Guides

What is the minimum deposit on Polymarket?

Polymarket sets its deposit floor per blockchain rather than as one figure, and a second, unrelated floor governs orders. Covers what we read from the live bridge endpoint on July 27, 2026, where 221 supported assets across 13 chains carried just three minimums ($2 on ten chains, $5 on Ethereum, $7 on Bitcoin and Tron), why Polymarket's own documentation table and help center article state different numbers for the same chains on the same day, the uniform 5-share order minimum we found on all 2,086 open order-book markets, and why a share-denominated floor costs a median of $2.50 but under a dollar on one market in seven. Editorial, not advice.

Updated July 2026

What is slippage on Polymarket?

Slippage is the gap between the quoted price and the average price an order actually fills at, and it follows from the shape of the resting order book rather than from any charge. Covers how an order walks the book, why slippage, the spread, and the 2026 taker fee are three separate costs, the price bounds on each documented order type, and what we measured walking three live Polymarket books on July 26, 2026: about $103,000 of asks within a cent of the touch on one market against $62 on another with a similar-looking quote. Editorial, not advice.

Updated July 2026

How do Polymarket liquidity rewards work?

Liquidity rewards are a daily USDC pool paid out to the resting limit orders sitting closest to a market's midpoint, scored every minute by the published quadratic formula and settled at midnight UTC with a $1 floor. Covers the scoring maths, max spread and minimum size, the two-sided rule at price extremes, why the program is not the same thing as the 2026 maker rebates funded from taker fees, and what we found reading reward parameters live for 92 markets on July 25, 2026: 35 with a funded pool of a dollar a day or more, a median pool of $150 a day, and no pool at all on the five largest liquidity figures in the sample. Editorial, not advice.

Updated July 2026

What is open interest on Polymarket?

Open interest is the value of positions still held, so unlike cumulative volume it can fall and it hits zero at resolution. Covers how it differs from volume and liquidity, the dated public figures from the $1.066bn February 2026 milestone to the $1.48bn record in the week ending June 15, 2026, and the World Cup stretch where Polymarket volume rose about 300 percent while its open interest stayed flat. Editorial, not advice.

Updated July 2026

How many people use Polymarket?

Published Polymarket audience figures count wallets, not verified people, and they swing hard with the news cycle. Covers the monthly active trader series and its October 2025 and February 2026 highs, why three common user counts disagree, and what Pew Research Center's July 2026 study of 11,989 active wallets found about trade frequency, trade size, and net outcomes. Editorial, not advice.

Updated July 2026

How time to resolution affects Polymarket prices

A price only moves on a trade at a new level, never from time passing alone. Covers why the flow of decisive news tends to pick up near a resolution date, why multi-outcome fields narrow toward their frontrunners as rivals are eliminated, why a genuinely close market can still move sharply right up to the end, and why this is only a loose analogy to an option's time decay. Editorial, not advice.

How Polymarket spreads compare to sportsbook vig

Sportsbook vig prices both sides of a line above true probability by design, so a pair of -110 lines sums to about 104.5 percent. A Polymarket Yes and No share are complementary claims on one dollar, bound by arbitrage to sum close to a dollar, so the real costs are the bid-ask spread and any trading fees rather than a built-in margin. Structural description only, never a recommendation between platforms. Editorial, not advice.

How order book depth varies by market size on Polymarket

Depth is the size resting at or near the current price, a different figure from lifetime volume or headline liquidity. Covers why high volume does not guarantee deep books, live liquidity examples from a flagship market against thin regional legs, why long-tail names in a multi-outcome field carry the thinnest depth, and how to read a published liquidity figure as a proxy. Editorial, not advice.

How Polymarket resolves ties and ambiguous outcomes

Most ties are handled in advance by how a market's rules are written, defining a margin threshold as No directly. Covers the rare fifty-fifty resolution used for cancelled or genuinely ambiguous events, how that decision still runs through the UMA proposer, challenge window, and token-holder vote, and why ambiguity clusters in political and long-horizon markets more than in sports. Editorial, not advice.

What is tick size on Polymarket?

Tick size is the smallest allowed price increment on an order book. Covers why a one-cent tick is a large relative move on a market priced near zero, live examples of sub-cent pricing already visible in Polymarket's own data, how tick size sets a floor on the minimum bid-ask spread, and why it is one of several small frictions behind a negative risk field's sum landing near but not exactly on a dollar. Editorial, not advice.

What is a multi-outcome market on Polymarket?

