Breaking down Kalshi fees
Contrary to popular belief, Kalshi fees aren’t just one fixed amount that gets taken from you every time you trade. What you pay depends on how you place your trade and the Kalshi prices you enter at. To give you a much clearer picture of how it actually works, it’s important that you understand the two main kinds of fees you’ll run into while trading at Kalshi, which are maker and taker fees.
Taker fees
Taker fees are the amount you pay when you buy or sell a contract at the current market price. Here, you are not waiting for another trader to match your order but you are simply taking the price that is available in the market. For example, if a contract is trading at $0.45 and you click buy immediately, your order gets filled right away at that price, and a taker fee is applied. While taker fees are a bit pricier since you’re basically taking what the market is offering, they can actually be useful when you want to enter or exit a position quickly. That’s because paying taker fees guarantees that your trade will push through even when the market is busy or moving quicker than you might have expected.
Maker fees
Maker fees, on the other hand, are what you pay when you place an order that doesn’t get filled right away. Instead of being completed right away, your trade sits on the order book until another trader is willing to take the other side of it. In this scenario, you’ll be the one setting the price on Kalshi event contracts and waiting for another trader to match your order at that price. If no one matches your order immediately, then it will be left as a resting order on the order book and you’ll be paying a maker fee. Similar to the taker fees, the maker fee you’ll be paying varies and is often based on the price of the contract and the number of contracts being traded. It is, however, worth noting that these maker fees are only charged when a trade is actually filled. This means that you won’t pay anything if your order doesn’t get matched and you decide to cancel it.
Deposit and withdrawal fees
Other than the taker and maker fees, you’ll also come across some fees when making a deposit or withdrawal at Kalshi. Here’s a quick summary of what you are going to pay when depositing or withdrawing using different payment methods. The good thing about making a deposit or withdrawal at Kalshi is that fees are laid out so you can clearly see what or how much you’re getting when you fund or take money out of your account. What we would like to point out here though is that you can only deposit or withdraw in certain locations so it’s important that you know where is Kalshi legal to avoid any issues.
| Payment Method | Kalshi Deposit Fees | Kalshi Withdrawal Fees |
| ACH Transfer | Free | Free |
| Wire Transfer | Free | Free but only supports transactions $500,000 and more |
| Debit Cards | 2% | 2% |
| Cryptocurrencies | Depends on cryptocurrency | Depends on cryptocurrency |
Pros and cons of Kalshi fees
It’s easy to completely ignore the pros and cons of Kalshi fees when you first start trading since there is probably a good chance that you are just worrying about getting your first trades right. After all, no one wants to pay something extra when they are trying to make a profit. However, one thing that caught us by surprise was that there are actually benefits to paying Kalshi fees when you begin trading and you can see them below.
- Flexible trading options
- Transparent fees
- Reduce overtrading
- No fees for canceling orders
- Variable trading fees
How can you keep Kalshi fees low?
As mentioned in this Kalshi review, you cannot completely get rid of Kalshi fees. However, there are a few things you can do to make sure that you are not paying more than what’s intended for every trade.
Avoid 50-50 markets when possible
It’s easy to assume that 50-50-markets are where you can make the most profits because everything is basically a coin-toss. However, you should know that the spread between buyers and sellers in 50-50 markets is usually small because neither side has a clear advantage so prices naturally hover very close to the point where buyers and sellers can easily agree. To give you a more concrete example, then take a look at the latest trading prices on this Kalshi prediction about the US re-opening its embassy in Syria.
| Will the US re-open its embassy in Syria? | Prices |
| Yes | $0.52 |
| No | $0.48 |
In this case, there is little wiggle room for you to enter or exit trades without the price moving against you even slightly. Since the market is already sitting so close to a fair midpoint, most of the trading action comes from small adjustments rather than big swings. That means that your intended entry can disappear or you may end up getting filled at a less favorable level than you originally want if you hesitate for even just a single moment.
Wait for the market to settle down
What most traders do is they usually trade the moment there is something big happening in the hopes of getting more value. Although value does present at times, it’s actually much more challenging than it looks from the outside. That’s because these events or developments usually result in sharp and fast price movements where the market is always moving. Of course, you can always join as long as you have a Kalshi referral code and enter these markets but the thing is you rarely get a stable entry point because of the constant movement.
That’s why it might be a good idea to wait a little while for things to settle down before you make a move. More often than not, spreads become more predictable once things go quiet since you are no longer competing with so many orders all at once. This also lets you actually see whether the latest developments are just short-term noise or something more meaningful that actually has staying power.
Take advantage of ACH deposits and withdrawals
Using ACH in depositing and withdrawing at Kalshi is another way to lower fees. As per the table above, you won’t be charged anything when making a deposit or withdrawal via ACH although it is worth noting that it might take a few business days for everything to appear in your account. Based on our experience, it takes one to three business days before deposits are credited while withdrawals can go as long as four business days.
Given that timeframe, it might be a good idea to plan your deposits and withdrawals ahead of time, especially if you don’t want delays to interfere with your trading. What you can do here is set a trading budget for a month and deposit everything you expect to use upfront instead of funding your account repeatedly in small amounts.
Wrapping up our guide on Kalshi fees
As you can see, Kalshi fees aren’t as confusing as they might seem once you understand how maker and taker fees work and the small fees tied to deposits and withdrawals. What matters here is not how you can avoid fees but rather how you can handle them. As you’ve gone through here, fees depend on how you trade, when you enter a market, or how you move money in and out of your account.
The good thing is you do have some control over them by making a few simple choices such as using ACH for deposits and withdrawals, avoiding 50-50 markets, and taking your time when entering trades. Now that you know what to do, you can begin trading by simply clicking on any Kalshi banners on this page to sign up for an account and trade on your favorite prediction markets.
Kalshi fees explained FAQ
What are Kalshi fees?
Kalshi requires traders to pay fees when they trade prediction market contracts or deposit and withdraw money from their accounts.
Do you pay anything when your order doesn’t get filled?
No. Kalshi doesn’t charge any fee if your maker orders are not matched and you decide to cancel it.
Can you avoid Kalshi fees?
No but you can reduce them by placing limit orders or using ACH when depositing and withdrawing from your account.
