A cost that looks tiny on one trade is paid on every trade. Learn where the costs hide, how the published fee schedules actually work, and how small charges compound, and you can see the real hurdle a trade has to clear before it is worth making.
Your true cost is the trading fee plus the spread you cross on entry and exit plus any deposit or withdrawal charge. Each is small alone. Together, paid on every trade, they are often the largest drag on returns.
On Kalshi the taker fee peaks near 1.75¢ per contract on a 50¢ market, per Kalshi's fee schedule for February 2026. PredictIt instead takes 10% of profit and 5% on withdrawals, per its terms as of June 2026.
Low fees do not make a trade good or safe. They reduce one cost, not the chance the outcome goes against you. Numbers change often, so verify the live fee schedule before you trade.
Fees are the difference between the return you imagine and the return you keep. On a prediction market the cost arrives in a few forms, a trading fee on your orders, the spread you cross going in and out, and sometimes a deposit or withdrawal charge. None is large on a single trade, but they are paid again and again, so they compound. On regulated US exchanges the trading fee is usually a few cents per contract that peaks on a 50¢ market, while PredictIt takes a cut of profit and of withdrawals instead. The exact numbers vary by platform and change over time, so always read the current fee schedule on the platform itself.
Many venues charge a fee when you trade. On regulated US exchanges it is usually a small amount per contract that depends on the price. Kalshi sets its taker fee as 0.07 multiplied by the price multiplied by one minus the price, rounded up to the next cent, per Kalshi's fee schedule for February 2026. Polymarket's US exchange uses the same shape with a smaller coefficient and a maker rebate, effective 3 April 2026 per its US fee documentation. Both peak on a 50¢ market and shrink toward the penny edges. The structures differ enough that two venues quoting the same price can leave you with different net returns, so the live fee schedule is the only reliable source.
The gap between the best bid and the best ask is the spread, and you cross it every time you trade at market. To buy now you pay the ask, to sell now you take the bid, so a round trip pays the spread twice. It is not labelled a fee, but it lowers your return exactly like one. In a thin contract the spread can be wider than any stated trading fee, which makes it the largest cost most newcomers never count. Our guide to understanding the spread walks through how to read it on a market page.
Some platforms charge to deposit or withdraw, or pass on the cost of a card payment or a network fee. PredictIt, for example, applies a 5% fee on withdrawals on top of a 10% cut of profit, per its published terms as of June 2026, and holds funds for a period after a first deposit. These costs sit outside the trade itself but still reduce what you keep, especially if you fund and cash out in small amounts. Spread across only a little activity, a flat charge can be a meaningful share of a small balance. Check how a venue handles deposits and withdrawals before you assume getting your money in and out is free.
The single most important fact about fees is that they compound with activity. A cost that is trivial on one trade is paid on the next, and the next, so the trader who trades constantly pays many times what the occasional trader pays. This is why the same fee schedule can be harmless for a patient participant and corrosive for a busy one. Before you judge a platform cheap, picture how often you would actually trade.
The shape of the per contract trading fee on Kalshi and on Polymarket's US exchange. Both price the fee as a coefficient multiplied by the price multiplied by one minus the price, so it peaks where the outcome is most uncertain, at a 50¢ market, and falls toward the penny edges. Illustrative shape based on each venue's published fee formula, as of June 2026. Not a quote of a specific fee.
| Venue | Trading fee | Maker treatment | Deposit or withdrawal | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalshi | Taker fee of 0.07 multiplied by price multiplied by one minus price, rounded up to the next cent. Peaks near 1.75¢ per contract at 50¢. | Maker fee about 25% of the taker fee on markets that charge one. | No stated deposit fee for standard methods. Some special markets carry different fees. | Kalshi fee schedule for February 2026; Help Center updated 19 April 2026. |
| Polymarket (US) | Uniform taker fee of 0.05 multiplied by price multiplied by one minus price. Caps near $1.25 per 100 contracts at 50¢. | Maker rebate funded from collected taker fees, redistributed to liquidity providers. | Crypto network and on or off ramp costs can apply outside the trade. | Polymarket US fee documentation, effective 3 April 2026. |
| PredictIt | No per contract trading fee. Instead takes 10% of net profit on a position. | No separate maker or taker tier. | 5% fee on withdrawals, plus a holding period after a first deposit. | PredictIt terms and support pages, as of June 2026. |
Methodology: figures read directly from each platform's published fee schedule, terms, or help pages on the dates shown, and reflect standard markets only. Fee terms change and special events can carry different fees, so treat this as a snapshot and confirm the live schedule before trading. We do not list every platform here; the full cross platform picture lives in our cross platform fees dataset.