A multi-outcome event lists a separate Yes/No market for each named outcome under one question, such as one candidate or one team. Covers how that differs from a single binary market, why multi-outcome is a shape while negative risk is a specific contractual link between legs, a live French presidential field as an example, and why long tails of near-zero legs are a sign of completeness, not error. Editorial, not advice.

How crypto price markets resolve on Polymarket

A longer threshold question resolves like most Polymarket markets, through a proposer and the UMA Optimistic Oracle. A five-minute Bitcoin contract instead settles directly against a Chainlink price feed reading at the window's close. Covers live examples of both styles, why a single-instant reference behaves differently from a certified result or a game score, and Polymarket's stated move toward longer settlement windows. Editorial, not advice.

How sports markets differ from political markets on Polymarket

Both categories price a Yes/No contract as implied probability, but a game resolves within minutes of an official score while an election waits on certification that can take weeks. Covers live examples of a single-game market against a season-long championship field, how each category structures a multi-outcome event, and the documented gap in wash-trading share between sports and crypto volume. Editorial, not advice.

How election markets price on Polymarket

An election contract prices exactly like any other Yes/No market, but the event around it is usually a wide multi-candidate field and the resolution clock runs on certification rather than an early projection. Covers a live French presidential field as an example, why one candidate's price move mechanically affects the rest of the field, and why a price can sit at an extreme for days before a market actually settles. Editorial, not advice.

What currency does Polymarket use?

A plain answer to what currency Polymarket uses: the original on-chain market denominates every trade in USDC, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle and settled on Polygon, while the separate CFTC-regulated Polymarket US venue cash-settles in ordinary US dollars. Covers why USDC is the settlement asset, how the 2026 pUSD collateral wrapper sits underneath the balance as an ERC-20 that represents a one-for-one USDC claim enforced on-chain by the CollateralOnramp and CollateralOfframp contracts, a side-by-side of USDC, pUSD, and US dollars, why the stablecoin denomination makes share prices read as implied probability in cents, and why a dollar-pegged stablecoin is not an FDIC-insured deposit. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Does Polymarket have an app?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket has an app: yes, an official native app on both iOS and Android, published under the Polymarket developer account, alongside a fully functional mobile website. Covers the two regulatory tracks the apps mirror, the iPhone app's roughly 4.7-star App Store rating across 31,000-plus ratings with Face ID login and push notifications, the Android app's slower, waitlisted rollout near 3.8 stars, the US iOS app dropping its access waitlist on May 12, 2026 with sports first, how first login deploys a proxy wallet, the copycat apps to distinguish by developer name, and why reading the public market data needs no app at all. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

What is negative risk on Polymarket?

Negative risk is Polymarket's mechanism for multi-outcome events where exactly one option can end up true. Its defining property, per Polymarket's documentation, is that a No share in one leg converts into one Yes share in every other leg of the same event, handled by the Neg Risk Adapter contract, so the Yes prices across a complete field should sum to roughly one dollar. Covers why that conversion follows from mutual exclusivity, how negative risk differs from a plain multi-outcome event, how the negRisk flag on the Gamma API identifies it, a live check against our 2026-07-17 snapshot where the sixteen legs of the next Prime Minister of Israel field summed to 99.6 cents, the partial-field trap demonstrated with our own truncated 2028 Democratic nomination data, why one leg moves when a rival leg moves, and why an apparent gap in a sum is not free money once spreads, fees, depth, and execution time are counted. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Can anyone create a market on Polymarket?

A plain answer to whether anyone can create a market on Polymarket: no. Polymarket's help center states that markets are created by the markets team with input from users and the community, and that users cannot directly create their own markets but are encouraged to suggest ideas. Covers how a suggestion actually travels, the three things the team weighs (a clear title, a resolution source, evidence of demand), why the UMA optimistic oracle makes loose wording expensive and therefore makes curation necessary, why splitting one event across many user-written questions thins every order book involved, how Manifold, Limitless, and Kalshi each answer the same question differently, and why deploying a condition against the public Gnosis conditional token contracts on Polygon is not the same as creating a Polymarket market. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

How long does Polymarket take to pay out?

