# Who sees your trades on a US event exchange

The public sees a price and a size, the exchange sees your name on every order, and the CFTC can ask for both. What each layer records, and where it goes.

*https://predictionmarkets.tools/guides/who-sees-your-trades · background to Prediction Market Venues*

**Answer:** Three audiences, three records. The public sees each trade's time, contract, quantity and price, with no name. The exchange records every order with your identity and keeps it at least five years; through a broker, each order carries a code and the broker reports your name once a position passes a level the exchange gives brokers rather than printing in its rulebook. The CFTC receives transaction data daily and can ask who placed each trade.

A regulated event exchange is public about markets and private about people, and the line between
the two runs through three different audiences. Other traders see a tape. The exchange sees an
order log with a name on every line. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission receives a daily file
it can turn back into names. Each of those three records is set by a different document, and the
reader who assumes that "nobody can see my account" is true of the first will be wrong about the
other two.

This page reads them in that order: the CFTC staff letter that sets what the event exchanges publish
and report, three sections of the Commission's regulations, and Kalshi's rulebook, version 1.29,
as the exchange whose rules write out every step. It is about regulated US venues. On a venue that
settles on a public chain the picture is reversed, and [what wallet tracking
shows](https://predictionmarkets.tools/guides/what-wallet-tracking-shows) covers that side.

## How it works

### Why there is a special letter at all

Event contracts on a US exchange may meet the statutory definition of a swap, and every swap is
supposed to be reported to a swap data repository, a separate regulated database. CFTC Letter
26-14, issued on 13 May 2026 by the Divisions of Market Oversight and of Clearing and Risk, explains
why the exchanges do not do that. Since 2016 the divisions had received requests to let exchanges
skip the swap repository for "fully collateralized binary payout contracts", on condition that they
report "in a manner similar to that required for DCMs for futures and options", and had granted
eighteen of them. Letter 26-14 replaced the patchwork with one position that applies to every
listed beneficiary. The appendix, as of 30 September 2026, lists 25 entities, among them KalshiEX
and Kalshi Klear, QCX LLC doing business as Polymarket US and its clearing house, ForecastEx, the
Crypto.com derivatives exchange and Rothera Exchange and Clearing.

That choice decides the route your data takes. Part 45, the letter notes, is the swap regime's
"more detailed swap data that is made available to the Commission, which includes
counterparty-identifying information", reported through a repository. Under the futures route,
data "is generally sent directly to the Commission" instead. Two of the letter's conditions are the
whole of what follows.

### What the public sees: a tape without names

Condition 3 of the letter: each exchange "will publish on its website the following information for
all Covered Contracts transactions promptly after execution thereof: trade timestamp, contract,
quantity, and price." Promptly means "as soon as technologically practicable".

Kalshi's rulebook adds two more public layers. Rule 2.17(b) commits it to publish "on a daily basis
information on settlement prices, volume, open interest, and opening and closing ranges for
actively traded Contracts". Rule 5.15 lets every member, and every broker's customer, see the best
bid and offer, open interest, volume and "the depth of the order book up to the fifth level of
prices".

Nothing in any of it identifies an account. The public record of a regulated exchange is a record
of prices and sizes, and that is why no product can track a person across one. The data itself is
yours to read through the [Kalshi API](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/kalshi-api), subject to the terms on [what you may do
with a venue's prices](https://predictionmarkets.tools/guides/what-you-may-do-with-a-venues-prices).

### What the exchange keeps: every order, with your name

Kalshi's Rule 9.1(a) says its trading system "will record and store for a period of not less than
5 years in a searchable, read-only database a record of all data entered into the Kalshi trading
system, including the Participant's identity". The first two years are kept readily available, and
the compliance department runs surveillance programs over it "designed to alert Kalshi when
potentially unusual trading activity takes place". All data entered is wider than the trades: it
takes in orders that never filled and the messages that cancelled them.

