KalshiEX LLC

June 23, 2023

SUBMITTED VIA CFTC PORTAL

Secretary of the Commission

Office of the Secretariat

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Centre

1155 21st Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20581

Re: KalshiEX LLC – CFTC Regulation 40.2(a) Notification Regarding the Initial Listing

of the “Will the WGA strike end by <date>?” Contract

Dear Sir or Madam,

Pursuant to Section 5c(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act and Section 40.2(a) of the regulations of the

Commodity Futures Trading Commission, KalshiEX LLC (Kalshi) hereby notifies the Commission that

it is self-certifying the “Will the WGA strike end by <date>?” contract (Contract). The Exchange intends

to list the contract on a custom basis. The Contract’s terms and conditions (Appendix A) includes the

following strike conditions:

● <date>

Along with this letter, Kalshi submits the following documents:

● A concise explanation and analysis of the Contract;

● Certification;

● Appendix A with the Contract’s Terms and Conditions;

● Confidential Appendices with further information; and

● A request for FOIA confidential treatment.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Xavier Sottile

Head of Markets

KalshiEX LLC

xsottile@kalshi.com

KalshiEX LLC 
KalshiEX LLC

KalshiEX LLC

Official Product Name: Will the WGA strike end by <date>?

Rulebook: WGA

Kalshi Contract Category: Entertainment/Pop Culture

WGA

June 23, 2023

CONCISE EXPLANATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCT AND ITS 

COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE PROVISIONS OF THE ACT, INCLUDING CORE 

PRINCIPLES AND THE COMMISSION'S REGULATIONS THEREUNDER 

Pursuant to Commission Rule 40.2(a)(3)(v), the following is a concise explanation and analysis 

of the product and its compliance with the Act, including the relevant Core Principles, and the 

Commission's regulations thereunder. 

I. Introduction 

The “Will the WGA strike end by <date>?” Contract is a contract relating to the length of 

the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. After careful analysis, Kalshi (hereafter 

referred to as “Exchange”) has determined that the Contract complies with its vetting 

framework. 

Beginning on May 2, 2023, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, with union 

writers no longer participating in any guild signatory produced television or film projects. 

This strike has the potential to cause serious, long-term damage to the film industry 

across almost all roles. The last strike, in 2007-2008, cost the industry billions of dollars 

and threatened livelihoods. This contract is designed to hedge risk for those exposed to a 

longer and longer strike. 

Further information about the Contract, including an analysis of its risk mitigation and 

price basing utility, as well as additional considerations related to the Contract, is 

included in Confidential Appendices B, C, and D. 

Pursuant to Section 5c(c) of the Act and CFTC Regulations 40.2(a), the Exchange hereby 

certifies that the listing of the Contract complies with the Act and Commission 

regulations under the Act. 

General Contract Terms and Conditions: The Contract operates similar to other event 

contracts that the Exchange lists for trading. The minimum price fluctuation is $0.01 (one 

cent). Price bands will apply so that Contracts may only be listed at values of at least 

$0.01 and at most $0.99. Further, the Contract is sized with a one-dollar notional value 

KalshiEX LLC 
KalshiEX LLC

and has a minimum price fluctuation of $0.01 to enable Members to match the size of the 

contracts purchased to their economic risks. The Exchange has further imposed position 

limits (defined as maximum loss exposure) of $25,000 USD on the Contract. As outlined 

in Rule 5.12 of the Rulebook, trading shall be available at all times outside of any 

maintenance windows, which will be announced in advance by the Exchange. Members 

will be charged fees in accordance with Rule 3.6 of the Rulebook. Fees are charged in 

such amounts as may be revised from time to time to be reflected on the Exchange’s 

Website. Additionally, as outlined in Rule 7.2 of the Rulebook, if any event or any 

circumstance which may have a material impact on the reliability or transparency of a 

Contract’s Source Agency or the Underlying related to the Contract arises, Kalshi retains 

the authority to designate a new Source Agency and Underlying for that Contract and to 

change any associated Contract specifications after the first day of trading. That new 

Source Agency and Underlying would be objective and verifiable. Kalshi would 

announce any such decision on its website. All instructions on how to access the 

Underlying are non-binding and are provided for convenience only and are not part of the 

binding Terms and Conditions of the Contract. They may be clarified at any time. 

