Polymarket fees: the real schedule
Last updated · how we verify
Polymarket does not charge 2%, and it takes no cut of your profits. The international
exchange charges a taker fee of shares × feeRate × price × (1 − price), so the cost depends
on both the market category and how close the price is to 50¢. Geopolitics markets are
free; Politics is 0.04; Crypto is 0.07, peaking
at $1.75 per 100 shares. Makers pay nothing and earn
20–25% of it back. Polymarket US runs a separate schedule.
The formula
One line governs every trade on the international exchange:
fee = shares × feeRate × price × (1 − price)
The fee is proportional to price × (1 − price), so it peaks at a 50c contract price and falls toward 0 at both extremes. Two consequences follow, and both are the opposite of what a flat percentage would do:
- Longshots and near-certainties are cheap to trade. The fee shrinks as the price approaches 0 or 1.
- Coin-flips are the most expensive. The fee is maximal at 50¢.
Fees are rounded to 5 decimal places; the smallest fee charged is 0.00001 USDC.
Fee rate by category
| Category | Fee rate | Peak fee / 100 shares | Maker fee | Maker rebate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geopolitics free | 0 | $0.00 | $0.00 | — |
| Finance | 0.04 | $1.00 | $0.00 | 25% |
| Mentions | 0.04 | $1.00 | $0.00 | 25% |
| Politics | 0.04 | $1.00 | $0.00 | 25% |
| Tech | 0.04 | $1.00 | $0.00 | 25% |
| Culture | 0.05 | $1.25 | $0.00 | 25% |
| Economics | 0.05 | $1.25 | $0.00 | 25% |
| Other / General | 0.05 | $1.25 | $0.00 | 25% |
| Sports | 0.05 | $1.25 | $0.00 | 20% |
| Weather | 0.05 | $1.25 | $0.00 | 25% |
| Crypto | 0.07 | $1.75 | $0.00 | 20% |
Source: help.polymarket.com, help.polymarket.com · verified 17 August 2026
Note the two ends of that table: Geopolitics markets are entirely free to trade, and Crypto is the most expensive at 0.07. If you trade one category almost exclusively, this table is the single most useful thing on this page.
A worked example
Suppose you take 500 shares in a Politics market at 62¢:
- Cost of the shares: 500 × 0.62 = $310.00
- Taker fee: 500 × 0.04 × 0.62 × 0.38 = $4.71
- That is 1.52% of your stake — not 2%.
The same trade at different prices:
| Share price | You pay | Taker fee | Fee as % of stake |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5¢ | $25.00 | $0.95 | 3.80% |
| 10¢ | $50.00 | $1.80 | 3.60% |
| 25¢ | $125.00 | $3.75 | 3.00% |
| 50¢ | $250.00 | $5.00 | 2.00% |
| 75¢ | $375.00 | $3.75 | 1.00% |
| 90¢ | $450.00 | $1.80 | 0.40% |
| 95¢ | $475.00 | $0.95 | 0.20% |
Read the right-hand column: the effective percentage cost moves by a factor of roughly ten across the price range. Any review quoting a single percentage for Polymarket has misunderstood the model.
Fee rates verified 17 August 2026 against Polymarket’s help centre.
You appear to be in the US. Polymarket’s international exchange blocks US IP addresses — use Polymarket US, the CFTC-regulated exchange, instead. See what’s available in your state.
Maker fees and rebates
$0 — makers are never charged. If you post a limit order that someone else fills, you pay nothing — and you may be paid.
The rebate programme returns 20–25% of the matched taker fee: 25% in most categories, 20% in Sports and Crypto. Geopolitics markets are fee-free and therefore carry no rebate.
- Eligibility: Post a limit order that adds liquidity to the book and is filled by another trader.
- Payout: Paid daily in USDC directly to your wallet, once $1 has accrued.
- Allocation:
(your_fee_equivalent / total_fee_equivalent) × rebate_pool, calculated per market
If you are patient enough to post limit orders instead of crossing the spread, your trading cost on Polymarket is not just zero — it is negative. That is a genuinely unusual structure and it is the main reason experienced traders prefer it to a sportsbook, where the margin is baked into the price and there is no maker side at all.
