Kalshi is shutting down the program that paid traders for volume, almost a year before it was due to end.
The exchange filed notice with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on September 28 that it is terminating its Volume Incentive Program, effective no earlier than October 13, 2026. The redlined version of the terms attached to that filing shows what it replaces: an end date of October 1, 2027.
The filing, signed by KalshiEX regulatory counsel Rhianna Ross, gives no reason for the change. It cites Kalshi Rule 3.13(f), which allows the exchange to create, modify, or terminate incentive programs “as the Exchange determines in its sole discretion.”
What the Program Did
The Volume Incentive Program paid traders a share of a fixed pot for trading in designated markets.
For each eligible market, Kalshi posted an Eligible Term of up to 31 days and a fixed Volume Reward. At the end of the term, every eligible participant who traded in that market received a share of the reward proportional to their volume against all other eligible volume. The stated purpose was to increase volume and liquidity on the central limit order book and improve pricing efficiency.
It applied to all Kalshi markets and to all members except three groups: Kalshi affiliates, members with a Market Maker Agreement, and introducing brokers and futures commission merchants along with their non-disclosed customers.
Eligible volume meant trades executed on the order book at prices between three cents and 97 cents—a band designed to exclude near-certain outcomes where prices barely move. That price restriction expressly did not apply to perpetual futures.
Rewards for event contracts were capped at half a cent per contract per participant, a limit the document says exists “to help avoid price distortion caused by these Volume Incentives.” No equivalent cap is stated for perpetual futures.
What Is Not Ending
Kalshi runs more than one incentive scheme, and this filing touches only one of them.
The Temporary Perpetual Fee Rebate Program, updated in a separate filing on September 2, is unaffected. Under that program, crypto perp taker fees are rebated down to 0.3 basis points and maker fees are rebated so makers net 0.3 basis points, with Kalshi adjusting payments to prevent net-negative combined fees on any single trade. It runs until December 31, 2026, and is available to self-clearing members.
Kalshi’s separate request for CFTC approval to allow margin trading on event contracts, filed on September 22, is also unaffected.
The Sequence
Kalshi has been actively reshaping these programs for two months.
On August 4, Chief Regulatory Officer Richard Heaslip filed to extend the Volume Incentive Program to futures contracts, effective on or after August 18. The Crypto Times reported an extension on September 21 as part of coverage of allegations that Kalshi’s crypto perpetual volume was inflated.
Those allegations came from a trader posting on X as Beni, who said on September 20 that trades of about $5,500 accounted for 48% to 58% of Kalshi’s ether perpetual volume across four trading windows. A Kalshi employee working on its crypto business disputed the claims, saying the exchange’s incentive programs are filed publicly precisely because it is regulated, and pointing to comparable rebates at Binance and Hyperliquid. Kalshi as a company has not publicly responded.
The termination filing came eight days later. It does not mention the allegations, the incentive programs’ effect on volume, or any review of trading activity. Kalshi has not said why it is ending the program early, and nothing in the document links the two events.
The program’s own monitoring clause, unchanged in the redline, gives Kalshi’s Chief Regulatory Officer the right to revoke a participant’s status if their participation is “abusive or in any way inconsistent with the purpose of the Program.” The filing does not say whether that power was used.
What Happens Next
Between now and October 13, the program continues on its existing terms, and Kalshi says it will keep records of all trades and payments under it up to the effective termination date.
Under CFTC Regulation 40.6(a), the route used here, an exchange self-certifies that a rule change complies with the Commodity Exchange Act. It is a notification rather than an approval request, which is why the termination takes effect on Kalshi’s timetable rather than the Commission’s.
Also Read: Kalshi Faces Accusations of Inflated Crypto Volume Over Repeated $5,500 Perp Trades
