Polymarket has filed for futures commission merchant (FCM) registration with the US National Futures Association — its first step toward offering leveraged, margin-based event trading.

Margin would let users bet on events with only a fraction of the capital upfront, but final CFTC sign-off is still needed before leverage goes live. Rival Kalshi cleared the same NFA hurdle back in March and out-traded Polymarket $33B to $14B in June — raising the stakes in the prediction-market race.