The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) invoked emergency authority Tuesday to stop Kalshi from canceling prediction market trades held by Michigan residents after a state court ordered the exchange to void and refund them.
The CFTC stayed an emergency rule Kalshi filed to comply with the court’s directive and ordered the exchange to let the affected contracts proceed through normal settlement. Kalshi had planned to liquidate the positions at current market prices and cover any losses from its own funds.
The action marks a significant escalation in the legal battle over whether sports prediction markets fall under federal commodities law or state gambling laws.
“The Commission will not allow states or state courts to bully registered entities into violating the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations,” Chairman Michael Selig said in a press release.
CFTC warns of ‘cascading effect’
The CFTC warned that allowing a state court to unwind even a limited number of executed trades could “shatter public confidence” by causing traders to worry that contracts entered into today might be canceled “a week — or a year — later.” The commission said that uncertainty could distort prices, prompt additional trading to offset unexpected exposure and create volatility in related contracts.
The commission also argued that the Commodity Exchange Act requires a uniform national derivatives market in which participants have impartial access to federally regulated exchanges, rather than different rules depending on where they live.
“A state cannot force a DCM to violate its obligations, and federal law does not permit a DCM to discriminate against a state’s residents,” Selig said. “Canceling trades that have already been executed is an unprecedented step that risks a cascading effect on the entire marketplace and undermines the certainty in contracting that is a necessary component of a functioning market.”
The commission said Michigan was the first state to attempt to interfere directly with already-executed derivatives transactions, distinguishing the order from other state enforcement efforts focused on whether Kalshi may offer sports event contracts in the first place.
Michigan court ordered trades voided
According to the CFTC’s order, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina issued a temporary restraining order June 29 barring Kalshi from offering sports event contracts to people in Michigan and requiring the exchange to use a geolocation provider licensed by the Michigan Gaming Control Board. The order also threatened a $120,000 daily fine for failing to comply with the geolocation requirement.
After Kalshi asked Aquilina to dissolve or modify the order, she verbally directed the exchange to close out certain positions held by Michigan residents. A July 6 communication clarified that the trades had to be “voided, canceled and refunded,” according to the CFTC.
Kalshi’s July 12 emergency filing said it understood the directive to cover a limited set of sports positions originally matched between Michigan traders and Kalshi Trading LLC, a Kalshi affiliate that trades on the exchange. Kalshi said those positions represented only “a minute percentage” of its sports volume and that a broader liquidation order involving all Michigan sports positions would “severely impact” exchange members nationwide.
The company proposed force-liquidating the affected positions through its order book at current market value. Kalshi said it would cover any shortfall between the liquidation value and each trader’s original cost, using its own operating funds, so that no other market participant would bear a loss. It also said the positions were limited enough that the market could absorb the liquidation without significantly affecting prices.
Selig vows to defend CFTC jurisdiction
The CFTC’s intervention does not lift Michigan’s broader restrictions on Kalshi’s sports event contracts. At a Monday hearing, Aquilina reportedly extended the order and gave Kalshi until Aug. 12 to implement state-compliant geofencing, with potential fines of $500,000 per day beginning Aug. 13.
Speaking Tuesday at an Axios House event, Selig called the jurisdictional battle “existential” to the CFTC and said the agency would defend its authority “all the way up to the Supreme Court.”
“We are seeing states attempting to nullify federal law,” Selig said. “We can’t allow it for any type of derivative instrument.”