Source: help.polymarket.com · verified 17 August 2026
Polymarket US: a separate schedule
Polymarket US runs its OWN national fee schedule, separate from the international exchange. Unlike the international venue it does charge a maker fee.
| Component | Value |
|---|---|
| Taker coefficient | 0.06 |
| Maker coefficient | 0.0125 |
| Peak fee per 100 contracts | $1.50 |
| Applies | Nationally |
These figures are corroborated by independent secondary reporting but we could not reach
docs.polymarket.us to confirm them against Polymarket’s own published schedule.
Check the current schedule in the app before sizing a trade. We would rather flag this than
state a fee we have not verified.
Source: docs.polymarket.us · verified 17 August 2026
Because Polymarket US lists event contracts on a federally regulated exchange rather than under state-by-state licences, one fee schedule applies nationally.
Deposit, withdrawal and network costs
| Cost | Amount | Charged by |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit fee | None | — |
| Withdrawal fee | None | — |
| Polygon gas | Fractions of a cent, paid in POL | Polygon network |
| Card on-ramp | Roughly 2–4% | Third-party provider |
| Minimum deposit | $3 (low-fee networks) / $10 (Ethereum) | — |
Polygon's gas token was renamed from MATIC to POL. POL replaced MATIC as the native Polygon PoS gas token in September 2024. The MATIC→POL migration was reported 99% complete on 3 September 2025. Holdings on Polygon PoS converted automatically 1:1; MATIC on other chains migrates 1:1 via Polygon Portal. Any guide still telling you to hold MATIC for gas is out of date.
Source: startpolymarket.com, polygon.technology · verified 17 August 2026
How this compares
Kalshi uses a structurally similar formula — fee per contract = ceil(0.07 × price × (1 − price) × 100) / 100 — so
the old claim that Kalshi charges "7% fees" is the same category of error as the 2% claim about Polymarket.
The old site claimed a flat '7% fee' for Kalshi. That is wrong — 0.07 is a coefficient in a price-weighted formula, not a 7% charge. At a 50c contract the fee is about $1.75 per 100 contracts, i.e. ~1.75% of notional.
PredictIt is genuinely more expensive and works differently: 10% of net profit per market plus 5% on withdrawals. The old site claimed '15% total cost' as a single number. The real structure is two separate charges: 10% of net profit per market plus 5% on withdrawal. They do not simply add to 15% of your stake.
Polymarket vs Kalshi → · Polymarket vs PredictIt →
Fee questions
Does Polymarket charge 2%?
No. That figure circulates widely and is simply wrong — it appeared on this site before this update too. Polymarket charges no flat percentage and takes no share of profits. The international exchange charges a taker fee of shares × feeRate × price × (1 − price), where feeRate is set per market category.
Does Polymarket take a cut of my winnings?
No. There is no fee on profit or on settlement. Fees are charged when your order is filled as a taker, and nothing is deducted when a market resolves in your favour.
Why is the fee highest at 50 cents?
Because of the price × (1 − price) term, which is largest at 0.5 (0.25) and falls toward zero at both ends. That means the fee tracks how uncertain the market is. At 95¢ the term is 0.0475 — roughly a fifth of the 50¢ figure — so the same share count costs about five times less to trade.
What does a maker pay?
Nothing. $0 — makers are never charged. Makers can also earn back 20–25%, paid daily in USDC directly to your wallet, once $1 has accrued.
Are Polymarket US fees the same?
No — Polymarket US publishes its own national schedule, effective 1 July 2026, and unlike the international exchange it does charge a maker fee. We flag these figures as unconfirmed because we could not reach Polymarket US's own documentation to verify them.
What about gas and withdrawal fees?
Polymarket charges no deposit fee and no withdrawal fee. You pay Polygon network gas, denominated in POL (renamed from MATIC), which is typically a fraction of a cent. A card on-ramp charges its own 2–4%.
Availability varies by jurisdiction. 18+. Event contracts carry risk of loss.
You appear to be in the US. Polymarket’s international exchange blocks US IP addresses — use Polymarket US, the CFTC-regulated exchange, instead. See what’s available in your state.
Next
Minimum deposit
The smallest amount you can start with, per network.
How to withdraw
Getting USDC back to a bank account, step by step.
Taxes on winnings
How event-contract gains are generally treated.
vs Kalshi
Two similar fee formulas, two very different custody models.
All figures on this page verified 17 August 2026 against primary sources where reachable. Unconfirmed values are marked.