You pick a market, buy Yes or No contracts at a price between 1¢ and 99¢, and get $1 per contract if you're right when it settles. You can sell early at the current price instead of waiting. Kalshi charges a small fee when your order fills, highest for 50¢ contracts. Deposit by card, bank, PayPal, Venmo or crypto from $10, withdraw the same way.
1. Sign up and verify
You need to be 18 or older. Kalshi asks for basic personal details and, for US users, a Social Security number, because as a regulated exchange it has to verify identity and report to the IRS. Sometimes it asks for an ID document. Approval is usually quick; if it goes "under review" you'll get an email with what's missing.
2. Deposit
Minimum $10 by debit card (including Apple Pay and Google Pay), ACH bank transfer, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App or crypto; wires need $1,000. ACH is free; debit card deposits can carry a fee of up to 2%. Deposited money is held for a security period before it can be withdrawn, though you can trade with it right away.
3. Pick a market and read the rules
Every market is a yes/no question with a rulebook: what source decides the outcome, what time it closes, what happens in edge cases. "Will the Fed cut rates in December?" settles on the FOMC statement. "Will the Chiefs win?" settles on the official result. Read the rules once before trading; the rules, not your assumption, decide the payout.
4. Understand the price
A Yes contract at 62¢ means the market thinks there's roughly a 62% chance. If it happens you get $1, a 38¢ profit before fees. No at 38¢ is the mirror image. The two sides always add up to $1. Prices move as people trade, so a contract you bought at 62¢ might be 75¢ an hour later after some news.
5. Place an order
- Market order: buy or sell now at the best price available. Fast, and you pay the taker fee.
- Limit order: name your price and wait. If someone trades against you, it fills. Resting limit orders are free on most markets, which is the cheapest way to trade if you're patient.
Orders are matched with other users. Kalshi does not take the other side. If nobody wants your price, a limit order just sits there; you can cancel it for free.
6. The fee
When an order fills, Kalshi charges 7% × price × (1 − price) per contract, rounded up to the cent. At 50¢ that's about 2¢ a contract; at 90¢ or 10¢ it's under 1¢. There is no fee to settle, hold, or withdraw. The fees page has the full table and break-even math.
7. Hold, or sell early
You don't have to wait for the event. If your Yes contract has gone from 40¢ to 70¢, you can sell it to someone else and take the 30¢ now. You can also cut a loss the same way. This is the biggest practical difference from a sportsbook, where a bet is locked once placed.
8. Settlement and payout
When the outcome is known, the market settles. Winning contracts are worth $1 each and losing ones $0; the cash goes straight to your balance. Most sports markets settle shortly after the game; some markets wait for an official data release. From there you can trade again or withdraw. Debit card withdrawals are normally instant, with an occasional extra verification check.
What trips people up
- Slippage. A market order on a thin market can fill at a worse price than you saw. Use limit orders on anything that isn't a major game or election. More on slippage and volume.
- Fees on coin flips. Trading in and out of 50¢ contracts costs ~2¢ each way. Over many trades that's most of a small edge.
- Rules you didn't read. Settlement sources, time zones and tie-breakers are all in the rulebook.
- Availability. Sports contracts can disappear in your state after a court order, with open positions handled per Kalshi's notice. Non-sports markets are mostly unaffected.
Now the part that decides whether you make money: the fee math.
Kalshi fees explained