Kalshi perpetual futures reached a record $17.98 million in daily open interest on August 12, ten weeks after BTCPERP launched.
The product debuted on June 3, when BTCPERP became the first perpetual contract cleared by the CFTC for United States traders.
Source: Artemis
Ether followed on June 4, while XRP became available on June 10. Kalshi now lists 13 crypto perpetual contracts, with each market filed with the CFTC before trading begins.
Open interest remained below $5 million during the first week of June. It later climbed near $13 million and $14 million before returning to a $6 million to $7 million range.
By the second week of July, daily open interest began closing above $10 million. During the final three weeks of July, it generally remained between $12 million and $14 million.
Kalshi Perpetual Futures Show a Higher Trading Floor
The August 12 record is supported by a steadily rising lower range in open interest. Rather than relying on one isolated spike, the platform has maintained increasingly larger positions over time.
Kalshi’s perpetual futures also passed $1 billion in notional volume within one week of launch. By comparison, its event contract business required 40 months to reach the same figure.
The platform built its original reputation around short-dated binary event contracts. Its move into perpetual futures has therefore added a new form of leveraged crypto exposure for United States traders.
Kalshi Remains Small Compared With Hyperliquid
The $17.98 million total remains modest beside Hyperliquid’s much larger derivatives market. DefiLlama data cited in the source places Hyperliquid’s 24-hour open interest at $11.7 billion, alongside $7.17 billion in daily volume.
That means Kalshi’s entire perpetual futures book equals roughly 0.15% of Hyperliquid’s open interest. Some individual Hyperliquid positions are larger than Kalshi’s combined open interest across all listed crypto markets.
CoinGecko data cited in the source shows Hyperliquid offers 377 perpetual pairs. Its HIP-3 segment alone holds more than $4 billion in open interest.
That segment, covering non-crypto markets deployed by one builder, is more than 200 times larger than Kalshi’s total.
CFTC Filings Shape Kalshi’s Limited Market Roster
Kalshi’s smaller contract lineup reflects its regulatory structure. Every listed contract must be filed with a federal regulator before trading can begin.
Hyperliquid, by contrast, allows markets to be deployed permissionlessly. That model helps explain why it supports hundreds of pairs while Kalshi currently offers only 13 crypto contracts.
Kalshi’s open interest is therefore concentrated across a much smaller selection of markets. The platform serves United States traders seeking compliant leveraged crypto exposure.
The trend remains intact through August 12, with open interest reaching its highest closing level since the product launched in early June.