A direct member gave the exchange its identity on the application. A broker's customer did not, and
the rulebook closes that gap from the broker's side:

- **A separate account for you.** Each futures commission merchant "must maintain a separately
  identifiable position account for each FCM Customer and provide that account identifier with
  every order submitted to Kalshi" (Rule 3.8(d)).
- **A code for you on every order, and your name on request.** The broker identifies each customer
  "by a distinct identification code, which shall be provided to Kalshi with each Order message",
  and must provide "upon request identifying information for FCM Customers, including but not
  limited to names, numbers, addresses, and contact information" (Rule 3.8(h)). Rule 3.9 puts the
  same duties on an introducing broker.
- **Every account you hold, declared.** A customer may use several brokers, but "Before an FCM
  Customer trades on Kalshi with multiple accounts, it must disclose the identity of each account
  to the Exchange" (Rule 3.3(b)).

### The reportable level the rulebook does not print

Rule 5.19(e) is the one place where a broker sends names without being asked: "Kalshi has imposed
Reportable Position Levels or Position Limits on each contract which will be communicated to FCMs.
At a regular cadence, FCM Members must report the name, and any additional known KYC information
requested by the Exchange, of all FCM Customers who hold any position which exceeds a Reportable
Level. This information may be used by Kalshi's compliance staff to conduct surveillance."

The rulebook says who receives the level, the brokers, and does not print it. How a position
limit or accountability level differs from this reporting threshold, and where those numbers are
published, is on [how much one account may hold](https://predictionmarkets.tools/guides/how-much-one-account-may-hold).

### What reaches the CFTC

Condition 4 of Letter 26-14: each exchange "will provide the Commission with all transactional
information for Covered Contracts as described in Commission regulation 16.02". That regulation, 17
CFR 16.02, requires daily reports of "transaction-level trade data and related order information",
and adds the sentence that matters here: "Upon request, such information shall be accompanied by
data that identifies or facilitates the identification of each trader for each transaction or
order included in a submitted trade and supporting data report if the reporting market maintains
such data." Kalshi's Rule 9.1 says it does. Its Rule 2.16(b) commits it to report all Part 16 data
to the Commission.

The rulebook also takes your consent in advance. Under Rule 3.6(b), each participant agrees that
Kalshi may provide "all information Kalshi has about the Participant, including the Participant's
trading activity, to the Commission or any other Regulatory Agency, law enforcement authority, or
judicial tribunal", foreign bodies included, "without notice to the Participant".

**Large-trader reporting is a separate line, and the documents leave its number open.** Under 17
CFR 17.00, each futures commission merchant and clearing member reports to the Commission every
business day on each "special account" it carries, with every account a person holds or controls
counted as one. The size at which an account becomes special is set by 17 CFR 15.03, a table of
contract counts by commodity. It ends with a catch-all of 25 contracts for "All Other
Commodities", and it carries a separate line, 125,000, for "HedgeStreet Products", contracts of a
designated contract market named HedgeStreet that "pay up to $10.00 if in the money"; Letter 26-14
cites the 2006 rule that set "reporting levels for binary option event contracts listed on
HedgeStreet". Whether either line applies to a $1 event contract on
today's exchanges is not stated in any document read for this page. Letter 26-14 says only that
provisions of Parts 15 to 21 "continue to apply to certain contracts".

### Where the letter stops

Letter 26-14 is a staff position. It says it "does not state any legal conclusion regarding the
characteristics or legality of any Covered Contract", binds the two divisions and not the
Commission, and "will expire upon the compliance date of any final action taken by the Commission
with respect to this matter". The record-keeping does not depend on it: condition 5 keeps every
other reporting and record-keeping requirement in force, and condition 6 keeps the records open to
the Commission, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

## What you can do about it

**Treat the tape as anonymous and the order log as not.** Other traders cannot see who you are.
The exchange can, for every order you entered or cancelled, for at least five years, and the
Commission can ask it. Plan on that, not on the public view.

