KALSHI Fees: What Traders Should Know
Kalshi charges a per-trade fee on every order, which affects edge calculations for binary markets. When you buy YES or NO contracts, you not only consider the price but also the fee that Kalshi applies to that fill. This article explains how Kalshi fees work, how they impact arbitrage opportunities, and what to watch for when evaluating edge in intra-market and combinatorial scenarios. Understanding the fee structure helps you separate genuine edge from the cost of execution on a CFTC-regulated USD-settled venue.
How Kalshi fees are structured
Kalshi charges a trading fee on each order, calculated per fill. The fee applies to both sides of a binary YES/NO contract and varies with price and size. The published fee curve is designed so that more active, mid-price trades incur higher per-contract costs, while orders priced near the extremes tend to be cheaper. There are no maker rebates in standard markets, so both limit and market orders incur the same per-contract cost. The exact fee per contract can be estimated with the formula Kalshi provides, which uses the contract price and the number of contracts you trade. KalshiArb users should account for these costs when modeling edge scenarios in the scanner.
How fees affect intra-market arbitrage
Intra-market arbitrage on Kalshi relies on the difference between the best YES and best NO prices. When bestAsk(YES) plus bestAsk(NO) is less than $1.00, you can buy both legs and lock in a risk-defined edge. Fees reduce that edge by the per-contract cost, so the gross spread must be large enough to cover both sides of the execution and the fee. Since the fee is higher near the mid-price, edge opportunities near 50 cents are especially sensitive to fees. KalshiArb quantifies the net edge after fees to determine whether a given setup is genuinely profitable.
Fees in combinatorial and endgame scenarios
Combinatorial markets under the same event ticker can present multiple child YES contracts. Fees apply to each leg you trade, so a full set of child YES contracts will incur multiple per-contract costs. When evaluating the sum of child prices against a $1.00 benchmark, you must subtract the aggregate fees to assess the true edge. In the endgame, where YES contracts can trade toward $0.95–$0.99, fees still matter, but the edge-to-cost ratio can shift as price approaches the settlement threshold. KalshiArb integrates fee-adjusted margins to decide whether to execute a hedge across affected legs.
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FAQ
- What are Kalshi trading fees in practice?
- Kalshi charges a per-contract trading fee on each order fill. The fee is applied to both YES and NO sides and varies with price and volume. There are no maker rebates in standard markets, so all fills incur the same per-contract cost.
- How is the fee calculated for a trade?
- The documented approach uses a per-contract fee that scales with price and contract size. The exact amount is derived from Kalshi’s fee curve, which peaks near $0.50 and declines toward the extremes. For planning, use the approximate formula provided by Kalshi to estimate fee impact on a given order.
- Do edge opportunities account for fees?
- Yes. Intra-market edge described as best YES plus best NO under $1.00 must be net of fees. KalshiArb explicitly subtracts per-contract fees to determine whether an edge remains after execution costs.
- Are there any fee waivers I should know about?
- Kalshi occasionally flags markets with temporary fee waivers for high-volume contests, but general markets carry the standard per-contract fee with no maker rebates. Always check the live market response for any transient exceptions.