GUIDE · LUNARSHADOW AI · UPDATED
Kalshi fees, explained.
What a trade really costs.
Kalshi charges a fee when your order fills, and the size of that fee depends on the contract's price. Here is the formula, what it works out to at different prices, and the other costs to know about.
The short answer
A Kalshi taker pays 0.07 × contracts × price × (1 − price), rounded up: 1.75¢ per contract at 50¢, less toward either end. Most markets charge resting (maker) orders nothing.
Kalshi's main cost is a trading fee charged on contracts that fill. There is no fee to hold a position or to settle one, and no membership fee. Bank (ACH) deposits and withdrawals are free; debit card deposits can carry a processing fee of up to 2%.
The trading fee formula
For an order that fills right away (a “taker” order), Kalshi's fee schedule sets the fee as:
fee = 0.07 × contracts × price × (1 − price)
Price is in dollars, so a 30¢ contract is 0.30. The schedule rounds the result up, and Kalshi's fee rounding documentation explains exactly how. Here is the fee per contract at a few prices, before rounding:
- 10¢ or 90¢: 0.63¢ per contract
- 25¢ or 75¢: about 1.31¢ per contract
- 50¢: 1.75¢ per contract, the highest it gets
So buying 100 contracts at 50¢ costs $50 plus a $1.75 fee. Buying 100 at 90¢ costs $90 plus about 63¢.
Why cheap contracts cost more than they look
The fee is the same at 10¢ and at 90¢, but the amount you put in is not. At 90¢ the fee is about 0.7% of what you pay. At 50¢ it is 3.5%. At 10¢ it is about 6.3%, because you are paying 0.63¢ on a 10¢ contract.
If you often buy long shots, fees take a noticeably bigger share of each trade. That matters more the more often you trade.
Maker fees
An order that rests on the order book until someone else trades against it is a “maker” order. On almost every Kalshi market, makers pay no fee: in October 2026 only about 1% of Kalshi’s series charged one. Those series, including several sports products, charge makers a smaller fee: a quarter of the taker rate, 0.0175 instead of 0.07 in the same formula.
You pay a maker fee only when your resting order actually fills, never for placing or canceling it.
Series multipliers
Kalshi can scale fees for a whole series of markets with a multiplier, and can override fees for individual events. Most series use the standard rate. Kalshi's API exposes each series' fee type and multiplier, and the official fee schedule lists the exceptions.
Deposits and withdrawals
- Bank transfer (ACH): free to deposit and withdraw. See Kalshi's bank deposit help.
- Debit card: deposits are instant but can carry a processing fee of up to 2%; debit card withdrawals are free.
- Crypto: Kalshi supports some crypto transfers; the processors involved may charge their own fees.
What fees mean for automated trading
Fees apply to every fill, so they add up fastest for anyone who trades often or near 50¢. That is true whether you trade by hand or with a bot.
The LunarShadow Kalshi bot trades your own Kalshi account, so Kalshi's fees apply exactly as above. LunarShadow's platform fee is separate and is paid in SOL from your bot wallet; see the current platform fee tiers.
These figures come from Kalshi's published fee schedule (July 2026) and help center as of October 2026. Fees change, and the official schedule is always the source of truth.