Furthermore, the Contract’s payout structure is characterized by the payment of an 

absolute amount to the holder of one side of the option and no payment to the 

counterparty. During the time that trading on the Contract is open, Members are able to 

adjust their positions and trade freely. After trading on the Contract has closed, the 

Expiration Value and Market Outcome are determined. The market is then settled by the 

Exchange, and the long position holders and short position holders are paid according to 

the Market Outcome. In this case, “long position holders” refers to Members who 

purchased the “Yes” side of the Contract and “short position holders” refers to Members 

who purchased the “No” side of the Contract. If the Market Outcome is “Yes,” meaning 

that the WGA strike has ended by <date>, then the long position holders are paid an 

absolute amount proportional to the size of their position and the short position holders 

receive no payment. If the Market Outcome is “No,” then the short position holders are 

paid an absolute amount proportional to the size of their position and the long position 

holders receive no payment. Specification of the circumstances that would trigger a 

Market Outcome of “Yes” are included below in the section titled “Payout Criterion” in 

Appendix A. 

KalshiEX LLC 
KalshiEX LLC

CERTIFICATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 5c OF THE COMMODITY EXCHANGE 

ACT, 7 U.S.C. § 7A-2 AND COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION RULE 

40.2, 17 C.F.R. § 40.2 

Based on the above analysis, the Exchange certifies that: 

❏ The Contract complies with the Act and Commission regulations thereunder. 

❏ This submission (other than those appendices for which confidential treatment has been 

requested) has been concurrently posted on the Exchange’s website at 

https://kalshi.com/regulatory/filings . 

Should you have any questions concerning the above, please contact the exchange at 

ProductFilings@kalshi.com . 

______________________ 

By: Xavier Sottile 

Title: Head of Markets 

Date: June 23, 2023 

KalshiEX LLC 
KalshiEX LLC

Attachments: 

Appendix A - Contract Terms and Conditions 

Appendix B (Confidential) - Further Considerations 

Appendix C (Confidential) - Source Agency 

Appendix D (Confidential) - Compliance with Core Principles 

KalshiEX LLC 
KalshiEX LLC

APPENDIX A – CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS 

Official Product Name: Will the WGA strike end by <date>? 

Rulebook: WGA 

KalshiEX LLC 
KalshiEX LLC

WGA

Scope: These rules shall apply to this contract. 

Underlying: The Underlying for this Contract is releases from the websites of the Writers Guilds 

of America East and West. Revisions to the Underlying made after Expiration will not be 

accounted for in determining the Expiration Value. 

Instructions: The Underlying can be found here and here . These instructions on how to access 

the Underlying are provided for convenience only and are not part of the binding Terms and 

Conditions of the Contract. They may be clarified at any time. 

Source Agency: The Source Agencies are the websites of the Writers Guilds of America East 

and West. 

Type: The type of Contract is an Event Contract. 

Issuance: After the initial Contract, Contract iterations will be listed on an as-needed basis at the 

discretion of the Exchange and corresponding to the risk management needs of Members. 

<date> : <date> refers to a calendar date specified by Kalshi. Kalshi may list iterations of the 

Contract corresponding to different statistical periods of <date>. 

Payout Criterion: The Payout Criterion for the Contract encompasses the Expiration Values that 

indicate the WGA (both East and West) has voted to end the strike. 

Minimum Tick: The Minimum Tick size for the referred Contract shall be $0.01. 

Position Limit: The Position Limit for the $1 referred Contract shall be $25,000 per Member. 

Last Trading Date: The Last Trading Date of the Contract will be the sooner of the first 10:00 

AM ET following the occurrence of an event encompassed by the Payout Criterion (whereupon 

the Last Trading Time will be 10:00 AM ET) or <date> (whereupon the Last Trading Time will 

be 11:59 PM ET).. 

Settlement Date: The Settlement Date of the Contract shall be no later than the day after the 

Expiration Date, unless the Market Outcome is under review pursuant to Rule 7.1. 

KalshiEX LLC 
KalshiEX LLC

Expiration Date: The Expiration Date of the Contract shall be the sooner of the first 10:00 AM 

ET following the occurrence of an event encompassed by the Payout Criterion or the date of the 

first 10:00 AM ET after <date>. 

Expiration time: The Expiration time of the Contract shall be 10:00 AM ET. 

Settlement Value: The Settlement Value for this Contract is $1.00. 

Expiration Value: The Expiration Value is the value of the Underlying as documented by the 

Source Agency on the Expiration Date at the Expiration time. 

Contingencies: Before Settlement, Kalshi may, at its sole discretion, initiate the Market 

Outcome Review Process pursuant to Rule 6.3(c) of the Rulebook. Additionally, as outlined in 

Rule 7.2 of the Rulebook, if any event or any circumstance which may have a material impact on 

the reliability or transparency of a Contract’s Source Agency or the Underlying related to the 

Contract arises, Kalshi retains the authority to designate a new Source Agency and Underlying 

for that Contract and to change any associated Contract specifications after the first day of 

trading. 

KalshiEX LLC