Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange, a designated contract market where traders buy and sell event contracts in US dollars. Contracts pay $1 if the outcome occurs and $0 if it does not.
The board covers sports, economics (Fed decisions, CPI, jobs prints), politics, weather, culture, and earnings-call mention markets. Sports dominates: roughly 87% of the $39.7 billion traded on Kalshi in the year to February 2026.
How Kalshi fees work
Kalshi prices fees off how uncertain the contract is, not off notional. The same formula applies to every market:
Takers, orders that cross the spread and fill immediately, pay the full 7% rate. Makers, resting orders that add liquidity, pay roughly 1.75% when filled, and nothing to cancel. Fees peak at a 50¢ price and shrink toward the extremes, so a longshot or near-certain contract costs far less to trade than a coin flip.
| Contract price | Taker fee | Maker fee |
|---|---|---|
| 10¢ | 0.63¢ | 0.16¢ |
| 30¢ | 1.47¢ | 0.37¢ |
| 50¢ | 1.75¢ | 0.44¢ |
| 70¢ | 1.47¢ | 0.37¢ |
| 90¢ | 0.63¢ | 0.16¢ |
What Kalshi offers
- US dollar accounts. Fund by ACH or wire with no deposit fee; no settlement or membership fees.
- Regulated venue. A CFTC-designated contract market, open to US persons.
- Deep books. The largest US prediction market by volume, with the deepest sports and economics books in our July 2026 case study.
- Full API. REST and WebSocket access for programmatic trading and market data.
- Broad coverage. Sports, economics, politics, weather, culture, and mention markets.
Fees are only part of the cost
In our live 50,000-contract case study, Kalshi had the best displayed ask and the deepest book, walking only 0.11¢ of slippage on the full order. But taking that liquidity cost $598 in venue fees, while a routed maker execution paid $155. The spread between the taker and maker schedule is exactly why working orders passively matters on Kalshi.