Kalshi is the highest volume prediction market in 2026, and Polymarket is second. In July 2026, Kalshi traded about $40.1 billion and Polymarket about $12.9 billion, including Polymarket US, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from The Block. Robinhood, Interactive Brokers and Crypto.com are the other active U.S. venues, and fees on all of them depend on the contract price.
These platforms let traders speculate on real-world events like elections, economic data and sports outcomes, while liquidity providers facilitate these trades through automated market making. Volume alone does not settle the comparison; also review Kalshi and Polymarket's market structure and trading differences.
- Kalshi leads with about $40.1 billion in July 2026 volume, about 76% of the two leaders combined. It is a CFTC-regulated U.S. exchange, and sports make up most of its trading.
- Polymarket is second with about $12.9 billion in July 2026. Its international exchange runs on-chain, and Polymarket US is a separate CFTC-regulated exchange for U.S. residents.
- Crypto.com runs prediction markets in the Crypto.com app and the standalone OG.com app, on its own CFTC-regulated exchange.
- Robinhood and Interactive Brokers are brokers that route event contracts to regulated exchanges. Robinhood reported a record 13.6 billion event contracts traded in Q2 2026.
Each platform has unique strengths for different trader needs.
Quick Comparison
| Platform | Type | Latest volume | Main markets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalshi | CFTC-regulated exchange (U.S.) | About $40.1 billion (July 2026) | Sports, crypto, economics |
| Polymarket | International exchange on Polygon (blocks U.S. orders); Polymarket US is a CFTC-regulated exchange | About $12.9 billion (July 2026, incl. Polymarket US) | Sports, politics, crypto |
| Robinhood | Broker; routes to KalshiEX, ForecastEx, Rothera and North American Derivatives Exchange | 13.6 billion contracts (Q2 2026) | Sports, politics, weather, commodities, entertainment |
| Interactive Brokers | Broker; affiliate of the ForecastEx exchange, also lists Kalshi and CME event contracts | Not in the Pew and The Block data | Economics, politics, climate |
| Crypto.com (OG.com) | CFTC-regulated exchange | Not in the Pew and The Block data | Sports, crypto, economics, politics, culture, climate |
Volume for Kalshi and Polymarket is notional taker volume from the Pew Research Center analysis of data from The Block (published 23 Sep 2026). Robinhood counts contracts traded, each worth $1 at settlement, from its Q2 2026 results.
Prediction Market Fees Compared
Kalshi and Polymarket charge a fee that is highest at 50 cents and shrinks near 1 cent or 99 cents; Robinhood and Interactive Brokers charge up to a cent or two per contract. Fees below were checked on 10 Oct 2026.
| Platform | Trading fee | Example: 100 contracts at 50 cents | Deposits and withdrawals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalshi | Takers: 7% x contracts x price x (1 − price), rounded up. Resting orders are free unless a market lists a maker fee (1.75% on the same formula). | $1.75 | No ACH fees; card deposits up to 2% |
| Polymarket (international) | Takers only: rate x shares x price x (1 − price). Rate is 0.04 to 0.07 by category; geopolitics markets are free. Makers pay nothing. | $1.00 to $1.75 | No Polymarket fee to deposit or withdraw USDC |
| Polymarket US | Takers: 0.0695 x contracts x price x (1 − price). Makers get a rebate (0.0125 on the same formula). | $1.74 (maker rebate $0.31) | USD account |
| Robinhood | Commission: 10% x price x (1 − price) x contracts (5% with Robinhood Gold), capped at $0.01 per contract, plus an exchange fee of up to $0.01 per contract | Up to $2.00 ($1.00 commission, up to $1.00 exchange fee) | Funded from your Robinhood account |
| Interactive Brokers | ForecastEx contracts: $0.00 commission plus a $0.01 exchange fee per contract. Kalshi and CME event contracts: $0.01 commission plus $0.01 exchange fee. | $1.00 on ForecastEx | Funded from your IBKR account |
Sources: Kalshi fee schedule (effective 7 Jul 2026), Polymarket and Polymarket US fee docs (Polymarket US schedule effective 7 Oct 2026), Robinhood event contracts help page, and the Interactive Brokers prediction markets commissions page.
Kalshi is best for U.S. traders seeking regulation and stability. Polymarket suits traders who want on-chain transparency and politics markets, though both benefit from low-latency VPS infrastructure to minimize execution delays. Crypto.com suits traders who already use the Crypto.com app, and Robinhood or Interactive Brokers suit traders who want event contracts next to their brokerage account.
1. Kalshi
Liquidity & Volume
Kalshi is the largest prediction market by volume. It traded about $40.1 billion in July 2026, up from about $13.0 billion in March, according to the Pew Research Center analysis of data from The Block. In March, Kalshi and Polymarket each had about half of the two platforms’ combined volume; by July, Kalshi had about three quarters.
