The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating trading patterns on Kalshi’s Ether perpetual futures market. Analysts identified nearly one million trades with repetitive, fixed-size orders clustered around specific price points. The regulator is currently reviewing these activities, though no formal enforcement actions have been initiated.
Kalshi launched its Ether perpetual contracts (KXETHPERP) on June 4, 2026. Within the first two weeks, the platform recorded over $5.5 billion in cumulative volume. Data from September shows that 47% to 63% of notional volume involved trades at price levels between $5,499 and $5,500, later shifting to approximately $5,425.
The platform reported volume-to-open-interest ratios ranging from 61x to 174x, with roughly 120,000 trades flagged in initial analyses. Kalshi attributed the repetitive order patterns to a single market maker participating in a liquidity provision program using automated, standardized execution systems.
The company stated that its rules prohibit self-trading and confirmed that transactions involved various counterparties. On September 16, Kalshi introduced a temporary fee reduction to 0.003% for self-clearing participants. By late September 2026, the platform reached a cumulative total of over 350,000 traders.
