Kalshi is a federally regulated US exchange where you trade contracts on the outcome of real-world events — elections, Fed decisions, sports, weather — instead of stocks or crypto. Each contract asks a yes/no question, trades between 1¢ and 99¢, and settles at exactly $1 if the event happens or $0 if it doesn't. This guide explains how the mechanics, costs, and payouts actually work, with numbers verified against Kalshi's official fee schedule.
Kalshi is an event-contract exchange founded in 2018 by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara and headquartered in New York. Its defining feature is regulatory status: Kalshi is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) — the same category of federal designation held by traditional futures exchanges. In practice that means the order books, settlement rules and customer-fund handling operate under federal exchange regulation, not under state gambling licenses.
The name comes from the Arabic word for "everything" — a nod to the ambition of listing markets on, eventually, everything measurable.
What you trade on Kalshi are event contracts: binary instruments tied to a precisely worded question with a defined settlement source and deadline. "Will the Fed cut rates at the September meeting?" is a market; the fine print specifies exactly which announcement settles it and when.
Every market has two sides — Yes and No — and prices are quoted in cents from 1¢ to 99¢. The price is the market's implied probability: a Yes contract trading at 62¢ means the market collectively prices a 62% chance the event happens.
Settlement is binary and total:
Because Yes and No always sum to $1, buying No at 38¢ is mathematically identical to selling Yes at 62¢ — the two sides of the same book.
The flow, condensed:
Kalshi's fees follow one published formula — and it's worth understanding, because the cost varies with price:
taker fee = round up( M × 0.07 × contracts × price × (1 − price) )
M is the series' fee multiplier, 1 by default. Maker fees use the same shape with 0.0175 — 25% of the taker rate — but the maker multiplier defaults to 0: on a standard series a resting order costs nothing, and only the series Kalshi's schedule lists with a maker multiplier (economic releases, major sports championships and a few others) charge it.
Two practical consequences. First, fees peak at 50¢ (1.75¢ per contract for takers) and shrink toward the extremes — a trade at 90¢ costs the same as one at 10¢. Second, patient limit orders are free on most series and 25% of the taker cost on the rest, one of the most underused facts on the platform.
There is no settlement fee, no membership fee, and no charge on ACH deposits or withdrawals. Ten series carry a zero fee multiplier on both sides in the July 7, 2026 schedule and cost nothing to trade.
For the full breakdown with worked examples — including how the round-up rule quietly inflates small orders — see our Kalshi fees explained guide, or estimate a specific trade with the fee calculator.
Under US federal law, Kalshi is regulated as an exchange, not as a gambling operator, and the difference is structural rather than cosmetic. Kalshi operates as a CFTC-designated exchange: it matches buyers and sellers and earns transaction fees, but never takes the other side of your trade. There is no house edge because there is no house position. Traditional sportsbooks set odds and profit when you lose; on Kalshi your counterparty is another trader, and prices are set by the order book.
That said, the classification is contested in some places. Several gambling regulators outside the US — and a handful of US states, in ongoing disputes — have challenged event contracts as gambling under their local definitions, and courts are still drawing the line for sports-related markets. Functionally, the risk profile is real either way: you can lose your entire stake on any contract. Regulated doesn't mean safe from losses. For the litigation in detail — which circuits have ruled and what is still open — see our Kalshi review.
Kalshi opened to international members in October 2025 and now accepts sign-ups from roughly 140 countries. The Member Agreement excludes 55 countries — including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Singapore, and China — and during 2026 regulators in Brazil, Spain, and Italy ordered blocks of Kalshi regardless of its own policy. Kalshi's perpetual futures products remain US-only under their May 2026 CFTC approval.
Within the US, availability questions are mostly settled by the federal DCM status, though a few states are engaged in active legal disputes over sports-event contracts. Availability facts change quickly; we re-verify this section quarterly.
The short version: Polymarket runs on crypto rails (pUSD, a USDC-backed dollar token on Polygon) with category-based taker fees from zero to 0.07 and free maker orders, while Kalshi runs on regulated US exchange rails with a 0.07 taker rate (times a per-series multiplier, 1 by default) and maker fees only on a listed set of series. On crypto markets the taker cost is identical; on politics Polymarket is around 43% cheaper; for makers the two are close on standard Kalshi series and a category apart on maker-fee series. Liquidity and market selection differ by topic.
