--- title: "Apex and Kalshi Open Prediction Markets to More Firms" date: 2026-08-13 author: "Kelvin Scott" featured_image: "https://coinlaw.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/kalshi-and-apex-fintech-open-predictions-market.jpg" categories: - name: "Fintech" url: "/fintech.md" tags: - name: "News" url: "/tag/news.md" --- # Apex and Kalshi Open Prediction Markets to More Firms Apex Fintech Solutions opened its clearing stack to Kalshi event contracts on August 13, 2026, letting brokerages offer prediction markets without building Futures Commission Merchant infrastructure. tastytrade is the first firm live. ## What Happened? - Apex Fintech Solutions now runs clearing, custody, money movement, statements, and account management for Kalshi event contracts sold through client brokerages. - tastytrade is the first firm live on the platform, and no other client firm was named in the announcement. - Kalshi supplies the regulated marketplace, covering economic indicators, financial markets, weather, sports, and cultural events. - Kalshi cleared $16.81 billion in May 2026 volume against Polymarket’s $7.08 billion, per earlier reporting. - Apex plans to add more prediction market venues to the same hub through a single AscendOS connection. ## Apex turns FCM status into a rented service Apex built the piece most brokerages could not justify building for themselves. The company [handles clearing, custody, money movement, statements, and account management](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260813716753/en/Apex-Fintech-Solutions-and-Kalshi-Power-New-Era-of-Prediction-Markets-Access) for event contracts, while Kalshi runs the regulated exchange and writes the contracts themselves. Client firms connect through **AscendOS**, the same API layer they already use for equities order management and position tracking. **Travis McGhee**, Global Head of Digital Markets at Apex, put the removal of setup work plainly. “ Through our platform, clients can now offer Kalshi’s event contracts with ease – no FCM buildout, no lengthy development cycles, no separate platform to manage. Travis McGheeGlobal Head of Digital Markets – Apex That describes a change in who gets to compete. Registering and capitalizing a Futures Commission Merchant is the reason [event contracts](https://coinlaw.io/how-prediction-markets-work/) have stayed inside a small set of dedicated apps instead of appearing as a tab in every retail brokerage. > Apex Fintech Solutions just opened [@Kalshi](https://x.com/Kalshi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) ‘s event contracts to any brokerage on its stack. > > No Futures Commission Merchant buildout, no direct exchange connection. > > Apex clears and custodies, Kalshi runs the market, [@tastytrade](https://x.com/tastytrade?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) is first to go live. [pic.twitter.com/8F1PqCgpvt](https://t.co/8F1PqCgpvt) > > — CoinLaw (@coinlaw\_io) [August 13, 2026](https://x.com/coinlaw_io/status/2087855102765961617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) ## What the integration actually removes? Apex lists five specific pieces of work its clients now skip: - **FCM operations, clearing, and segregated custody, all held on the Apex side**. - **Order management, position tracking, and market data through existing AscendOS APIs, which the company says cuts months of development to weeks**. - **Event contract positions displayed in the same portfolio view as traditional securities**. - **Round-the-clock access to Kalshi markets, apart from scheduled maintenance windows**. - **Payouts credited to investor accounts as soon as a contract outcome is determined**. The last two carry more operational weight than they read. A contract on an economic release or a weekend sports outcome settles when the world settles it, so a brokerage back office organized around scheduled market hours now carries a product that can pay out at 2am on a Sunday. ## Kalshi’s distribution now runs through other firms’ apps Kalshi has spent the past year turning itself into a supplier. Coinbase [built a branded prediction markets product](https://coinlaw.io/coinbase-prediction-market-kalshi-launch/) on Kalshi infrastructure through its regulated derivatives arm in November 2025, and tastytrade now reaches the same order books through Apex rather than a direct exchange connection. The volume sitting behind that shift is concentrated. Kalshi cleared **$16.81 billion** in May 2026 against Polymarket’s $7.08 billion in the [same monthly comparison](https://coinlaw.io/top-prediction-market-platforms/), and the company closed a $1 billion Series F at a $22 billion valuation before opening informal IPO conversations with banks. ## Implications for brokerage distribution **Apex’s own framing points past Kalshi.** The company calls Kalshi the first venue in its Prediction Markets Platform and says additional venues will follow through one **AscendOS** connection, which leaves Kalshi holding a default-supplier slot it will have to defend the moment a second venue appears in the same dropdown. What the announcement leaves out matters as much as what it states. Apex named no client beyond tastytrade, disclosed no pricing or revenue split with Kalshi, gave no timeline or names for the promised venues, and said nothing about which state-level or CFTC constraints travel with a contract when a third party brokerage sells it. The release also does not say how many firms are in the pipeline behind tastytrade. Investors whose brokerage adds event contracts can check their statements to see how the positions are actually held. Apex says the contracts clear into segregated custody on its side and appear in the same portfolio view as securities, so where a position displays and where it is custodied are separate questions worth putting to the broker directly. ## Summing It Up This launch is a distribution event dressed as an API release. The barrier to offering event contracts has sat in the capital, registration, and operational load of running a **Futures Commission Merchant**, and Apex absorbing that load makes the number of front doors into Kalshi a function of how many brokerages want the tab. tastytrade’s launch gives the rest of Apex’s client base a working reference to copy. The trade-off lands on the compliance side. A brokerage that lists event contracts inherits suitability, disclosure, and surveillance questions its equities program never had to answer, and it inherits them on a product that trades while its staff sleeps. Apex carries the clearing; the client firm still carries its customers. That split is where supervisory attention is most likely to concentrate as the client list grows.