KALSHI Mechanics
Tick Size
Tick size is the minimum price increment by which Kalshi contract prices can move (1 cent).
Detailed explanation
Tick size is the smallest allowed price movement step for Kalshi binary contracts. On Kalshi, prices are quoted in cents and can only move in 1¢ increments within the 0.01–0.99 range, so every bid, ask, and midprice snaps to a whole cent. This directly affects spreads, edge calculations, and how price grids look across the order book, since best bid and best ask must sum with their opposites to equal $1.00 in value for a binary YES/NO pair. Understanding tick size helps you anticipate price movement and limit-order placement on Kalshi's CLOB.
In practice, tick size constrains how finely you can adjust your orders. It also underpins the invariant that the sum of YES and NO prices for a given market (or the sum of child YES prices within an event ticker) trends toward $1.00, while individual legs trade between $0.01 and $0.99.
Worked example
Example: You see YES at 42¢ and NO at 56¢ for a simple binary. The sum is 98¢, leaving a 2¢ edge to exploit if you can secure both legs at those prices or if the exchange moves the other side.
FAQ
- What is tick size on Kalshi?
- Tick size is the minimum price movement, set at 1¢ per trade, so prices update in cent increments between 0.01 and 0.99.
- How does tick size affect spreads and edge?
- Because prices move in 1¢ steps, spreads reflect single-cent gaps. Edge arises when you can buy both sides at prices that sum to less than $1.00 and lock in the remaining cents.
- Can tick size change over time?
- Tick size is a defined rule for Kalshi markets; changes would come through Kalshi policy updates and are not user-configurable.
See Tick Size on a live Kalshi market
KalshiArb scans every open Kalshi market for arbitrage edges where YES + NO < $1.00. Plug in your Kalshi API key and start receiving alerts in under 5 minutes.
Related terms
- Yes ContractA YES contract is the binary Kalshi market side that pays $1 if the event resolves true, $0 otherwise.
- No ContractThe NO contract is the opposite side of a binary Kalshi market, paying $1 if the event does not occur.
- Yes AskThe ASK price to buy YES on a Kalshi market; the YES side’s best offer.
- No AskThe NO ask is the lowest NO price offered to sell NO contracts.
- Best BidThe highest price investors are willing to pay for a YES or NO side of a Kalshi market.
- Best AskThe lowest price sellers are willing to accept for a contract side (YES/NO) on the current Kalshi order book.
- Settlement PriceThe final per-contract value used to determine payouts at resolution (usually $1 for a winning side, $0 for the losing side).
- Event TickerA code that groups mutually exclusive Kalshi markets under one event (e.g., CPIYY-26MAR) and links its child YES/NO contracts.