We track the same events on both platforms side by side — current prices, depth and estimated fill cost, from timestamped snapshots — on the compare page.
Yes. Takers pay 0.07 × contracts × price × (1 − price), rounded up — at most 1.75¢ per contract, at the 50¢ price point. Makers pay nothing on standard series and 25% of the taker rate on the series Kalshi flags for maker fees. There are no settlement or membership fees. Rates as of 2026-09-12.
When the outcome of the underlying event is known, Kalshi settles the market automatically: each contract on the winning side pays $1.00 and each losing contract pays $0, credited to your balance. There is no settlement fee. You can also exit before settlement by selling the position on the order book. As of 2026-09-12.
Almost entirely from trading fees. Kalshi never bets against its members; it earns the transaction fee whether you win or lose.
When a market settles, winning contracts are credited at $1.00 each automatically. Withdrawals via ACH carry no Kalshi fee and typically take a few business days.
18. Kalshi verifies identity at sign-up, as required of a regulated exchange.
In the US, Kalshi operates under federal CFTC designation as a Designated Contract Market. Internationally, availability depends on your jurisdiction — 55 countries are excluded by Kalshi's own Member Agreement, and some countries block access under local gambling law. This page describes regulatory status and is not legal advice.
You can profit when your probability estimate is better than the market's, net of fees — and lose your full stake when it isn't. Fees are lowest for resting limit orders and extreme-priced contracts, which is where cost-aware traders concentrate.
Kalshi Help Center — how Kalshi is regulated (CFTC / DCM); Kalshi Fee Schedule (PDF, effective 2026-07-07: taker 0.07, maker 0.0175 with default multiplier 0, whole-cent round-up, fee-free series); Kalshi Help Center — deposits and withdrawals (ACH free, debit up to 2%); Kalshi Member Agreement and public reporting on the October 2025 international opening, the 55 excluded countries, 2026 access blocks in Brazil, Spain and Italy, and the May 2026 CFTC approval of perpetual futures. Checked 2026-09-13.
PolyKal is an independent research tool. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by Kalshi or Polymarket. Fee figures verified against Kalshi's official fee schedule (PDF, effective July 7, 2026) on September 13, 2026.
Kalshi is a federally regulated US exchange where you trade contracts on the outcome of real-world events — elections, Fed decisions, sports, weather — instead of stocks or crypto. Each contract asks a yes/no question, trades between 1¢ and 99¢, and settles at exactly $1 if the event happens or $0 if it doesn't. This guide explains how the mechanics, costs, and payouts actually work, with numbers verified against Kalshi's official fee schedule.
Kalshi is an event-contract exchange founded in 2018 by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara and headquartered in New York. Its defining feature is regulatory status: Kalshi is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) — the same category of federal designation held by traditional futures exchanges. In practice that means the order books, settlement rules and customer-fund handling operate under federal exchange regulation, not under state gambling licenses.
The name comes from the Arabic word for "everything" — a nod to the ambition of listing markets on, eventually, everything measurable.
What you trade on Kalshi are event contracts: binary instruments tied to a precisely worded question with a defined settlement source and deadline. "Will the Fed cut rates at the September meeting?" is a market; the fine print specifies exactly which announcement settles it and when.
Every market has two sides — Yes and No — and prices are quoted in cents from 1¢ to 99¢. The price is the market's implied probability: a Yes contract trading at 62¢ means the market collectively prices a 62% chance the event happens.
Settlement is binary and total:
Because Yes and No always sum to $1, buying No at 38¢ is mathematically identical to selling Yes at 62¢ — the two sides of the same book.
The flow, condensed:
Kalshi's fees follow one published formula — and it's worth understanding, because the cost varies with price:
taker fee = round up( M × 0.07 × contracts × price × (1 − price) )
M is the series' fee multiplier, 1 by default. Maker fees use the same shape with 0.0175 — 25% of the taker rate — but the maker multiplier defaults to 0: on a standard series a resting order costs nothing, and only the series Kalshi's schedule lists with a maker multiplier (economic releases, major sports championships and a few others) charge it.
Two practical consequences. First, fees peak at 50¢ (1.75¢ per contract for takers) and shrink toward the extremes — a trade at 90¢ costs the same as one at 10¢. Second, patient limit orders are free on most series and 25% of the taker cost on the rest, one of the most underused facts on the platform.
