Kalshi Updates Its Trading Fee Structure
Kalshi decided to update its fee structure starting Tuesday, July 1, 2025. The changes focus on trading and maker fees, with no new costs for membership, settlements, or ACH transfers, keeping things straightforward for most users.
A New Fee Game Plan
The big shift is in how trading fees are calculated. For orders that match instantly on the orderbook, Kalshi’s charging a variable fee based on a formula: 0.07 × C × P × (1-P), where C is the number of contracts and P is the contract price in dollars (e.g., 50 cents is 0.5).
For certain high-profile markets, like NBA games, economic indicators, or the Indy 500, maker fees for resting orders will jump from a flat $0.0025 to a new formula: 0.0175 × C × P × (1-P).
These fees only kick in when a trade executes, not if you cancel an order, and any overcharges from rounding get refunded monthly if they top $10.
Well, So How Does It Actually Works Now
Starting July 1, if you buy a contract on whether the Fed cuts rates, for, say, 50 cents each and grab 10 contracts, the trading fee would be: 0.07 × 10 × 0.5 × (1-0.5) = $0.175, rounded up to 18 cents.
If your order sits on the orderbook (a “maker” order) for specific markets like NFL games, the fee uses the 0.0175 rate instead, so it’d be $0.04375, rounded to 4 cents.
No fees for signing up, settling bets, or moving money via ACH, but watch out for that 2% debit deposit fee or crypto processor charges.
Scaling Up the Growing Business
Kalshi’s fee update comes as it scales up, integrating with platforms like Webull and diving deeper into crypto with ZeroHash. The new fees aim to balance growth with fairness, ensuring the platform can handle heavy trading volume while keeping costs clear.
The fee changes are modest but strategic. Most casual traders won’t feel much pinch, especially with no membership or settlement fees. For heavy hitters in markets like the NBA or economic forecasts, the new maker fees might add up, but refunds for rounding errors soften the blow.
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