Kalshi’s newly launched 15-minute gold markets overtook the platform’s equivalent Ether contracts in September, highlighting the rapid growth of short-duration trading on the prediction-market platform. According to Cointelegraph, gold contracts recorded 542 million trades during the month, compared with 318 million for Ether.
The gold markets were introduced in August and allow participants to take positions on whether gold will rise or fall during a 15-minute period. Predict Charts estimated that they generated about $5 million in fees in September, nearly twice the $2.6 million attributed to Kalshi’s 15-minute Ether markets.
Bitcoin remained far ahead of both markets. Its contracts generated an estimated $60.4 million in fees during the month.
Gold gains ground soon after launch
The September figures mark a quick rise for Kalshi’s short-duration commodities offering. Ether’s 15-minute contracts had expanded sharply earlier in the year, climbing from 6.1 million contracts in January to 233 million in July. Their total increased further to 318 million in September, but that was still below gold’s 542 million contracts.
Bitcoin’s 15-minute markets had already become Kalshi’s largest market series outside parlays in July, following their launch in December. Parlays combine multiple outcomes in a single position.
The stronger showing by gold also comes as Kalshi expands its wider commodities business. The company said in September that commodities trading volume had reached $400 million within seven months. That was more than four times the volume generated by its crypto markets over the same period, according to the source material.
Kalshi said crypto markets had shown that new categories on the platform could grow from tens of millions to billions of dollars in monthly volume.
Short-duration markets drive fee growth
Fifteen-minute markets are becoming an increasingly important source of revenue beyond sports-related activity. An analysis by InGame found that Kalshi’s 15-minute crypto, commodity and financial markets generated $20.4 million in fees during the seven days through October 5. That represented 80% of the platform’s non-sport fees during that period.
The same analysis found that these markets accounted for 13% of trading volume but 20% of fees. InGame journalist Daniel O’Boyle attributed the difference to Kalshi’s fee formula, which depends on a contract’s odds. Contracts priced near a 50/50 probability can produce higher fees as a share of trading volume than heavy favorites or longshots.
Current market picture
Moneyiar data at 10:14 a.m. on October 7, 2026, showed Bitcoin at $83,798.55, down 2.69% over 24 hours but up 0.11% over seven days. Ethereum was priced at $2,586.27, down 4.71% in 24 hours and 3.86% over seven days.
At 10:13 a.m., JUST stood at $0.1401, with a 1.26% daily gain and a 9.11% seven-day rise. OriginTrail was $0.4001, down 3.36% over 24 hours and 6.56% over seven days.
