Event-contract guide
Kalshi Fees, Explained With Actual Numbers
Kalshi doesn't charge a flat commission — its trading fee scales with how uncertain the contract is. That changes which trades are worth taking, and ignoring it turns thin winners into losers. Here's the formula and what it does to your breakeven.
1. The formula
The standard taker fee is 0.07 × C × P × (1 − P), rounded up to the next cent — where C is contract count and P is the price in dollars. It's charged when your order executes against the book. (Some market series have promotional or different schedules; the fee shown at order entry is authoritative.)
2. Coin-flips are taxed hardest
P × (1 − P) peaks at P = 0.50: a 50-cent contract costs 1.75c in fees, a 90-cent contract only 0.63c. In percentage-of-price terms cheap longshots are hit hardest of all. The fee curve quietly punishes exactly the high-uncertainty trades that look most exciting.
3. Your real cost is price + fee
A 58c YES has a raw fee of 1.7c, which rounds up to 2c, so it costs 60c and breaks even at 60% — not 58%. General rule: add 0.07 × P × (1−P) to the ask, rounded up to the next cent, before comparing against any probability estimate. Skipping the rounding flatters every edge you compute. If your edge estimate is smaller than the fee, there is no edge.
4. Settlement is free, so holding to expiry has an edge over trading out
Kalshi doesn't charge a fee on settlement — only on trades. Exiting early means paying the fee a second time on the closing trade. Factor that in: a position you plan to trade out of needs roughly double the fee edge of one you'll hold to resolution.
5. Compare venues on all-in cost
Polymarket currently charges no trading fee on most markets, but its prices, spreads, and funding frictions differ. The right comparison is all-in executable cost: ask + fee on Kalshi vs effective ask on the other venue. Sometimes the 'more expensive' headline price is the cheaper trade.
See the numbers live
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Create an account →Free while paid alerts are still closed. Paste any Kalshi or Polymarket link and we'll find its counterpart and what the gap clears after costs, and keep a watchlist of the markets you care about.
Frequently asked
Does Kalshi charge maker fees?
Resting limit orders that add liquidity generally execute without the taker fee on most series — one reason patient limit orders beat crossing the spread. Check the fee shown at order entry; the schedule varies by market series and has changed over time.
How much do fees matter in practice?
At mid-range prices, ~1.5–1.75 cents per contract per trade. On a 2-3 point edge that's roughly half your expected profit — which is why serious traders compute breakeven including fees, and why Polykal's screener reports EV net of the fee formula rather than against the raw ask.
Where do I see the official fee schedule?
Kalshi publishes its fee schedule on its site and shows the exact fee at order entry. When in doubt, trust the order ticket — formulas in guides (including this one) summarize the standard schedule, not every series-specific exception.
Impersonal market analytics and education computed from public prices. Nothing on this page is investment, betting, legal, or financial advice, or a recommendation to buy any contract. Polykal is not affiliated with Kalshi, Polymarket, or any sportsbook.