Kalshi’s 15-Minute Gold Markets Overtake Ether

Kalshi’s 15-minute gold markets generated nearly twice the estimated trading fees of its Ether markets in September. Gold contracts brought in about $5 million, compared with $2.6 million for Ether.

The gold contracts launched in August and let traders take positions on whether gold will rise or fall during 15-minute intervals.

Gold also exceeded Ether in trading volume. The gold markets recorded 542 million contracts traded in September, while Ether markets recorded 318 million. Ether volume rose from 6.1 million contracts in January to 233 million in July before reaching the September total.

Bitcoin remained Kalshi’s largest non-sports market, generating an estimated $60.4 million in fees during September.

Kalshi’s commodities business reached $400 million in trading volume within seven months of launching, according to a company update in September. That was more than four times the volume generated by its crypto markets during the same period.

In the update, Kalshi wrote: “Crypto markets demonstrated the potential for new categories on Kalshi to scale from tens of millions to billions in monthly volume.”

Short-duration financial markets accounted for most of Kalshi’s non-sports fees during the seven days through Oct. 5. An analysis of the platform’s activity found that 15-minute crypto, commodity and financial contracts generated $20.4 million in fees, or 80% of non-sports fees during the period.

The contracts represented 13% of Kalshi’s trading volume and 20% of its fees during the week. Kalshi’s fee formula is linked to contract odds. Contracts priced near a 50% probability generally produce higher fees as a share of trading volume than contracts priced as strong favorites or longshots.

Fifteen-minute Bitcoin markets became Kalshi’s largest market series outside parlays in July after launching in December. The platform’s 15-minute Ether and gold markets have since recorded higher monthly volumes, with gold surpassing Ether in September.