Position
The contracts you currently hold in a market, and the direction (yes or no). Your open positions carry risk until you close them or they settle.
Position size relative to your bankroll is the core risk control on Kalshi, since there's no native stop-loss. Tracking open positions also matters at year-end if a mark-to-market treatment applies.
A position is your open exposure in a market: the contracts you currently hold and the direction (YES or NO) you are betting. It represents live risk, an open position can still gain or lose value as the price moves, until you close it by trading out or it resolves at settlement.
Position size, the number of contracts, is the main lever you control over risk. A larger position amplifies both the gain if you are right and the loss if you are wrong, which is why sizing each position as a deliberate fraction of your bankroll matters more than any single trade decision. Letting a position grow beyond your intended size is a common, quiet source of trouble.
Managing positions over their life is its own skill: deciding when to add, trim, hedge, or exit as the price and your conviction change. A clear view of your total open positions, and the risk they collectively carry, is what keeps a book under control rather than a scattered set of forgotten bets.
Buying 100 YES contracts at 40 cents creates a position with $40 at risk and up to $60 of profit. If the price rises to 70, the open position shows a $30 unrealized gain, which becomes real only when you sell or the market settles.
Frequently asked questions
What is a position in trading?
It is your open exposure in a market, the contracts you hold and the side you are on. It carries live risk and can gain or lose value until you close it or it settles.
How big should my position be?
Sized as a deliberate fraction of your bankroll so that being wrong does not threaten your capital. Position sizing matters more for long-run survival than any single trade choice.
What is an unrealized gain on a position?
It is the paper profit or loss on an open position at the current price. It becomes realized only when you close the position or it settles, and it can still reverse before then.