Suppose you buy a yes contract at 50¢, expecting it to settle at one dollar if you are right. Before any cost, the outcome needs better than a 50% chance for the trade to be worth it. Now add a trading fee and a spread you cross on entry and exit. The chance the outcome needs just to break even climbs above 50%. The fee did not change the event, it changed the bar your view has to clear, and that bar is easy to forget.
A general example to show the direction of the effect, not a quote, a fee figure, or a prediction.
Total cost when a fixed position of 100 contracts is opened and closed repeatedly, holding the cost of one round trip at about $3.50, which is roughly a peak Kalshi taker fee on entry and exit plus a one cent crossed spread on 100 contracts. Illustrative arithmetic to show how a small per trade cost scales with frequency, as of June 2026. Not a prediction of returns.
| Round trips per month | Cost per round trip | Monthly cost | As a share of a $500 bankroll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 (patient) | about $3.50 | about $7 | about 1.4% |
| 10 (active) | about $3.50 | about $35 | about 7% |
| 30 (frequent) | about $3.50 | about $105 | about 21% |
| 60 (very frequent) | about $3.50 | about $210 | about 42% |
Methodology: each round trip is opening and closing a 100 contract position, with the per round trip cost held at about $3.50, built from a peak Kalshi taker fee of roughly 1.75¢ per contract on entry and exit, per Kalshi's fee schedule for February 2026, plus a one cent crossed spread on 100 contracts. The bankroll is a flat $500 and the share assumes the same money is recycled into each trade. This is illustrative arithmetic to show the direction and scale of the effect, as of June 2026. It is not a forecast, and your real costs depend on the venue, the price, and the spread you actually cross.
It is easy to focus entirely on the price of a contract and forget that the price is not what you pay. What you pay is the price plus the spread you cross plus any trading fee, and what you ultimately keep is that result minus the cost of getting your money out. Each piece is small in isolation, which is exactly why they slip past attention. Added together and repeated across many trades, they are often the largest single factor separating a plan that looked profitable on paper from a balance that drifts lower in practice.
The clearest way to take fees seriously is to treat the full cost as a hurdle. Before you place a trade, add up everything you will pay to enter and exit, and ask whether your view of the outcome is strong enough to clear that bar with room to spare. If the honest answer is that your edge is thin and the costs are not, the trade is not worth making even if your read on the event is correct. Many trades that feel like small positive bets are negative once the true cost is counted, and seeing that clearly is one of the most useful habits a careful participant can build. Our explainer on expected value shows how to fold the cost into the maths.
Fees also interact with how you trade. A market order pays the spread and often a higher fee for taking liquidity, while a patient limit order can lower both costs at the price of uncertainty about filling. On Kalshi and on Polymarket's US exchange a resting maker order is charged less, or earns a rebate, precisely because it adds liquidity rather than removing it, per their published schedules as of June 2026. Trading frequently multiplies every cost, so a strategy that depends on many small trades has to overcome a much larger total drag than one that trades rarely with conviction. None of this argues for any particular style. It simply means the cost structure should shape how often and how aggressively you trade, rather than being discovered only after it has eaten the returns.
The price level matters too. Because the per contract fee on these exchanges peaks on a 50¢ market and shrinks toward the edges, a busy trader who concentrates on coin flip markets pays the most expensive version of the fee, while someone trading contracts priced near a penny or near 99¢ pays a fraction of it. PredictIt works the other way, taking a flat share of profit rather than a price based fee, which can make a winning position there meaningfully smaller than the screen suggested once the 10% profit cut and the 5% withdrawal fee both land, per its terms as of June 2026. Knowing which model a venue uses tells you where the cost will bite.
