How to use Railbird

Railbird is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a designated contract market, which is the federal framework for listing event contracts. That federal registration is the basis on which it can offer event contracts. This is general information, not legal advice, current as of February 2026.

Railbird lists event contracts, and in 2026 it moved to list sports event contracts on a custom basis, meaning templates that can build markets tied to teams, players, competitions, time periods, and outcomes. Each contract is binary and resolves to one dollar if the stated outcome happens and zero if it does not.

You open and verify an account, then fund it through the methods the platform supports in your region, which for a United States exchange typically include a linked bank account or card in United States dollars. Confirm the current funding methods, minimums, and any fees on the platform, since these change and we do not invent figures.

The legal status of sports event contracts is genuinely contested. Federal courts have split on whether they fall under exclusive federal oversight or state gambling law, and several states have challenged them. Confirm your own eligibility and the current position for your state before trading. This is general information, not legal advice, current as of February 2026.

On an exchange you can usually sell a contract back into the market at the current price before it resolves, subject to there being enough liquidity, or hold it to settlement. A correct contract pays one dollar at resolution and an incorrect one pays nothing.