Cantor-Kalshi partnership aims to open prediction markets to institutional investors
Global investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald has rolled out event contracts to its institutional clients in partnership with Kalshi.
The partnership will see Cantor act as an introducing broker for Kalshi, arranging and facilitating the execution of institutional-size block trades.
Wednesday’s launch enables Cantor’s institutional clients to negotiate block trades in event contracts at a single price through Kalshi’s block trading framework, away from the central order book.
“Cantor has spent more than eighty years building institutional access to new markets, and prediction markets are the next one,” said Pascal Bandelier, co-CEO and global head of equities at Cantor. “Prediction markets are growing rapidly, but institutional participation has not kept pace because investors have lacked the ability to transact at scale on a regulated exchange.
“The liquidity is here. With the launch of block trading, institutional investors can now access block trading in event contracts through an institutional intermediary they know and trust.”
Max Crowley, vice president of business development at Kalshi, commented: “Cantor brings deep institutional relationships and significant experience executing in equities and fixed income markets. We’re looking for partners who think creatively about where event contracts fit in a client’s portfolio, and who see the new use cases and hedging opportunities that come with it. Cantor is exactly that kind of firm.”
Cantor is collaborating with Susquehanna Predictions, one of the most active liquidity providers in event contracts, to provide institutional-scale pricing and liquidity for its prediction markets coverage.
“We believe the next area of material growth for prediction markets will be large institutional risk transfer,” said Joe Grubb, head of business development at Susquehanna Predictions. “We are able to price and execute custom, tailored contracts for institutional counterparties desiring to hedge both general market and bespoke industry risk currently unserved by traditional insurance markets. Our ability to do so quickly and at scale will provide a valuable solution to this unmet market demand.”
While initially working with Kalshi, Cantor says it plans to expand its prediction markets business to include additional CFTC-regulated exchanges.