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The Kalshi knowledge hub

Looking for how specific market types work, sports, politics, crypto, weather, with edges and red flags? That’s the Field Guides → This page is the how-to library: taxes, filing, strategy, and platform walkthroughs.

Plain-English answers to how Kalshi and prediction markets actually work, from your first trade to order-book mechanics, fees, and taxes. The stuff that’s usually scattered across Reddit and Discord, in one place.

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Basics 19Trading mechanics 10Markets 7Perpetuals 6Concepts 6Strategy 15Comparisons 5Taxes 28
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Basics

New to Kalshi? Start here.
Is Kalshi legal?
Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated US exchange, which makes it legal at the federal level. Here's what t…
How much money do you need to trade Kalshi?
Kalshi's minimum to start is low, but the real question is how much bankroll you need to trade s…
Is your money safe on Kalshi?
Kalshi is CFTC-regulated and holds customer funds in segregated accounts at regulated institutio…
What is the minimum deposit on Kalshi?
Kalshi's minimum deposit is $10 for most methods, with wire transfers requiring $1,000. Here's t…
What is Kalshi?
Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated exchange where you trade Yes/No contracts on real-world events. What …
How does Kalshi work?
How Kalshi event contracts are priced, traded, and settled: the $1 payout model, prices as proba…
Is Kalshi legit and safe?
Whether Kalshi is legitimate: its CFTC regulation, how it differs from offshore prediction sites…
Dollars vs contracts on Kalshi
The Kalshi order panel lets you enter a dollar amount or a number of contracts, and the differen…
How to get started on Kalshi
A simple walkthrough for new Kalshi traders: setting up and funding an account, finding a market…
Depositing and withdrawing on Kalshi
How to move money in and out of Kalshi, which funding methods are free versus fee-bearing, and w…
Kalshi promos and bonuses
Kalshi has offered sign-up and referral promotions at various times. How these typically work, w…
Trading on the Kalshi mobile app
Kalshi's mobile app brings the full exchange to your phone. What you can do, how mobile trading …
How to read Kalshi odds
On Kalshi the price is the probability. How to read a contract's cents as a percent chance, what…
Can you actually make money on Kalshi?
Yes, some traders profit on Kalshi, but most do not, and the reasons are measurable: fees, overr…
Is Kalshi gambling?
Kalshi is a federally regulated exchange for event contracts, not a sportsbook or casino. Here's…
How does Kalshi make money?
Kalshi is an exchange, not a house, so it doesn't profit when you lose. Here's how it actually e…
How to trade on Kalshi
The mechanics of actually trading on Kalshi: reading a price as a probability, buying yes or no,…
What states is Kalshi legal in?
Kalshi operates in all 50 states because it's federally regulated, unlike sportsbooks that go st…
How old do you have to be to use Kalshi?
Kalshi's minimum age is 18, not 21 like casinos and many sportsbooks. Why the difference, what v…

Trading mechanics

Order books, order types, fees, and execution quality.
How long do Kalshi withdrawals take?
Kalshi withdrawal times by method: debit, PayPal, Venmo, and crypto are usually near-instant, wh…
How to read the Kalshi order book
The Kalshi order book shows bids, asks, and depth at each price. How to read it, what the spread…
Limit vs market orders on Kalshi
The difference between market (quick) orders and limit orders on Kalshi, how each affects your p…
Kalshi fees explained
How Kalshi trading fees work: why they are highest near 50 cents, how limit orders can avoid the…
Thin order books and slippage
Why a thin order book can give you a worse price than the quote, how slippage happens on Kalshi,…
Maker vs taker on Kalshi
What maker and taker orders mean on Kalshi, why makers usually avoid fees, and how to trade as a…
How to sell on Kalshi
You don't have to hold to settlement. How selling works on Kalshi, how to exit for a profit or c…
Using the Kalshi API and trading bots
What the Kalshi API offers for automated trading: REST and WebSocket access, API-key authenticat…
How to export your Kalshi trade history
A step-by-step guide to downloading your full Kalshi transaction history as a CSV, what's in the…
Kalshi position limits, explained
Every Kalshi market caps how large a position one trader can hold. Why the limits exist, how the…