Because the exact figures differ by platform and change over time, the responsible step is always to read the current fee schedule on the platform itself rather than rely on a number you remember or saw quoted elsewhere. The figures on this page are dated and sourced for that reason, and an out of date number is worse than none. If a venue does not make its fees clear and easy to find, treat that opacity as a cost in itself and a reason for caution. You can also compare structures side by side in our cross platform fees dataset.
Understanding fees does not make trading profitable. Low costs do not make an outcome more likely or a contract a good buy, and a cheap platform is still a place where you can lose money. We never name a contract to buy or predict a result. The point of counting costs is narrower and more honest, which is to see the true price of participating so that you are not quietly handing away an edge you thought you had.
We read the published fee schedules, help pages, and terms for Kalshi, Polymarket, and PredictIt directly from each platform on 26 June 2026, and we describe their structure rather than reproduce every figure, because the numbers move. We have not represented any of these figures as the result of an account by account funding test. Where a platform charges in a way that is not a simple per trade fee, such as PredictIt's profit and withdrawal model, we say so plainly so the cost is not a surprise at cash out.
You do not need a spreadsheet to take fees seriously, only a habit. First, find the trading fee on the live schedule for the exact price you intend to trade, because on these exchanges the fee changes with the price and is highest in the middle. Second, look at the order book and note the gap between the best bid and the best ask, then assume you will give up that spread once on the way in and once on the way out. Third, add any deposit or withdrawal charge and divide it across the trades you realistically expect to make, so a flat cost is spread over real activity rather than blamed on a single trade.
Add those three together and you have the hurdle, the amount the market has to move in your favour before you keep a single cent. If your view of the outcome does not clear that hurdle with room to spare, the honest conclusion is to pass, even when the underlying read feels right. Doing this for a week changes how the screen looks, because you stop seeing a price and start seeing a price plus everything it costs to act on it. That shift, more than any single number, is what keeps small costs from quietly deciding your results.
Low fees do not make a trade safe. They reduce one cost, not the chance the outcome goes against you, and any position can lose. Prediction markets can lose you money. Stake only what you can afford to lose, never to chase a loss, and never on borrowed money. If it stops feeling like a free choice, step back. In the United States you can call or text the helpline on 1-800-GAMBLER or visit ncpgambling.org.
The common types are a trading fee on each order, the spread you cross when you enter or exit, and sometimes deposit or withdrawal charges. On regulated US exchanges the trading fee is often a small amount per contract that peaks near a 50¢ price. PredictIt instead takes 10% of profit and 5% on withdrawals, per its published terms as of June 2026. Always read the current fee schedule on the platform itself, because the details change.
Not a fee in the formal sense, but it behaves like one. To buy you pay the ask and to sell you take the bid, so you give up the spread on entry and again on exit. In a thin market the spread can be wider than any stated trading fee, which makes it a real and often overlooked cost.
Per Kalshi's published fee schedule for February 2026, the taker fee is 0.07 multiplied by the price multiplied by one minus the price, rounded up to the next cent per contract. That peaks at about 1.75¢ per contract on a 50¢ market and falls toward the penny edges. Maker orders are charged about a quarter of that. Some special markets carry different fees, so check the live schedule.
Yes. Every cost raises the probability an outcome needs before a trade is worth making. If you pay to enter, to exit, and cross the spread on both, the market has to move further in your favour just for you to break even. Ignoring that gap is a common way people overestimate their edge.
Read the platform fee schedule, add the spread you would cross on entry and exit, and include any deposit or withdrawal charge spread across your activity. Treat the total as the hurdle your view has to clear. If you cannot find a clear fee schedule, treat that as a reason for caution.
No. Understanding fees only helps you see the true cost and avoid overpaying. It does not make any outcome more likely or any contract a good buy. We never name a contract to buy or predict a result, and the money at stake is genuinely at risk regardless of how low the fees are.
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