How does Kalshi make money? Kalshi’s business model explained (and how Polymarket compares)
Kalshi earns mainly from trading fees, not from users losing. How its fee formula works, why it wants both sides of every trade, where partners like Robinhood fit, and how Polymarket makes money.
Kalshi makes money mainly from trading fees. Every time a contract changes hands, Kalshi charges a small fee, and it earns that fee whether the contract finishes at $1 or $0. Unlike a sportsbook, Kalshi does not bet against you: the other side of your trade is another trader, so Kalshi has no stake in who wins.
Fee structures as published in October 2026. Check Kalshi's fee schedule before trading; rates change by market.
Kalshi's business model at a glance
| Revenue source | How it works |
|---|---|
| Taker fees | 7% × price × (1 − price) per contract, rounded up to the cent, when your order fills against a resting one |
| Maker fees | A quarter of the taker rate, on markets where maker fees apply |
| Volume from partners | Brokers such as Robinhood route customer orders to Kalshi; Kalshi earns its exchange fee on each |
| Data and media | News organisations license and display Kalshi odds |
The fee formula, with examples
Kalshi's taker fee is 7% × contracts × P × (1 − P), where P is the price in dollars. Because P × (1 − P) is largest at 50¢, fees peak on coin-flip markets:
| You buy 100 contracts at | Fee |
|---|---|
| 10¢ | $0.63 |
| 30¢ | $1.47 |
| 50¢ | $1.75 |
| 90¢ | $0.63 |
So a $50 trade at 50¢ costs $1.75 in fees, about 3.5% of the money you put in, while a $90 trade at 90¢ costs 63¢. How this compares with Polymarket, contract by contract: Polymarket fees vs Kalshi fees.
Why Kalshi does not profit when you lose
A sportsbook sets odds, takes your bet and keeps your stake if you lose; its margin is built into the odds. Kalshi is an exchange. When you buy "Yes" at 40¢, someone else is selling it to you (or buying "No" at 60¢). When the market settles, the $1 goes from the losing trader to the winning trader, and Kalshi has already collected its fee from both of them.
That changes Kalshi's incentives. It wants more trading, not more losers: more markets, tighter prices and more people on both sides. That is why it pays market makers incentives to quote prices all day, lists thousands of markets, and pushes into high-volume categories such as sports and multi-leg combos. Is that a conflict of interest? It is the same one every exchange has. The details of how trades match are in how does Kalshi work.
Partners: Robinhood and others
A big share of Kalshi's volume comes from apps that send it orders. Robinhood customers trade Kalshi contracts inside the Robinhood app; Robinhood charges its own small commission and Kalshi earns its exchange fee. Robinhood has since opened its own exchange too, so Kalshi now competes for that flow: Robinhood prediction markets.
Kalshi also has media partnerships in which news outlets show its odds, a source of data revenue and free distribution.
What about the interest Kalshi pays?
Kalshi pays interest on eligible cash and positions. That is a cost for Kalshi and an incentive for you, not a revenue line. Customer money is held separately from the company's own under CFTC rules.
How Polymarket makes money
Polymarket's model is similar but younger. For years it charged almost nothing and lived on venture funding. Today:
- Global site: taker fees of a category rate × price × (1 − price), with the highest rate on crypto markets and no fee on geopolitics and world events. Makers pay nothing and receive rebates.
- Polymarket US: its own fee schedule on the regulated exchange.
- Data: ICE, Polymarket's largest investor, distributes Polymarket's market data to financial institutions.
More in how does Polymarket work, and how does it make money.
| Kalshi | Polymarket | |
|---|---|---|
| Main revenue | Exchange fees | Exchange fees (newer) |
| Fee shape | 7% × P × (1 − P) | Category rate × P × (1 − P) |
| Free markets | None by default | Geopolitics and world events (global site) |
| Bets against users? | No | No |
How does Kalshi make money: frequently asked questions
Does Kalshi make money when I lose?
No. Your loss is another trader's gain. Kalshi earns the same fee either way.
How much does Kalshi charge per trade?
Takers pay 7% × price × (1 − price) per contract, up to 1.75¢ per contract at 50¢. Makers pay less, and cancelling an order is free.
Is Kalshi profitable?
Kalshi is private and does not publish full financials. Its valuation, $22 billion at its last confirmed round, reflects fast fee growth from sports and election trading. See Kalshi stock and Polymarket stock.
Why are some markets on Polymarket free?
Polymarket chose not to charge fees on geopolitics and world-events markets on its global site; other categories pay taker fees.
