# About Kalshi Kalshi is the first U.S. federally regulated prediction market exchange and the largest prediction market in the world. We operate as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), allowing eligible U.S. residents to trade legally binding event contracts on the outcome of real-world events. Our slogan is "**Trade on anything**". ## Company facts | | | | --- | --- | | Legal name | KalshiEX LLC | | Founded | 2018, New York, NY | | Founders | Tarek Mansour (CEO), Luana Lopes Lara | | Headquarters | New York, NY, United States | | Regulator | U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) | | Designations | Designated Contract Market (DCM); Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) | | Investors | Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Y Combinator, Charles Schwab, Henry Kravis, SV Angel | Both founders studied at MIT. Tarek Mansour previously worked as a macro trader at Citadel and an equity derivatives analyst at Goldman Sachs. Luana Lopes Lara previously worked as a quantitative trader at Citadel Securities and Five Rings Capital. ## What is a prediction market? A prediction market is a marketplace where contracts are tied to the outcome of future events. Prices are determined by supply and demand and reflect the collective probability the market assigns to each outcome. On Kalshi every binary event contract resolves to either $1.00 (YES) or $0.00 (NO), so the current trading price (in cents) can be read directly as the implied probability of the event. Because traders driving the odds have real money at stake, Kalshi's markets tend to outperform polling, expert analysis, and other conventional forecasting methods. ## What you can trade Kalshi lists thousands of event contracts across many categories: - **Politics & Elections** – elections, policy decisions, geopolitics - **Economics** – inflation (CPI), Federal Reserve decisions, unemployment, GDP - **Finance** – stock indices, interest rates, IPOs, earnings - **Crypto** – Bitcoin / Ethereum prices, on-chain events - **Sports** – NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, soccer, tennis, golf, college sports, MMA - **Climate & Weather** – temperatures, hurricanes, snow, rainfall - **Culture** – box office, streaming charts, awards, music - **Companies** – product launches, executive moves, business outcomes - **Science & Technology** – AI benchmarks, space launches, public health In addition to binary event contracts, Kalshi also lists **perpetual futures** (perps) — leveraged contracts on assets like BTC and ETH, with both cross-margin and isolated-margin modes. Perps are restricted to qualifying users (Eligible Contract Participants) and are fully collateralized: maximum loss on a position equals the margin you posted. Browse the live catalog at , by category at , or perps at . ## Who can trade on Kalshi? Kalshi is open to legal U.S. residents who are 18 or older and have a Social Security Number. Account funding is handled through ACH transfer, debit card, wire transfer, or supported crypto on-ramps. All trading takes place in U.S. dollars on a regulated, fully-collateralized exchange — there are no margin calls and you can never lose more than what you put in to enter a trade. ## How is Kalshi different from a sportsbook? Kalshi is an **exchange**, not a sportsbook. Sportsbooks are casinos: every bet is a bet against the house, the house sets the line, and the house profits when customers lose. Kalshi works like the stock market — customers trade peer-to-peer, on both sides of every trade, with prices set by supply and demand. Some practical consequences: - You can always exit your position at fair market value. - Kalshi does not win when its customers lose, and does not ban or limit winning customers. - Pricing has no baked-in cut for the "house"; spreads are market-driven. - Because we are CFTC-regulated under federal law, Kalshi can offer sports-related event contracts in states where sports betting is prohibited. ## How is Kalshi regulated? - Designated Contract Market (DCM) under the U.S. CFTC. - Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) — KalshiEX clears its own trades. - Customer funds are held in segregated accounts. - All event contracts are listed and self-certified with the CFTC. - Every trade conducted on the exchange is reported to the CFTC and published publicly through our API. - KYC / AML, watchlist & sanctions screening, and surveillance against insider trading, wash trades, spoofing, and front-running are required by CFTC DCM Core Principles 3, 11, 12, and 21. ## Key resources - Web app: - About page: - FAQ: (mirrored as ) - API and developer docs: (orientation: ) - Getting started: - Skill file for AI agents: - Help center: - Status page: - Blog: - Careers: - Contact / media inquiries: media@kalshi.com - Customer support: support@kalshi.com ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.