Markets

How specific Kalshi markets work and settle.
How Kalshi sports markets work
Sports make up the bulk of Kalshi volume. How sports event contracts work, how they differ from …
How Kalshi markets settle
How a Kalshi market resolves: the resolution rules, the data source, timing, and why reading the…
How Kalshi economic markets work
Trading Fed rate decisions, inflation prints, and jobs reports on Kalshi. How these data-driven …
How Kalshi weather markets work
Kalshi lets you trade temperature, rain, and storm outcomes as Yes/No contracts. How weather mar…
How Kalshi election markets work
Kalshi offers Yes/No contracts on election outcomes that settle on official results. How they wo…
How Kalshi crypto markets work
Beyond perpetuals, Kalshi offers binary event contracts on crypto prices. How these Yes/No marke…
Kalshi 15-minute crypto markets, explained
Kalshi's 15-minute Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoin markets let you trade whether a coin ticks up …

Perpetuals

Kalshi's leveraged crypto futures, explained with the risks up front.
Kalshi Perpetuals explained
Kalshi Perpetuals let you go long or short on crypto with leverage and no expiry. How perps work…
How margin works on Kalshi Perpetuals
Margin is the collateral behind a leveraged perpetual position. How initial and maintenance marg…
The Kalshi perpetuals funding rate
Why perpetual futures use a funding rate, how Kalshi's 8-hour funding works, who pays whom, and …
Liquidation on Kalshi Perpetuals
Liquidation is the forced close of a leveraged position when your margin runs too low. How it wo…
Perpetuals vs buying crypto (spot)
The difference between trading Kalshi perpetuals and buying crypto outright: ownership, leverage…
Order types on Kalshi Perpetuals
The order types available for Kalshi perpetual futures, including market and limit orders and th…

Concepts

The ideas that make prediction markets tick.
Is Kalshi a good investment?
Kalshi is closer to trading than investing. Here's the honest distinction, who it suits, and the…
What are market makers?
Market makers provide the liquidity you trade against. How they make money from the spread, the …
Kalshi prices as probabilities
Why a Kalshi contract price is the market's implied probability, how to convert it to American o…
What moves Kalshi prices
Kalshi prices are probabilities, so they move when new information changes the odds. How news, d…
Expected value and edge
Expected value is the math behind every good trade. How to compute it on Kalshi, what edge reall…
Are prediction markets accurate?
Prediction market prices aggregate many people's money-backed views. How accurate they tend to b…

Strategy

Sharpen your approach and sidestep common traps.
How to limit your losses on Kalshi
Kalshi has no native stop-loss order, so capping your losses is on you. Here is how to set manua…
How to make money on Kalshi
A realistic look at how traders make money on Kalshi: finding mispriced markets, beating fees an…
Day trading and flipping on Kalshi
How short-term flipping works on Kalshi: trading price moves before settlement, the role of liqu…
How to keep a Kalshi trading journal
A trading journal is the fastest way to improve on Kalshi. Here's what to track, why behavior ma…
Kalshi strategy for beginners
A practical starting framework for new Kalshi traders: think in probabilities, start small, pick…
Common Kalshi beginner mistakes
The avoidable mistakes new Kalshi traders make: market-ordering into thin books, ignoring fees, …
Arbitrage on Kalshi
What arbitrage means on Kalshi, why Yes and No prices summing to under $1 can signal an edge, an…
Bankroll management on Kalshi
Why position sizing and bankroll discipline matter more than any single prediction. A plain-Engl…
Hedging with Kalshi
Kalshi contracts can hedge real-world risks, from weather exposure to economic outcomes. How hed…
Kalshi parlays, explained
Kalshi has no native parlay ticket, but you can build one by rolling wins into the next leg. How…
Limit orders on Kalshi, and how they save you the taker fee
Kalshi charges a taker fee every time you cross the spread, and it is largest near 50 cents. Res…
Kalshi liquidity: why some markets cost more to trade
Liquidity determines how much it really costs to get in and out of a Kalshi market. How to read …
How to get better calibrated
Calibration, whether your 70% calls actually happen 70% of the time, is the core skill of predic…
How many trades to prove an edge?
Why a winning month rarely proves anything, and roughly how many trades it actually takes to sep…
The best markets to trade on Kalshi
There's no single best market on Kalshi, only the best market for your edge. How to think about …