**Do not expect a broker to stand between you and the exchange's records.** On Kalshi's rules your
broker tags every order with a code for you and must hand over your name on request. If you trade
the same contracts through two brokers, or a broker and a direct account, the exchange expects to
be told before you trade.

**Ask your broker for the reportable level.** The rulebook says the level is communicated to
brokers. If the size of your positions matters to you, the number is a question for the firm that
carries your account.

**Know what the order log is surveilled for.** Trading on information you should not have is the
main case; [insider-trading rules on event
contracts](https://predictionmarkets.tools/guides/insider-trading-rules-on-event-contracts) sets out what the exchanges prohibit,
and the five-year, name-bearing log is how they look for it.

**Read the other side before you move venues for privacy.** On an on-chain venue the opposite
holds: fills are public by address and nobody files a name. [What wallet tracking
shows](https://predictionmarkets.tools/guides/what-wallet-tracking-shows) explains what that does and does not reveal, and the
[prediction market venues](https://predictionmarkets.tools/categories/prediction-market-venues) listing records which venue is
which.

## Tools this bears on

- [Kalshi](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/kalshi.md) — A CFTC-designated exchange for event contracts, settled in dollars against named sources.
- [Kalshi API](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/kalshi-api.md) — REST, WebSocket and FIX access to a CFTC-regulated event exchange.
- [Polymarket US](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/polymarket-us.md) — Polymarket's CFTC-designated US exchange — dollars, KYC, and no on-chain oracle.
- [ForecastEx](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/forecastex.md) — Economic and climate contracts on a CFTC exchange that pays interest on your collateral.

## FAQ

### Can other traders see my name on a US event exchange?

No. The trade record an exchange publishes under CFTC Letter 26-14 is the trade timestamp, the contract, the quantity and the price. Kalshi's rulebook adds daily settlement prices, volume and open interest, and shows members the book to five price levels. None of it is per account.

### Does trading through a broker hide me from the exchange?

Not on Kalshi's rules. A futures commission merchant must attach a distinct identification code for you to every order it sends, and give the exchange your name, address and contact details on request. If you hold accounts at more than one broker, Rule 3.3(b) requires you to disclose each account to the exchange before trading.

### At what size am I reported by name?

The rulebook does not print it. Kalshi's Rule 5.19(e) says it has set reportable levels or position limits on each contract, communicated to brokers, and that brokers must report the name and known identity details of every customer above a reportable level at a regular cadence. Ask your broker for the figure on the contracts you trade.

### Can the exchange give my trading records to the authorities without telling me?

Kalshi's Rule 3.6(b) says each participant consents to Kalshi providing all information it has about them, including trading activity, to the CFTC, other regulators, law enforcement or courts, foreign ones included, without notice to the participant.

## Sources

1. [CFTC Letter No. 26-14, Requests for No-Action Positions with Respect to Commission Regulations 38.8(b), 38.10, 38.951, 39.20(b)(2), and Parts 43 and 45, for Certain Fully Collateralized Event Contracts (appendix of beneficiaries as of September 30, 2026)
](https://www.cftc.gov/csl/26-14/download) — Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Divisions of Market Oversight and of Clearing and Risk, 2026-05-13
2. [17 CFR 15.03, Reporting levels](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-17/chapter-I/part-15/section-15.03) — Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, read 2026-10-23
3. [17 CFR 16.02, Daily trade and supporting data reports](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-17/chapter-I/part-16/section-16.02) — Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, read 2026-10-23
4. [17 CFR 17.00, Information to be furnished by futures commission merchants, clearing members and foreign brokers](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-17/chapter-I/part-17/section-17.00) — Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, read 2026-10-23
5. [KalshiEX LLC Rulebook, version 1.29 (Rules 2.16, 2.17, 3.3, 3.6, 3.8, 5.15, 5.19 and 9.1)](https://kalshi-public-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/regulatory/rulebook/Kalshi%20DCM%20Rulebook%20v.1.29.pdf) — KalshiEX LLC, read 2026-10-23

*Last updated 2026-10-23. A reference page, corrected in place — not a dated post.*