Kalshi asks the CFTC to approve a never-expiring oil futures contract

Kalshi has submitted a proposal to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for an oil futures contract that would expire every 10 years, extending its push into derivatives tied to real world assets.

The contract would track West Texas Intermediate crude and trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, Bloomberg reported. The CFTC has 45 days to approve or disallow the product.

Its structure resembles perpetual futures, known as perps, which typically have no expiration date and use funding payments to help keep prices aligned with an underlying benchmark. Kalshi’s proposed contract would retain an expiry, but extend it to once a decade.

In its filing, Kalshi argued that a single contract with a funding mechanism would better serve traders whose oil exposure is continuous or indefinite. It said the structure would reduce the costs and pricing risks associated with repeatedly replacing expiring contracts.

The company also said the product would remove the risk of an unintended physical delivery obligation and concentrate liquidity in one instrument rather than spreading it across multiple expiration dates.

The proposal follows CME Group’s decision Friday to shelve plans for an oil contract that would trade around the clock, including weekends, after industry pushback.

CME’s proposal had initially been blocked by the CFTC, prompting a review of whether weekend trading could work alongside the physical oil market. That market relies on dependable benchmark prices to value and sell cargoes.

Kalshi’s proposed weekday trading schedule aims to address concerns raised by the trading community, according to Bloomberg. Unlike CME’s withdrawn product, which retained traditional expiration cycles, Kalshi’s contract would remain open for a decade.

The two exchanges have also clashed over perpetual futures. CME sued the CFTC earlier this year over its decision to allow Kalshi to offer crypto linked versions of the derivatives.

The oil proposal comes as geopolitical tensions drive demand for commodity trading. WTI futures have traded across a roughly $60 per barrel range this year amid the Iran war, according to Bloomberg.

Kalshi said its commodities markets had generated nearly $400 million in trading volume by early September, almost four times the volume its crypto markets recorded at the same stage of development.