Kalshi and Polymarket to Launch Perpetual Futures Markets

Leveraged positions to remain available, fueling high-octane trading behaviors.

Prediction market apps Kalshi and Polymarket have formally announced plans to launch perpetual futures markets to their US-facing customers. Starting as soon as next week, traders will be able to open and close positions in "perps," a commonly used term to define contracts that never expire.

Speculation surrounding the new product availability grew rampant following an April 14th "teaser" video that was released by Kalshi, called "Timeless." Then, on Tuesday, tech news site The Information confirmed that perpetual futures markets on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin will launch for Kalshi's US traders on April 27th.

A few hours later, Polymarket confirmed that "perps are coming" to its own platform. The promotional video post on X invites followers to sign up for early access, and shows a sample user interface opening positions on crypto, precious metals, and stocks with up to 10x leverage.

What are perpetual futures markets?

Perpetual futures markets are prediction contracts that do not have a fixed settlement date. Their popularity has increased in large part due to traders wanting to avoid the hassle of manually closing and re-opening positions as traditional contracts reach maturity. With "perps," Kalshi and Polymarket users will soon be able to hold positions indefinitely (if they choose to do so).

Perps markets are already available internationally, but next week will mark the first time United States traders will have access to these products via the Kalshi and Polymarket apps. Funding fees for these types of contracts are expected to max out at around 11% APR with settlement windows ranging from 5 minutes to 8 hours, depending on the asset and trading volume.

For Kalshi, the launching of perpetual futures markets follows CFTC regulatory approval for its affiliate company, Kinetic Markets, to allow margin trading through its role as a Future Commission Merchant (FCM).

New products will offer margin trading and leveraged positions

Polymarket's social media video displays the ability to leverage upcoming perpetual futures markets positions to at least 10 times a user's actual crypto-native stablecoin balance. Upon scrutiny, there appears to be more "room" for the leverage slider to go higher when freezing the 30-second video at the 0:05 timestamp frame. There's also a menu button toggle option to exceed 10x leverage.

SOURCE: Polymarket X account - April 21, 2026 (freeze frame at 0:05 timestamp)

Margin trading enjoys its own niche among new and seasoned traders alike. It enables positions that would otherwise be "out of reach" of the confines of one's actual account balance.

The pros and cons of leveraged positions

A $1,000 USD or stablecoin position that's leveraged 10 times represents a virtual control amount of $10,000 on any existing contract. If the corresponding asset increases in value by 1%, the trader's position has improved by $100 (instead of the $10 improvement one would expect when not participating in margin trading).

But the leverage multiplier works both ways.

If the asset in question drops in value by 1%, the investor loses 10% of the original account balance value. In cases where a 10x leveraged asset drops by 9.5% or more, the entire balance is lost, as prediction market apps typically force contract closures once the maintenance of the trade dips to a minimum level.

As a general rule, the higher the leverage, the more equity volatility. The cross-margin systems that Kalshi and Polymarket use for customers who want to use their existing account balances to "buffer" positions can result in cascading liquidations for margin traders if the asset experiences sudden spikes or flash crashes.

For now, Polymarket is offering a waiting list that doesn't include a specific launch date for perpetual futures markets. For Kalshi traders in the US, "perps" will launch on Monday, April 27th.