What Is KALSHI and How It Works
What is Kalshi? Kalshi is a U.S. based, CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market where traders buy YES or NO shares on real world events. Each contract settles to $1.00 if the chosen outcome occurs, or $0.00 otherwise. Markets are USD settled through Kalshi Klear, Kalshi’s clearinghouse. Traders must be 18 or older, pass KYC, and have a funded U.S. bank account or eligible card to participate. The platform uses written resolution rules and official data sources to settle outcomes, not external oracles.
What Kalshi is and how it fits in the market landscape
Kalshi operates as a federally regulated marketplace for event contracts. It is the first DCM approved in the United States to offer binary YES or NO markets on a wide range of real world events. Prices are quoted in cents, with the sum of YES and NO prices aiming to equal 1.00 at fair value. This structure creates transparent settlement where a winning side pays out $1.00 per contract and the losing side receives nothing. Because Kalshi settles in USD and is regulated by the CFTC, it differs from crypto-settled or offshore platforms.
How a Kalshi YES/NO contract works in practice
Each contract has a fixed settlement amount of $1.00. If you buy YES at a price of 0.42, you pay $0.42 and stand to win $0.58 if the event resolves true, or lose $0.42 if it resolves false. The NO side mirrors this, with its own price and payoff. The platform enforces a market-wide price sum of 1.00 across YES and NO, aligning incentives and simplifying risk calculation. Intra-market arbitrage can arise when best asks for YES and NO are both under a dollar, enabling a buy of both sides for a risk-defined edge.
What makes Kalshi a regulated venue for U.S. traders
Kalshi is domiciled in the United States and regulated by the CFTC as a Designated Contract Market. That regulatory framework means account requirements, responsible trading practices, and USD settlement. Withdrawals go through ACH or supported card rails, and settlement is in USD, not cryptocurrency. For traders, this means access to a compliant, fully regulated venue with clearly defined resolution rules and sources for market outcomes.
Get started with KalshiArb today
Explore pricing for the KalshiArb tools that help you find and act on YES/NO edge opportunities on Kalshi. Our non-custodial scanner and AI agent plug into Kalshi securely, with your API key staying on your side.
FAQ
- What is Kalshi in simple terms?
- Kalshi is a U.S. regulated platform where you trade YES or NO shares on real world events, with settlements in USD. It uses written resolution rules to determine outcomes and confines trading to a CFTC-regulated environment.
- Are Kalshi markets binary and how do they settle?
- Yes. Each market is binary with YES and NO sides. A contract settles to $1.00 to the winning side and $0.00 to the losing side, based on the resolution rule and official sources.
- Who can trade on Kalshi and what are the entry requirements?
- U.S. residents aged 18+ who complete KYC and link a U.S. bank account or eligible debit card can trade Kalshi markets. Identity verification is required; anonymous trading is not possible.
- What is the edge on Kalshi markets for arbitrage?
- Intra-market arbitrage can occur when the best YES and NO asks together sum to less than $1.00, creating an opportunity to buy both sides at a defined risk. Prices are quoted in cents, with a typical spread and a set settlement of $1.00.