Bergen County Business Owner Hedges Against Fuel Affordability Crisis with Kalshi
Juliano & Son Contracting is using Kalshi’s fuel-price markets to help manage one of the company’s largest and most unpredictable operating expenses
FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. — With trucks on the road throughout the day, fuel is one of Juliano & Son Contracting’s largest variable expenses. Owner Nick Juliano is now trading fuel-price markets on Kalshi to help offset some of those costs when prices rise.
The family-owned company provides dump-truck hauling, asphalt and concrete removal, and deliveries of stone, topsoil, mulch and other materials across northern New Jersey and southern New York. With its trucks running throughout the day, diesel is one of the company’s largest variable expenses.
Juliano initially joined Kalshi casually, trading on sports, elections and other events. He began looking at the exchange differently when he discovered its fuel-price markets.
“I had been on Kalshi for a while, honestly just for fun. It never crossed my mind that it had anything to do with my business,” Juliano said. “Then I came across the fuel-price markets and it clicked. We have trucks running all day, every day, and fuel is one of the biggest expenses I deal with. When you are filling up that often, you feel every cent.”
Juliano began trading approximately $200 per week in Kalshi’s national weekly gasoline-price market. Because the national average did not always reflect prices in New Jersey, he contacted Kalshi about offering a market tied more closely to his local exposure. In response, Kalshi launched daily and weekly New Jersey gasoline-price markets. The exchange also offers national diesel-price markets.
Kalshi’s fuel-price markets allow traders to take positions on whether an average price will finish above a specified level. For Juliano, a position that pays when prices rise can provide an offset at the same time his company’s fuel expenses are increasing.
“The first few trades were almost instinct because I had a read on where prices were going from running the business,” Juliano said. “Then I realized that if prices rise and the position pays out, that is money coming back at the same time fuel is costing me more. That is when I started thinking about it as a business tool instead of a hobby.”
Juliano’s approach reflects a growing use of prediction markets by small businesses seeking to plan around outside events that can affect their bottom lines.
“Small-business owners make plans and set budgets, but some of their largest costs are driven by events they cannot control,” said Nicolas Hull, Director of Business Development at Kalshi. “Prediction markets allow a business to identify a specific risk and take a position designed to offset it. That can help turn an unexpected change in costs into an exposure the business has prepared for in advance.”
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