Sports drive most of that growth. In July 2026, $31.4 billion of Kalshi’s volume was sports and $6.1 billion was crypto, while politics has stayed under $300 million a month.
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Market Focus
Kalshi lists contracts on sports, crypto prices, economics, politics, weather and culture. Its economics markets cover Federal Reserve rate decisions, CPI releases and employment figures, which matter for anyone hedging macro risk.
Brokers widen its reach. Robinhood routes event contracts to KalshiEX, and Interactive Brokers lists Kalshi event contracts on its commissions page, which brings retail traders into the same order book.
Infrastructure & Trading Efficiency
Kalshi pairs its market range with a regulated setup.
As a CFTC-regulated exchange, Kalshi provides the legal clarity that institutional players demand. It supports USD funding through ACH, wire transfers and debit cards, plus crypto deposits, so traders don’t need a crypto wallet.
Kalshi charges a trading fee only on orders that match right away: 7% x contracts x price x (1 − price), rounded up (fee schedule effective 7 Jul 2026, checked on 10 Oct 2026). That is $1.75 on 100 contracts at 50 cents and $0.63 on 100 contracts at 10 cents. Resting orders are free unless a market lists a maker fee, and there is no settlement or membership fee.
2. Polymarket
Liquidity & Volume
Polymarket is the second largest prediction market. It traded about $12.9 billion in July 2026, up from about $11.3 billion in March, according to the same Pew Research Center analysis of data from The Block.
Polymarket US is growing inside that total. Its share of Polymarket’s volume rose from 4% in January 2026 to 39% in July, according to Pew.
Market Focus
Polymarket naturally excels in areas where speed and adaptability are critical. It leads in politics, breaking news, and narrative-driven markets, offering traders the ability to bet on a wide range of events, from geopolitical developments to viral social media trends.
Sports dominate the platform’s activity: $10.6 billion of its July 2026 volume, against $1.2 billion in crypto and $0.7 billion in politics during the World Cup month. Politics is still more prominent than on Kalshi, at around $2 billion a month on average in 2026.
Polymarket's transparency, powered by its use of Polygon, allows traders to monitor "smart money" movements in real time, further enhancing engagement and enabling sophisticated Binance to Polymarket arbitrage strategies.
Infrastructure & Trading Efficiency
Polymarket's infrastructure is designed to handle its trading volume efficiently.
Polymarket runs two exchanges. Its international markets run on-chain via Polygon (an Ethereum Layer 2), settled in pUSD, a token backed by USDC. Polymarket US is a separate CFTC-regulated exchange that trades in U.S. dollars.
A Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) sets prices, with tick sizes as small as $0.0001 on some markets. Polymarket resolves most markets through the UMA Optimistic Oracle and its up or down price markets through Chainlink price data. On configured sports markets, marketable orders wait for a short delay window before they match. Bots that trade the order book around the clock often run on a Polymarket VPS for low latency.
On the international exchange, takers pay a fee on most categories: rate x shares x price x (1 − price), with rates from 0.04 (politics, finance, tech) to 0.07 (crypto). Geopolitics markets are free, and makers pay nothing. Polymarket US charges takers 0.0695 on the same formula and pays makers a rebate (checked on 10 Oct 2026). There is no Polymarket fee to deposit or withdraw USDC.
Polymarket’s data also reaches mainstream readers: under a January 2026 partnership with Dow Jones, its probabilities appear in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch.
3. Crypto.com Prediction Markets
Crypto.com offers prediction markets in the Crypto.com app and in OG.com, a standalone prediction market app. Both trade on Crypto.com’s CFTC-regulated exchange.
Liquidity & Volume
Crypto.com is smaller than Kalshi and Polymarket and is not part of the Pew and The Block data, so there is no like-for-like monthly figure. Each market shows its own traded volume on the market page.
Market Focus
Crypto.com lists markets on sports, crypto, economics, politics, culture and climate, including short-dated crypto price contracts. It suits traders who already use the Crypto.com app, since the markets sit next to their crypto and stock accounts.
Fees
We could not find a public fee schedule for Crypto.com’s prediction markets, so confirm the fee in the app before you trade.
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4. Robinhood and Interactive Brokers
Robinhood and Interactive Brokers are brokers, not exchanges: they give their customers access to event contracts listed on CFTC-regulated exchanges. Both add event contracts to an existing brokerage account.
Robinhood’s Prediction Markets Hub offers contracts through KalshiEX, ForecastEx, Rothera Exchange and Clearing, and North American Derivatives Exchange. Robinhood reported a record 13.6 billion event contracts traded in Q2 2026, more than 10 times a year earlier, and $156 million in event contract revenue.
Robinhood charges a commission of 10% x price x (1 − price) per contract, or 5% with Robinhood Gold, capped at $0.01 per contract. Exchanges add a fee of up to $0.01 per contract on opening and closing trades (checked on 10 Oct 2026).
