaled a product category that barely existed on regulated U.S. platforms a year earlier. That growth hasn’t gone unchallenged, though. CME Group sued the CFTC in June, arguing that Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual should be classified as a swap rather than a futures contract — a distinction that would place it under a different regulatory framework and, CME claims, has put established futures exchanges at a competitive disadvantage. The CFTC has since moved to dismiss the case, arguing CME hasn’t shown concrete harm and pointing to CME’s own Bitcoin and Ether futures volumes as evidence the competitive impact is overstated. A federal court has not yet ruled on the dismissal motion or settled the broader question of how crypto perpetuals should be classified.

That unresolved legal fight matters well beyond Bitcoin. If the case eventually determines that perpetual futures belong in the swap category rather than the futures category, it could reshape how Kalshi’s entire perpetuals lineup — including any future gold and silver products — gets regulated and who’s allowed to compete in offering them. For now, Kalshi is moving ahead regardless, treating precious metals as the next frontier for a trading structure it has already proven can draw significant volume in crypto markets.

Kalshi has been careful to frame GOLDPERP and SILVERPERP as distinct from the event-based, short-duration contracts on gold and silver it already lists. Where those existing products resolve on set dates tied to specific market outcomes, the new perpetual contracts are built for traders who want continuous, rollover-free exposure to metals prices — a structural shift that, if approved, would give U.S. investors a regulated alternative to holding physical bullion or metal-backed ETF shares.