Kalshi has launched fully regulated, onshore perpetual Dogecoin futures in the United States, giving retail traders CFTC-regulated access to DOGE perps for the first time. The contracts cap leverage well below offshore norms and qualify for favorable Section 1256 tax treatment, while early trading shows a slight tilt toward short positions.
Retail traders in the United States can now trade fully regulated perpetual DOGE futures for the first time, after Kalshi began offering the contracts under CFTC oversight. Until now, local traders had to choose between fixed-term futures on Coinbase and Robinhood or move to offshore platforms to access perpetual contracts on the meme token.
How the new contracts are structured
Kalshi built the product around a fractional format: one contract equals just 10 DOGE. Leverage is capped at 3.8x for long positions and 2.8x for short positions, ruling out the 50x or 100x leverage common on offshore exchanges. Quotes track CF Benchmarks' DOGEUSD_RTI spot index, settlement runs around the clock, and the funding rate resets every eight hours.
In the first hours of trading, daily volume reached about $952,100 with open interest of $553,300, and positioning tilted slightly toward bears at 54% versus 46% for bulls.
Kalshi also pays 3.25% annual interest on uninvested dollar margin balances starting at $250 and supports standard protective orders, though accounts are not insured by the FDIC or SIPC.
Tax treatment sets onshore contracts apart
The contracts fall under Section 1256 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, which applies the 60/40 rule to profits: 60% of income is taxed at the lower long-term capital gains rate, while 40% is taxed at the short-term rate, regardless of how long a trader held the position. That tax treatment is the main economic draw of onshore perpetual futures for American traders.
For Kalshi, the DOGE listing extends a shift away from its original prediction-markets business. The platform's perpetual futures market debuted over the summer and has already generated more than $5.5 billion in cumulative trading volume. Starting October 13, 2026, Kalshi will close its VIP volume-based rewards program amid regulatory pressure over large transactions, even as it prepares similar futures applications covering metals and the US500 stock index.
Source: U.Today
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