Interactive Brokers is a clearing member and affiliate of ForecastEx, which lists economic, political and climate contracts. It also lists Kalshi and CME event contracts. IBKR charges no commission on ForecastEx contracts and $0.01 per contract on Kalshi and CME event contracts, plus a $0.01 exchange fee on each (checked on 10 Oct 2026).
Advantages and Disadvantages
The platforms analyzed above each bring distinct strengths and weaknesses that can significantly impact trading performance. Here's a closer look at how they stack up.
Kalshi’s strengths are regulation and depth. It is CFTC-regulated, takes USD by ACH, wire and debit card, and had the most volume of any prediction market in July 2026. Its drawbacks: taker fees peak at $1.75 per 100 contracts at 50 cents, and it runs as a closed system with limited on-chain transparency.
Polymarket’s international exchange offers full on-chain transparency, settlement in USDC-backed pUSD on Polygon, and fee-free geopolitics markets. Taker fees apply on most other categories, and there is a learning curve for those unfamiliar with crypto wallets. A 2025 Vanderbilt study of political markets found Polymarket called 67% of markets correctly, against 78% for Kalshi.
Crypto.com offers a middle ground, with sports and crypto markets inside the broader Crypto.com app. Robinhood and Interactive Brokers suit traders who want event contracts in the account they already use, with fees of a cent or two per contract.
Here’s a quick comparison of the platforms:
| Feature | Kalshi | Polymarket | Robinhood | Interactive Brokers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regulatory status | CFTC-regulated DCM | International: offshore, blocks U.S. orders; Polymarket US: CFTC-regulated DCM | CFTC-registered broker (FCM) | CFTC-registered broker (FCM) |
| Volume | $40.1B (July 2026) | $12.9B (July 2026) | 13.6B contracts (Q2 2026) | Not in the Pew and The Block data |
| Trading fees (100 contracts at 50 cents) | $1.75 | $1.00 to $1.75 (US: $1.74) | Up to $2.00 | $1.00 on ForecastEx |
| Funding | USD (ACH, wire, debit card) and crypto | USDC (international); USD (US) | Brokerage account | Brokerage account |
| Transparency | Closed system | Full on-chain (international) | Closed system | Closed system |
Fees checked on 10 Oct 2026; volume from the Pew Research Center analysis of data from The Block and Robinhood’s Q2 2026 results.
For active and automated traders, fees matter more than headline volume: the formula fees on Kalshi and Polymarket cost most near 50 cents, while broker fees are flat per contract. Institutional traders might lean toward Kalshi for its regulatory standing and depth, and politics traders toward Polymarket. Each platform offers distinct opportunities depending on your trading focus.
Conclusion
In 2026, prediction markets have split into exchanges and brokers, each built for a different kind of trader.
Kalshi is the go-to choice for U.S. traders who want regulation and the deepest order books, with about $40.1 billion traded in July 2026. Its CFTC-regulated framework and economics markets make it a natural venue for trading CPI, Federal Reserve and employment outcomes.
For politics and on-chain transparency, Polymarket takes the lead, with about $12.9 billion traded in July 2026 and a growing U.S. exchange. Its on-chain international markets let traders monitor large positions in real time and spot arbitrage across platforms.
Crypto.com suits traders who already use its app, and Robinhood and Interactive Brokers bring event contracts into a regular brokerage account at a cent or two per contract.
This variety lets traders mix and match based on their strategies. Compare fees at the prices you actually trade, since a 50 cent contract costs the most on Kalshi and Polymarket, and check each fee schedule again before you size up.
FAQs
Which prediction market has the lowest fees?
It depends on the price. For 100 contracts at 50 cents, Kalshi charges $1.75 in taker fees, Polymarket US $1.74, Polymarket’s international exchange $1.00 to $1.75 by category, Robinhood up to $2.00 and Interactive Brokers $1.00 on ForecastEx contracts (checked on 10 Oct 2026).
Near 5 or 95 cents, the formula fees on Kalshi and Polymarket drop sharply, while broker fees stay at a cent or two per contract.
Which platform is best for U.S. traders?
Kalshi is the largest option for U.S. traders, thanks to its regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the deepest volume. Polymarket US, Robinhood and Interactive Brokers are other CFTC-regulated routes. Kalshi lists sports, economics, crypto and politics markets.
How do fees and withdrawals affect profits?
Fees and withdrawal costs play a big role in shaping profits in prediction markets. These expenses can add up, increasing transaction costs and slippage, which ultimately eat into your earnings. Platforms with steep fees or tight withdrawal rules can have a noticeable impact on your bottom line. That’s why it’s crucial to factor these costs into your calculations when trading.
How can I find edge in low-liquidity markets?
To thrive in low-liquidity markets, consider strategies like breakout trading or trend-following. These approaches take advantage of market inefficiencies and the increased volatility often seen in such environments. However, be ready to face challenges like wider spreads and potential issues with order execution due to the limited trading activity. Navigating these markets successfully requires adjusting your strategy to the conditions and maintaining a strong focus on risk management.
