Kalshi Exposes Three Candidates for Trading on Themselves, Virginia Dem Did It on Purpose
Posted on: April 22, 2026, 05:24h.
Last updated on: April 22, 2026, 05:24h.
- Kalshi says two Democrats and one Republican traded on themselves on the platform
- The prediction market prohibits that
- A Democrat Senate candidate in Virginia says he traded on himself to prove a point
Extending internal efforts to clamp down on insider trading, Kalshi announced today enforcement actions against three candidates for public office — two Democrats and a Republican — relating to trades the politicians placed on themselves on the yes/no exchange.
Kalshi, the largest prediction market operator in the US, didn’t release the names of the candidates, but it’s believed they are Ezekiel Enriquez (R) who ran for a Hose seat in Texas, Minnesota State Sen. Matt Klein — a congressional candidate — and Mark Moran, a candidate for US Senate in Virginia. Moran, who’s challenging Sen. Mark Warner in a primary, admitted he traded on himself.
Kalshi, which is taking an increasingly hard stance against trading on nonpublic information, said fined Enriquez and Klein $784.20 and $539.85, respectively, with both candidates accepting suspensions of five years.
Kalshi/Moran Saga is Juicy
Listed on his campaign site as an independent, Moran has the most interesting saga of the three candidates as it relates to insider trading on Kalshi if for no other reason than he overtly admits he committed that misdeed to prove a point.
After discovering potential manipulation on polymarket in the NYC mayoral race (NY Post reported on this) I realized how rife with corruption kalshi is…I mean death markets…come on….,” wrote the candidate on X. “I wanted to see (1) if Kalshi would come after me and (2) what their path would be (also noting this is after Kalshi had reached out to me for marketing partnerships on multiple occasions)…”
An open critic of Virginia Democrats’ views on gun ownership and the recent gerrymandering effort, Moran says he intentionally traded on himself on Kalshi “highlight how this company is destroying young men and as Senator I will go after Kalshi and impose significant penalties on them – 25% – a vice tax – to pay down our national debt.”
Kalshi says the Senate candidate fessed up to trading on himself, but eventually broke-off communication with the company.
“Kalshi surveillance and enforcement teams conducted an investigation and determined both trades violated our rules,” according to the prediction market operator. “We confirmed the identity of the trader using internal information and open source intelligence. We contacted the trader, who initially acknowledged being a candidate and violating the rules, but later stopped all communication with our team and did not comply with requests to respond or settle the matter. We fined him $6,229.30 and gave him a 5-year suspension from our platform.
High Profiles Need to Be Careful
As it relates to insider trading, prediction markets are in delicate positions. There are no laws forbidding the practice as there are in traditional financial markets, but the optics of it are bad and can foster distrust among retail traders.
Kalshi has internal policies against insider trading and recently enhanced those protocols, including preemptive screening aimed at stopping insider trading among athletes and politicians before it starts.
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