Kalshi Faces Technical Glitches During College Football Trading, Sparks User Frustration

Kalshi, the event-based trading platform, encountered significant technical disruptions during a surge in college football betting activity. Users reported frozen dashboards, disappearing balances, and unprocessed orders for nearly 20 minutes—an eternity in live markets. The exchange's interface displayed only a spinning green "K" logo while traders flooded social media with complaints.

CNBC obtained screen recordings showing blank bet slips and unresponsive interfaces. Kalshi acknowledged the issues in a user message: "The Exchange is experiencing temporary delays. Balances and positions may not be accurately reflected at this time." The platform later claimed resolution, though traders on X dubbed it the platform's worst outage period.

In a subsequent statement, Kalshi downplayed the incident as "minor glitches" affecting only web and app interfaces. A spokesperson emphasized no funds were impacted and institutional trading continued uninterrupted. The contradiction between user experiences and official accounts highlights growing pains for prediction markets entering mainstream finance.