A plain answer to how long Polymarket takes to pay out: most markets settle within a few hours of the event. Covers the two clocks that run in sequence, the resolution clock set by the roughly two-hour UMA challenge window, and the near-instant withdrawal clock. Explains why a disputed outcome stretches the timeline to forty-eight to ninety-six hours through a UMA token-holder vote, how withdrawal speed depends on the network rather than a platform queue, seconds on Polygon and a few minutes on Ethereum with no withdrawal fee, why only a cash balance can be withdrawn, and how redeeming a resolved position differs from selling early. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Can Polymarket be manipulated?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket can be manipulated: yes, in three documented ways that each attack a different component of the market rather than price discovery itself. Covers settlement manipulation on five-minute Bitcoin contracts, where a July 2026 Stanford and Singapore Management University working paper flagged 821 traders and about $8.2M of profit from moving the Binance spot price seconds before a Chainlink settlement timestamp; UMA oracle governance capture in the March 2025 Ukraine minerals market and the July 2025 Zelenskyy suit market; and wash trading, estimated by a November 2025 Columbia paper at roughly 25 percent of volume over three years and 45 percent in sports. Also why a large position is not manipulation, and why the documented patterns cluster where the accuracy record is weakest. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Can you cash out early on Polymarket?

A plain answer to whether you can cash out early on Polymarket: yes. A position is not locked until resolution, so a holder can close it any time the market is open by trading the shares back into the central limit order book at the current price, either with a market order that fills against the best resting bid or a limit order that waits for a match. Covers the price you receive as the live implied probability minus the spread, why thin liquidity can leave a position hard to exit at the price on screen, the small discount near resolution versus claiming the full settlement value, how proceeds land in your pUSD cash balance almost immediately, and why cashing out a position differs from withdrawing money off the platform. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Can you lose more than you invest on Polymarket?

A plain answer to whether you can lose more than you invest on Polymarket: on the standard market, no. Each share is priced between 0 and 1 US dollar and settles at 1 or 0, positions are fully collateralized in USDC, and there is no leverage or margin call, so a balance cannot fall below zero and you cannot owe the platform beyond your stake. Covers why a share can only fall to zero, how this differs from margin and futures, the July 2026 margin filing that was pending rather than live, why fees and the spread cannot push you past your stake, and why most accounts still end up down even though each position is capped. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Do you pay taxes on Polymarket?

A plain answer to whether you pay taxes on Polymarket: in the US profit is generally taxable even though Polymarket issues no 1099 and the IRS has published no prediction-market-specific guidance as of 2026. Covers the three frameworks accountants use, capital gains, gambling income, and the catch-all other-income route, plus the Section 1256 argument for the CFTC-regulated US venue, the 2026 One Big Beautiful Bill Act cap that limits gambling loss deductions to 90 percent of winnings, why USDC counts as property, how to reconstruct records from on-chain data, and the non-US picture. Description only, never tax advice.

Updated July 2026

Does Polymarket have a token?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket has a token as of July 2026: no native token has launched and no airdrop has been formally announced, despite an October 2025 CEO post teasing $POLY and executive comments that a token and airdrop are intended. Covers what the help center says, why regulatory readiness after the December 2025 US relaunch and ICE-backed equity funding remove the pressure to launch, how a token differs from company equity and the USDC and outcome tokens that already exist, and how to recognize the fake POLY airdrop scams that fill the gap. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

What is a Polymarket proxy wallet?

A plain answer to what a Polymarket proxy wallet is: the smart contract account, technically a Gnosis Safe with you as the only signer, that Polymarket deploys on Polygon the first time you log in to hold your USDC and outcome-token positions. Covers the two ways it is created (email or Magic login versus a connected browser wallet), why the funded address differs from your signer key, how the relayer makes trading gasless, why it stays non-custodial, and why the address on our leaderboard is a proxy wallet. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Is Polymarket anonymous?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket is anonymous as of 2026: the original on-chain market is pseudonymous, not anonymous, so you sign up with an email, a Google login, or a wallet under no real name, yet every trade is recorded permanently on the public Polygon blockchain under your wallet address. Covers the proxy wallet, public profile handles, how on-ramps and off-ramps de-anonymise a wallet, and why the regulated Polymarket US venue verifies identity outright. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Which countries can use Polymarket?

