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Education only · updated Sep 19, 2026
Kalshi perps funding and leverage explained
Since June 2026, Kalshi has offered perpetual futures: leveraged positions on crypto prices that never expire. Here's how they work, what funding costs, and what leverage does to a small move against you.
We don't trade perps, and no plan on this site is graded on one. The bitcoin perpetual, with its real leverage and liquidation price, is here. The Kalshi links here are plain links with no referral code, so we earn nothing when you open an account. This page is here because the product is new and the risk is easy to underrate.
Coinbase spot, Kalshi leverage
The perps Kalshi lists, priced off spot
Every Kalshi perpetual that has a Coinbase USD spot pair, BTC first. The price is Coinbase Exchange spot for the underlying, not Kalshi's perp mark: Kalshi's public perps API does not answer from our servers, so we show the spot price the perp tracks and say so. Gold, silver and the perps with no Coinbase pair are not on this board.
| Symbol | Spot | 24h | Max leverage | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading Coinbase spot prices. | ||||
Spot prices from Coinbase Exchange. Max leverage as listed by Kalshi.
Spot is Coinbase Exchange's last trade for the USD pair, read through our own proxy, and the 24h change is computed by us from Coinbase's 24-hour open. It is not Kalshi's perp mark and not the index Kalshi settles against: crypto perps price off CF Benchmarks; gold and silver off Pyth Network. Max leverage is the figure Kalshi listed on its perpetuals page on Sep 20, 2026, marked with a "≈" and a dashed edge; when Kalshi's public API answers, its live per-market estimate replaces it. Kalshi says leverage varies by asset and position size and changes without notice, so we never publish a fixed number as our own. PM Countdown is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Coinbase or Kalshi, and perps access on Kalshi needs a separate application. Kalshi's own stated minimum age is 18, and you must always be the legal age in your state.
Key facts
BTC June 3, ETH June 4, XRP June 10. CoinPerps
"Fully regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission." Kalshi News
Offered to US residents, and every user has to apply for a margin account first. Kalshi Help
5am, 1pm and 9pm PT (Kalshi publishes it as 12am, 8am and 4pm ET), capped at ±2% per window. Kalshi Help
The product
What a perpetual future is
A perpetual future is a bet on an asset's price that you can hold for as long as you want. Kalshi's own definition: it "lets you take a position on the price of an asset, in this case Bitcoin, and hold it for as long as you want" (Kalshi Help).
You don't pay the full value of the position. You post margin, a slice of it, and leverage sets how big the position is compared with that margin. At 5x, $100 of margin controls $500 of bitcoin. A 1% move in bitcoin is then a 5% move in your margin, in either direction.
There's no expiry, so nothing forces the position to end. It ends when you close it or when your margin runs out and Kalshi closes it for you.
Leverage math
What a small move does to your margin
Loss on margin is roughly the price move times the leverage. The table works it out for a move against you, before fees and funding. Change the numbers to see your own case.
| Leverage | Position size | 2% move against you | Loss on margin | Move that wipes out the margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The table needs JavaScript. The rule: loss on margin ≈ move × leverage, so a 2% move at 50x loses 100%. | ||||
Kalshi's help center uses the 6x case: "At 6x leverage, a 17% adverse move could eliminate your entire margin" (Kalshi Help). Kalshi says leverage limits "vary by asset and by position size" (Kalshi Help); its learn page listed BTC at 5.8x when we checked (Kalshi). The 10x and 50x rows are there because third-party reviews and other venues use them as examples, not because Kalshi offers them. Liquidation usually happens before the margin reaches zero.
Funding
The cost of holding it open
A perpetual has no expiry, so something has to pull its price back toward the real bitcoin price. That's funding: a payment between longs and shorts every 8 hours.
- When the perp trades above spot, the rate is positive and longs pay shorts. Below spot, shorts pay longs.
- Kalshi sets the rate from a time-weighted average of 1-minute premiums over the 480 candles in each window, clamped at ±2% per 8-hour window.
- Funding is charged on the whole position, not just your margin, so leverage multiplies it too.
Source: Kalshi Help, "How Funding Works", updated June 3, 2026. Kalshi can change the schedule; the app is the final word.
Next funding time
5am, 1pm and 9pm PT
From Kalshi's published schedule, not live market data. It shows when funding is exchanged, not the rate.
Worked example, hypothetical rate
If the rate were 0.05% in every window, a $1,000 long pays $0.50 a window, $1.50 a day and about $45 over 30 days. At the ±2% cap, one window alone would be $20.
The 0.05% is made up for the arithmetic. Real rates change every window.
Liquidation
When Kalshi closes it for you
Kalshi: "Liquidation occurs when your account balance falls below the maintenance margin threshold for a position." Maintenance margin is the floor below which the position gets closed, and it sits above zero, so you can be closed out before your margin is fully gone (Kalshi Help).
In a fast market the close can be worse than the trigger. Kalshi's own warning: "Rapid or extreme market movements may result in execution at prices significantly worse than the liquidation trigger, potentially producing a negative account balance" (Kalshi).
Kalshi's risk page lists liquidation, leverage, funding costs, volatility, outages and regulatory changes as the main risks, and says perps "may not be appropriate for all traders" (Kalshi Help).
Before you size one
Three things leverage changes
The loss can outrun the stake
Our trades cap the loss at what you paid. A 22¢ contract can't lose more than the 22¢ and the fee. A leveraged position can lose all the margin on a small move, and more if the close slips.
The clock stops but the meter does not
No expiry removes the 15-minute deadline, and a funding charge every 8 hours replaces it with a running cost. A position held without a target or a stop pays that charge indefinitely.
Nobody can grade it cleanly
A plan with a buy price, a sell target and a fixed end can be graded in public. A leveraged position whose outcome depends on when you were liquidated can't, so it is not graded here the way the 15-minute plans are.
If you use them anyway
Kalshi's protection tools
Set these before the first trade, not after a bad one.
Responsible Trading Hub
Funding caps and voluntary opt-outs for your Kalshi account.
Take profit and stop loss
Set the exit before you enter, same as a sell order on an event contract.
Understanding liquidation
Where your maintenance margin sits and what happens when you cross it.
Our responsible gambling guide
Warning signs, money limits and who to call. It's okay not to trade.
Only risk what you can afford to lose. This page is education, not financial or betting advice, and PM Countdown isn't affiliated with Kalshi. Gambling problem? Call or text 1-800-MY-RESET, or chat at 1800myreset.org.
Sources, checked Sep 19, 2026
- Kalshi News: Kalshi launches perpetual futures (CFTC regulation, funding every eight hours)
- Kalshi Help: How Funding Works (12am, 8am, 4pm ET; ±2% cap; TWAP method), updated June 3, 2026
- Kalshi Help: What are Perpetual Futures? (definition, 6x and 17% example)
- Kalshi Help: What perpetuals are available (leverage varies by asset and size)
- Kalshi Help: Risks of Trading Perpetual Futures
- Kalshi: Perpetual futures explained (BTC 5.8x listed; negative balance warning)
- CoinPerps: Kalshi perpetuals review (third party; launch dates)