Kalshi fees
Kalshi fees, explained
Kalshi does not charge a flat commission. It charges per contract, scaled to the odds, which means the same $100 costs you very different amounts depending on the price you trade at. This guide explains the shape of the fee, why coin-flip markets are the expensive ones, how maker and taker orders differ, and what funding actually costs. Figures below are as of 2026; Kalshi publishes the authoritative schedule and changes it over time, so check it before you size a position. If you want to test your read on the market without any of this arithmetic, BitPredict is free.
The short version
- Fees scale with the odds, not with your order size alone. The closer a contract trades to 50 cents, the more each contract costs you in fees.
- Contracts at the extremes are nearly free. A contract trading at 2 cents or 98 cents carries a tiny fee, because the fee is calculated from expected profit.
- Takers pay more than makers. Crossing the spread costs the full rate; resting a limit order that later fills costs a reduced one.
- Cancelling a resting order costs nothing. Maker fees only apply when the order actually trades.
- Settlement is free. When a contract resolves to $0 or $1, Kalshi does not take a cut of the payout.
- ACH transfers are free both ways. Debit-card funding carries a processing fee.
- Some special-event markets are priced differently from the standard schedule, so read the market before assuming the usual rate.
How the trading fee is calculated
Kalshi's own help centre describes the logic plainly: the fee is a cut of the expected earnings on the contract, not a percentage of the amount you put down. That single design choice explains everything else about the pricing.
The published schedule prices a taker order at 7% of price × (1 − price), per contract, rounded up to the nearest cent. Because price × (1 − price) is largest at 0.50 and collapses toward zero at either end, the fee curve is a dome centred on a coin flip. Kalshi posts the complete schedule and the arithmetic behind it as a PDF linked from the foot of its own site; treat that as the authority and this page as the explanation.
| Contract price | price × (1 − price) | Roughly what a taker pays per contract | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 cents | 0.2500 | About 1.8 cents | Maximum uncertainty, so maximum fee |
| 25 or 75 cents | 0.1875 | About 1.4 cents | Still uncertain, slightly cheaper |
| 10 or 90 cents | 0.0900 | About 0.7 cents | Lopsided odds cost noticeably less |
| 2 or 98 cents | 0.0196 | Effectively nothing | Near-certain outcomes are close to free |
The practical consequence: rapid in-and-out trading of coin-flip markets is where Kalshi's fees bite hardest, because you pay the peak of the curve on every entry and every exit. Traders who work the extremes, or who rest limit orders rather than crossing the spread, pay dramatically less.
Maker vs taker: the cheapest way to trade Kalshi
If your order matches an existing order immediately, you are a taker and you pay the full rate. If your order rests on the book and someone else trades against it later, you are a maker and you pay a reduced rate. Kalshi confirms that maker fees apply only when the resting order actually executes, and that cancelling an unfilled order is free.
This is worth real money over a lot of trades, and it is the single biggest lever you control on Kalshi. It is also the clearest structural difference from Polymarket's fees, where makers are charged nothing at all and can earn rebates on top.
Deposits, withdrawals and settlement
- ACH bank transfers: free to deposit and free to withdraw, per Kalshi's help centre.
- Debit card: carries a processing fee, so it costs more than ACH for the same money.
- Settlement: free. Kalshi does not charge when a contract resolves.
- Account upkeep: no maintenance or inactivity fees are charged for simply holding an account.
Because funding methods and their fees change, and because promotional pricing appears around big events, confirm the current numbers on Kalshi's own schedule rather than trusting any third-party page, including this one.
Where Kalshi's pricing genuinely wins
An honest fee page names the good parts too, and Kalshi's pricing has real strengths:
- No settlement fee. Plenty of venues take a cut of winnings; Kalshi does not.
- Free ACH both directions. Getting dollars in and out costs nothing, with no crypto rails to cross.
- Fees fall away at the extremes. If you trade high-conviction, lopsided markets, your costs are close to zero.
- Cancelling is free, so posting and adjusting liquidity carries no penalty.
- US tax paperwork is handled by a regulated exchange rather than left to you to reconstruct.
Kalshi is the right venue if you want regulated, dollar-denominated event trading with straightforward banking. It is genuinely better than BitPredict at that, because BitPredict does not do it at all.
The zero-fee comparison: what free actually looks like
Fee arithmetic only matters when money is at stake. If what you actually want is to find out whether your read on the market is any good, there is a version of that with no fee schedule to study at all.
 Kalshi |  BitPredict | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per trade | Per contract, peaks near 50/50 | None: nothing is staked |
| Funding required | Yes, to trade anything | No account funding, ever |
| What you can win | Cash, minus fees | Accuracy, rank and sponsored USDT prizes |
| What you can lose | Your stake | Nothing but your hit rate |
| What it is for | Trading event outcomes for money | Proving you can call crypto direction |
These are different products, not competitors on the same axis. If you want to trade regulated event contracts, Kalshi is the category leader and this page should help you cost it accurately. If the fees are the part you wanted rid of, BitPredict is free and always has been. See also our Kalshi alternatives roundup and the Kalshi vs Polymarket head-to-head.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Kalshi charge per trade?
There is no flat rate. Kalshi charges per contract, scaled to the odds: roughly 7% of price × (1 − price), rounded up to the nearest cent. At 50 cents that is about 1.8 cents per contract; at 10 or 90 cents it is under a cent; near the extremes it is effectively nothing. Kalshi publishes the authoritative schedule on its own site.
Why are Kalshi's fees highest at 50 cents?
Because the fee is calculated from the expected earnings on the contract, not from your stake. Expected earnings peak when an outcome is maximally uncertain, which is exactly at a coin flip, and fall away as the market approaches certainty. So a 50/50 market is the expensive one and a 2-cent longshot is nearly free.
Does Kalshi charge a fee when my contract settles?
No. Settlement is free. When a contract resolves at $0 or $1 you receive the payout without Kalshi taking a cut of it. The cost is charged when you trade, not when you win.
What is the difference between Kalshi maker and taker fees?
A taker order matches immediately against an existing order and pays the full rate. A maker order rests on the order book and pays a reduced rate, and only if it actually fills. Cancelling an unfilled resting order costs nothing, so posting liquidity is the cheaper way to trade.
Are there Kalshi deposit or withdrawal fees?
ACH bank transfers are free in both directions. Debit-card funding carries a processing fee. There are no account maintenance or inactivity fees. Funding options change, so confirm the current list on Kalshi's own site before moving money.
Is there a way to predict markets without paying fees at all?
Yes, if you are willing to give up cash payouts. BitPredict is a free crypto prediction game: you call a coin up or down over 24 hours, nothing is deposited or staked, and you are scored on accuracy rather than profit. There is no fee schedule because there is no money in the system.