A plain answer to which countries can use Polymarket as of 2026: roughly 45 restricted jurisdictions against a hundred-plus with no listed restriction, and why most of the restricted set, including the US, the UK, France, and Germany, is close-only rather than fully blocked. Covers the OFAC-sanctioned complete-block tier, why Polymarket's own help center and API reference disagree, the state-ordered ISP block in Argentina that Polymarket did not impose, and why reading the data is restricted nowhere. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Does Polymarket have an API?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket has an API: three free public services, the Gamma API for markets and events, the Data API for wallet positions and trades, and the CLOB API for the order book, with no authentication on the first two and a key required only to place orders. Covers what free really means here, the limits of the prices-history endpoint, why published rate limits are unreliable, and what the endpoints make visible about wallets. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Is Polymarket safe?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket is safe as of 2026: why the original market is non-custodial with audited, unbreached core contracts, what the May 2026 operations-wallet exploit did and did not touch, the account-level phishing and third-party-login risks that hit real users, why balances are not FDIC or SIPC insured, and how the regulated Polymarket US venue differs. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

How to read Polymarket odds

A plain answer to how to read Polymarket odds: a share price in cents reads directly as an implied probability, and converts with simple arithmetic into the decimal, American, and fractional odds a sportsbook quotes. Includes a price-to-odds conversion table and why volume and liquidity decide how much weight a price deserves. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Polymarket vs Coinbase, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Coinbase prediction markets as of 2026: an on-chain USDC market on Polygon with a central limit order book, UMA-oracle resolution, and publicly inspectable activity versus Coinbase's event contracts, which rolled out to eligible US customers in late January 2026, are offered through Coinbase Financial Markets as a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, are powered by Kalshi's CFTC-regulated exchange, cash-settle in US dollars, sit behind a verified Coinbase account, and are limited to eligible US residents. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated July 2026

What is a Polymarket whale?

A plain answer to what a Polymarket whale is: a wallet trading unusually large notional, why the term is a convention rather than an official rank, the rough size bands people use, why a large trade can move a thin market but not a deep one, why the activity is public on-chain, and how to read it on the whale-trades feed and the traders leaderboard. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

What is a Polymarket order book?

A plain answer to what a Polymarket order book is and how to read it: bids, asks, the spread, and market depth on a central limit order book; market orders versus limit orders; makers, takers, and liquidity rewards; and why the YES and NO books mirror each other. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Polymarket vs Futuur, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Futuur as of 2026: an on-chain USDC market on Polygon with a central limit order book, UMA-oracle resolution, and publicly inspectable activity versus Futuur, the centralized prediction market that has run play-money markets since 2017 and added real-money markets in December 2021 under a Curacao gaming license, prices contracts through an LS-LMSR automated market maker instead of an order book, settles real money in cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, and USDC, and is available across much of the world but not the US, Australia, Colombia, or the Netherlands. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated July 2026

Polymarket vs Smarkets, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Smarkets as of 2026: an on-chain USDC prediction market on Polygon with publicly inspectable activity and UMA-oracle resolution versus Smarkets, the low-commission peer-to-peer betting exchange founded in 2008, licensed by the UK Gambling Commission and the Malta Gaming Authority, that quotes decimal odds, charges a 2 percent base commission on net winnings with 1 percent Pro and 3 percent Select tiers, focuses on sports and racing plus politics, and in March 2026 filed CFTC applications for US designated contract market and clearing organization licenses backed by Susquehanna. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated July 2026

How to tell if a Polymarket market looks mispriced

The free way to tell whether a Polymarket price looks mispriced: read it as an implied probability, then run four no-account checks against a historical base rate, another venue's price, the volume and liquidity behind it, and the YES-plus-NO sum. Why a price that looks unusual is a market worth a second look, not proof the market is wrong. Description only, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Polymarket vs Augur, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Augur as of 2026: a live on-chain USDC market on Polygon with large daily volume and UMA-oracle resolution versus Augur, the 2015 to 2020 era pioneer that ran on Ethereum, settled in DAI, and resolved through a REP-staked reporting oracle, whose retail exchange wound down and that, under the Lituus Foundation, is rebuilding as a modular oracle called Augur Lituus with a REP token migration staged across the summer of 2026. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Sporttrade, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Sporttrade as of 2026: a live on-chain USDC market on Polygon with publicly inspectable activity and broad event coverage versus Sporttrade, a sports-only peer-to-peer betting exchange that priced contracts from zero to one hundred dollars and charged a two percent commission on net profit, ran under state licenses in five states from 2022, then ceased its US online wagering in May 2026 and filed CFTC applications to relaunch as a federally regulated designated contract market and clearing organization. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Novig, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Novig as of 2026: an on-chain USDC market on Polygon with publicly inspectable activity and broad event coverage versus Novig, a sports-only peer-to-peer exchange whose no-vig model charges retail traders no commission, that ran first under a Colorado sports-wagering license and then a sweepstakes model before winning a CFTC designated-contract-market approval in June 2026, with a nationwide rollout targeted for that summer and $75M in Series B backing led by Pantera Capital. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs ForecastEx, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and ForecastEx as of 2026: an on-chain USDC market on Polygon with publicly inspectable activity and UMA-oracle resolution versus ForecastEx, the CFTC-regulated designated contract market run by Interactive Brokers, where binary forecast contracts cash-settle in US dollars, every contract is fully collateralized, posted collateral earns an interest coupon recently near 3.8 percent, fees are a cent per side, and the catalogue is centered on macroeconomic, political, and weather questions. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Crypto.com, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Crypto.com prediction markets as of 2026: an on-chain USDC market on Polygon with publicly inspectable activity and UMA-oracle resolution versus Crypto.com's CFTC-regulated event contracts, run through Crypto.com Derivatives North America, that cash-settle in US dollars inside the app, launched the first US-regulated sports event contracts in December 2024, and are sports-led while also covering politics and finance. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

