Kalshi Fees Explained Simply

Kalshi charges fees on most contracts you trade. The good news is the fees are small and the math is simple — but it's worth understanding before you size a trade, because on a long-shot contract the fee can be a meaningful slice of the upside.

Note: Kalshi can update its fee schedule. Always check Kalshi's current fee page for the exact number. The model below is the one Kalshi has publicly used; it explains how the math works, not what the rate must be on any given day.

The basic formula

Kalshi's trading fee on most contracts has historically used a formula tied to how close the contract is to a coin flip. The fee is highest near 50¢ — where the contract is most uncertain — and shrinks toward zero as the price approaches 1¢ or 99¢. The fee per contract, rounded up, looks roughly like:

fee ≈ 0.07 × contracts × price × (1 − price)

Where price is the price you paid expressed as a decimal (so 60¢ is 0.60). At 50¢ that works out to about 1.75¢ per contract. At 90¢ it shrinks to about 0.63¢. At 10¢ it's about the same. The closer to the extremes, the less it costs.

Worked examples

• Buy 100 contracts at 50¢ → fee ≈ $1.75 on $50 of exposure. About 3.5%.
• Buy 100 contracts at 90¢ → fee ≈ $0.63 on $90 of exposure. About 0.7%.
• Buy 100 contracts at 10¢ → fee ≈ $0.63 on $10 of exposure — about 6.3% of your stake. The fee is the same on this trade as on the 90¢ trade, but it eats a bigger share of a long shot.

That last example matters. If you're hunting long shots — small price, big upside — the fee is a bigger share of your stake and your break-even probability is higher than the raw price suggests. Always do the after-fee math before sizing the trade.

What about settlement?

On the contracts Kalshi has charged a settlement fee on, the fee is again small and follows the same shape — highest near the middle, smallest at the extremes. Many contracts don't carry an additional settlement fee at all. The point is the same: factor a small per-contract cost into your break-even.

What's NOT a fee

The bid/ask spread is not a fee — but it costs you the same way. If the YES is offered at 62¢ and the bid is 58¢, taking the offer means you paid four cents more than the midpoint, and you'd need the contract to drift up four cents just to get back to where you started. Wide spreads on quiet markets are the single biggest "invisible cost" most newcomers miss.

How fees affect Bubba's edges

When Bubba surfaces a gap — say his number is 75¢ and the market is at 60¢ — that 15-point gap doesn't shrink much under normal fees. A 1-to-2-cent per-contract cost won't kill a true edge. But on small gaps (under five cents) or on long shots, the fees and spread can eat most of the theoretical advantage. That's part of why Bubba's Biggest Gaps page filters for meaningful disagreement and ignores markets pinned at the extremes.

The takeaway

Kalshi fees are small, but not zero. They're heaviest on coin-flip contracts and lightest at the extremes. The spread can cost you as much as the fee. Always do the after-fee math before you trade — and always check Kalshi's current published fee schedule, because the rates can move.

Information only — not financial, investment, or trading advice. See the disclaimer.