Report: CFTC Eyes Unusual $5B Trading Pattern on Kalshi ETH Perpetuals

Kalshi denies wash trading allegations, arguing that repeated transactions stemmed from how market markers' orders were executed. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is reportedly reviewing unusual trading on Kalshi’s Ethereum perpetual futures market. This is according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which found close to one million trades clustered around the same $5,500 order size since August. The pattern, which the WSJ said accounted for more than $5 billion in volume, has drawn allegations of wash trading that Kalshi flatly denies, arguing the repeated sizes stem from ordinary market-making activity. What the Trading Data Shows In a September 22 report, the WSJ said it had found that more than a third of trades in the market over recent weeks clustered around that same $5,500 figure, although Kalshi’s public data does not disclose who is behind individual trades. According to them, the CFTC is reviewing the activity before deciding whether to open a formal enforcement investigation. Wash trading, which is the practice of making trades with no real economic purpose in order to create a misleading activity, is the specific concern the clustering pattern has raised...