Kalshi Crypto Spot Volume and Perp Open Interest Hit Records as the Market Flips Bullish

Sentiment across the crypto market has flipped bullish over the past three days. Roughly $313 billion has been added to the crypto market, with the total market cap rising from $2.19 to $2.5 trillion. Wednesday, August 19, saw the biggest short liquidation in crypto history with over $2.7 billion worth of positions being wiped out, according to CoinGlass. As Crypto turned higher on Wednesday, Kalshi set two new records on the same day.

Data from Artemis shows that the platform’s daily crypto spot volume reached a new high of $268.89 million. Meanwhile, daily perp open interest hit $18.69 million. Both these prints landed just as the market rallied but they need to be read separately and they track different behaviour.

Source: Artemis

What Kalshi’s Spot Volume Actually Counts

Artemis labels the crypto-based event contracts as spot volume on the page. Kalshi does not run a spot order book and these are basically the yes or no binaries based on whether a specific asset closes above a given level by a set date. A trader’s downside and risk is based on how much he put down for a contract and there is no liquidation. This design draws flows in regardless of which direction the market is moving, so volume records on these books measure attention rather than conviction.

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