Kalshi moves toward margin trading with new regulatory approval

Kalshi has secured regulatory approval that clears the way for margin trading, giving the prediction market platform a product that could make it more attractive to hedge funds and other institutional investors as the sector races deeper into mainstream finance.

The approval covers a futures commission merchant license through affiliate Kinetic Markets LLC, according to a March 24 National Futures Association filing. Kalshi Chief Executive Officer Tarek Mansour said this week that a margin product is coming soon and described capital efficiency for institutions as a key priority.

The move comes just after Kalshi raised more than $1 billion in a financing round that valued the company at $22 billion, roughly double its reported $11 billion valuation from December. The new valuation reflects investor conviction that prediction markets are evolving from a retail novelty into a broader trading and hedging venue with real appeal for Wall Street firms.

That growth has been rapid. Bloomberg reported that weekly notional volume on Kalshi topped $3 billion earlier this month, while a separate Barron’s report said the company recently reached $10.4 billion in monthly trading volume. March Madness has become the platform’s most popular category even as the NCAA pushes to shut down betting on college sports through prediction markets.

Kalshi is also building out the plumbing needed to serve bigger traders. Recent reports show prime brokers are moving to give hedge funds access to Kalshi’s markets, while the company has partnered with FIS on clearing infrastructure aimed at institutional adoption and with Tradeweb to distribute prediction market data to professional investors.

This month, top US exchange executives have called for clearer rules as prediction markets add users and expand into contracts tied to politics, economics, sports, and geopolitics. Cboe has also said it plans to launch more advanced prediction market contracts with partial payouts, showing that established exchange groups increasingly see event trading as a real growth area rather than a fringe product.

Kalshi recently said it would block politicians, athletes, referees, and other people with direct influence over certain outcomes from trading related markets, and California on Friday barred state officials from using insider knowledge to bet on prediction platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. A bipartisan Senate bill introduced this week would also ban sports related event contracts on federally regulated prediction markets, underscoring that the sector’s next phase of growth will likely come with heavier compliance demands.