There is no settlement fee, no membership fee, and no charge on ACH deposits or withdrawals. Ten series carry a zero fee multiplier on both sides in the July 7, 2026 schedule and cost nothing to trade.
For the full breakdown with worked examples — including how the round-up rule quietly inflates small orders — see our Kalshi fees explained guide, or estimate a specific trade with the fee calculator.
Under US federal law, Kalshi is regulated as an exchange, not as a gambling operator, and the difference is structural rather than cosmetic. Kalshi operates as a CFTC-designated exchange: it matches buyers and sellers and earns transaction fees, but never takes the other side of your trade. There is no house edge because there is no house position. Traditional sportsbooks set odds and profit when you lose; on Kalshi your counterparty is another trader, and prices are set by the order book.
That said, the classification is contested in some places. Several gambling regulators outside the US — and a handful of US states, in ongoing disputes — have challenged event contracts as gambling under their local definitions, and courts are still drawing the line for sports-related markets. Functionally, the risk profile is real either way: you can lose your entire stake on any contract. Regulated doesn't mean safe from losses. For the litigation in detail — which circuits have ruled and what is still open — see our Kalshi review.
Kalshi opened to international members in October 2025 and now accepts sign-ups from roughly 140 countries. The Member Agreement excludes 55 countries — including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Singapore, and China — and during 2026 regulators in Brazil, Spain, and Italy ordered blocks of Kalshi regardless of its own policy. Kalshi's perpetual futures products remain US-only under their May 2026 CFTC approval.
Within the US, availability questions are mostly settled by the federal DCM status, though a few states are engaged in active legal disputes over sports-event contracts. Availability facts change quickly; we re-verify this section quarterly.
The short version: Polymarket runs on crypto rails (pUSD, a USDC-backed dollar token on Polygon) with category-based taker fees from zero to 0.07 and free maker orders, while Kalshi runs on regulated US exchange rails with a 0.07 taker rate (times a per-series multiplier, 1 by default) and maker fees only on a listed set of series. On crypto markets the taker cost is identical; on politics Polymarket is around 43% cheaper; for makers the two are close on standard Kalshi series and a category apart on maker-fee series. Liquidity and market selection differ by topic.
We track the same events on both platforms side by side — current prices, depth and estimated fill cost, from timestamped snapshots — on the compare page.
Yes. Takers pay 0.07 × contracts × price × (1 − price), rounded up — at most 1.75¢ per contract, at the 50¢ price point. Makers pay nothing on standard series and 25% of the taker rate on the series Kalshi flags for maker fees. There are no settlement or membership fees. Rates as of 2026-09-12.
When the outcome of the underlying event is known, Kalshi settles the market automatically: each contract on the winning side pays $1.00 and each losing contract pays $0, credited to your balance. There is no settlement fee. You can also exit before settlement by selling the position on the order book. As of 2026-09-12.
Almost entirely from trading fees. Kalshi never bets against its members; it earns the transaction fee whether you win or lose.
When a market settles, winning contracts are credited at $1.00 each automatically. Withdrawals via ACH carry no Kalshi fee and typically take a few business days.
18. Kalshi verifies identity at sign-up, as required of a regulated exchange.
In the US, Kalshi operates under federal CFTC designation as a Designated Contract Market. Internationally, availability depends on your jurisdiction — 55 countries are excluded by Kalshi's own Member Agreement, and some countries block access under local gambling law. This page describes regulatory status and is not legal advice.
You can profit when your probability estimate is better than the market's, net of fees — and lose your full stake when it isn't. Fees are lowest for resting limit orders and extreme-priced contracts, which is where cost-aware traders concentrate.
Kalshi Help Center — how Kalshi is regulated (CFTC / DCM); Kalshi Fee Schedule (PDF, effective 2026-07-07: taker 0.07, maker 0.0175 with default multiplier 0, whole-cent round-up, fee-free series); Kalshi Help Center — deposits and withdrawals (ACH free, debit up to 2%); Kalshi Member Agreement and public reporting on the October 2025 international opening, the 55 excluded countries, 2026 access blocks in Brazil, Spain and Italy, and the May 2026 CFTC approval of perpetual futures. Checked 2026-09-13.
PolyKal is an independent research tool. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by Kalshi or Polymarket. Fee figures verified against Kalshi's official fee schedule (PDF, effective July 7, 2026) on September 13, 2026.