Comparisons

How Kalshi stacks up against the alternatives.
Kalshi vs the stock market
How trading event contracts on Kalshi differs from investing in stocks: defined binary outcomes,…
Kalshi vs a sportsbook
How trading on Kalshi differs from betting at a sportsbook: exchange versus house, no fixed vig,…
Kalshi vs Polymarket
How Kalshi and Polymarket differ: US regulation and dollars versus crypto settlement, fees, avai…
Kalshi vs Robinhood event contracts
Robinhood event contracts run on Kalshi's exchange, but trading directly on Kalshi differs in or…
Kalshi vs PredictIt
How Kalshi and PredictIt compare: regulated exchange versus academic market, position and fee li…

Taxes

How prediction-market gains are taxed, in plain English.
How Kalshi taxes work: the trader's guide
How event-contract gains on Kalshi are taxed in 2026: the three possible treatments (ordinary in…
Kalshi's CSV is in cents, not dollars
Kalshi's exported trade history stores prices and amounts in cents. Here is how to convert it co…
How to report your Kalshi taxes in TurboTax
Kalshi does not give TurboTax an importable 1099-B for event contracts. Here is how to enter you…
Form 6781: how Section 1256 treatment is reported
If you treat Kalshi event contracts as Section 1256 contracts, the 60/40 split is reported on Fo…
How to calculate your Kalshi cost basis
Kalshi will not hand you a clean cost-basis report. Here is how to reconstruct it from your fill…
The Section 1256 60/40 rule, explained
What Section 1256 contracts are, how the 60/40 tax split works, which instruments qualify, and w…
How sports betting winnings are taxed
Sports betting winnings are taxable income. Here is how reporting works, the new limit on deduct…
Do you pay taxes on gambling winnings?
Yes, all gambling winnings are taxable. Here is how they are reported, how loss deductions work …
Kalshi vs a sportsbook: how the taxes differ
Sportsbook winnings are taxed as gambling with capped loss deductions. Kalshi event contracts ma…
Do wash sale rules apply to Kalshi?
Wash sale rules disallow a loss when you rebuy a security within 30 days. Whether they apply to …
Does Kalshi report your trades to the IRS?
What Kalshi does and does not report to the IRS, which tax forms you might receive, and why your…
What happens if you don't report your Kalshi taxes?
Kalshi gains are taxable even without a 1099. Here is the real risk of not reporting, penalties,…
What tax rate do you pay on Kalshi gains?
The tax rate on Kalshi gains depends on the treatment: ordinary income, Section 1256's 60/40 spl…
Tax-loss harvesting with Kalshi
How realizing losses can offset gains for Kalshi traders, how it depends on the tax treatment yo…
Are Kalshi rewards, bonuses, and interest taxable?
The 1099-MISC and 1099-INT income from Kalshi rewards, referrals, and cash interest is taxable a…
Kalshi vs Polymarket: how the taxes differ
How taxes differ between Kalshi and Polymarket: a regulated US exchange settling in dollars vers…
What tax forms do you need for Kalshi?
The tax forms you need for Kalshi depend on the treatment you take, plus any rewards income. Her…
Do you owe tax on open Kalshi positions?
Generally you're taxed when you realize a gain, by closing or settling, not while a position is …
Are Kalshi gains capital gains?
Kalshi gains aren't automatically capital gains. Here's how the three possible treatments relate…
Does Kalshi send a 1099?
What tax forms Kalshi actually issues, why there's usually no 1099-B for your trades, and how to…
Are Kalshi contracts Section 1256?
The case for and against treating Kalshi event contracts as Section 1256 contracts, what the 60/…
How to report Kalshi on your taxes
A step-by-step look at reporting Kalshi event-contract gains: gathering records, choosing a trea…
How Polymarket gains are taxed
Polymarket sends no tax forms and settles in crypto, which changes the reporting picture. How to…
Can you deduct your Kalshi losses?
Whether and how Kalshi losses are deductible depends entirely on your tax treatment. How losses …
How prediction-market income is taxed
A plain-English overview of how prediction-market gains are taxed across Kalshi, Polymarket, and…
Robinhood event contracts and taxes
Robinhood event contracts route through Kalshi and come with their own reporting situation. What…
Do you owe quarterly estimated taxes on trading gains?
Trading gains have no withholding, so active prediction-market traders often owe quarterly estim…
How Kalshi perpetuals may be taxed
Perpetual futures are a brand-new product with no specific IRS guidance. Why regulated futures o…
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