Kalshi Pushes Beyond Prediction Markets With Copper Perpetual Futures

Prediction market operator Kalshi filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to launch perpetual futures tied to copper prices.

Filed August 18, the proposed COPPERPERP contract would track the spot price of copper in U.S. dollars per pound using a price feed from Pyth Network, a blockchain-based market data provider that aggregates pricing from exchanges, market makers, and other financial firms.

The filing pushes Kalshi further beyond event-based prediction markets and comes less than a week after a Washington judge ordered the company to stop offering wagers on sports, elections, politics, and other events in the state.

Perpetual futures, or “perps,” differ from traditional futures because they have no expiration date, allowing traders to keep positions open without rolling into a new contract. Earlier this year, rival prediction market Polymarket said that it plans to offer customers perpetual futures, referencing companies like Nvidia and Coinbase.

According to the Kalshi filing, the Copper Perp contract would be settled in cash, with no physical copper changing hands. Periodic payments between long and short traders would help keep its price aligned with the underlying copper price.

Copper is a critical industrial metal used in power grids, construction, electric vehicles, electronics and the infrastructure supporting AI data centers. It is already actively traded through major futures markets, including CME’s COMEX, the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

The news comes after the CFTC in May approved Kalshi to offer Bitcoin perpetual futures, accelerating the prediction market’s expansion into derivatives.