How does Polymarket make money?

A plain answer to how Polymarket makes money as of 2026: years with no trading fees, then category-based taker fees rolled out through 2026 with a share rebated to makers, plus a real-time data feed licensed to institutions and distributed via Intercontinental Exchange. Geopolitical markets stay fee-free. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs FanDuel, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and FanDuel Predicts as of 2026: an on-chain USDC market on Polygon with publicly inspectable activity and UMA-oracle resolution versus FanDuel's CFTC-regulated event-contract product, launched with CME Group on December 22, 2025, that lists contracts on CME exchanges, cash-settles in US dollars, charges a 2 percent fee, is sports-led at launch, and limits sports contracts to states where FanDuel runs no sportsbook. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs DraftKings, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and DraftKings Predictions as of 2026: an on-chain USDC market on Polygon with publicly inspectable activity and UMA-oracle resolution versus DraftKings' CFTC-regulated event-contract app, launched December 2025, that settles in US dollars, is weighted toward sports, runs through a designated contract market with DraftKings as introducing broker, and is live in around 40 US states. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Betfair, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and the Betfair Exchange as of 2026: an on-chain USDC prediction market that prices events from zero to one dollar across politics, crypto, and more, versus a licensed peer-to-peer betting exchange focused on sports and racing with traditional back-and-lay odds, a 5 percent commission, and an Expert Fee on large lifetime profits. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Limitless, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Limitless as of 2026: an established USDC market on Polygon with UMA-oracle resolution versus a newer Base-native challenger built around hourly markets, a central limit order book, Chainlink Data Streams resolution, and a points/token program, on chains, fees, regulator status, and access. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

How concentrated are Polymarket profits?

An original-data look at how concentrated realized profit is among the most active Polymarket wallets we score: the share that are net positive on realized P&L, how much of the gains the very top wallets hold, the median hit rate, and how many lean heavily on extreme-price contracts. Figures are dated and update as we rescore. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Who actually wins on Polymarket?

A plain summary of the research on who wins and who loses on Polymarket: across $67 billion of volume and 2.4 million users, the top 1% captured about 76.5% of gains while roughly 69% of users ended with a loss, liquidity provision predicted profit better than anything else, and performance was only modestly persistent. Description of findings, never advice.

Updated July 2026

Makers vs takers on Polymarket

The difference between posting a limit order (a maker, who adds liquidity and earns the spread) and crossing the book with a market order (a taker, who removes liquidity and pays it). Why the research identifies liquidity provision as the strongest single predictor of positive performance. Editorial, not advice.

Updated June 2026

Why most Polymarket traders lose

A plain answer to why most Polymarket traders lose money: contracts are zero-sum, gains are captured by a small minority, takers pay the spread on every market order, and extreme-price bets tend to underperform their prices. What the $67 billion study observed about the distribution of outcomes. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Does Polymarket skill persist?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket performance persists: month-to-month persistence is only modest and is concentrated among limit-order traders, while large numbers of users, including many top performers, stop trading within months, so the active population is constantly reshaped. Why a hot streak is weak evidence of durable skill. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

How spreads and fees affect profit

How transaction costs decide outcomes on Polymarket: takers pay the bid-ask spread on every market order while makers earn it, and the research found that removing even the minimum-tick spread would move roughly one in five losers to non-negative. What the spread and the category-based taker fee actually cost. Editorial, not advice.

Updated June 2026

Is Polymarket gambling?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket is gambling as of 2026: why the CFTC classifies event contracts as financial derivatives rather than games of chance, why several state gaming regulators argue the same contracts resemble wagering, and the structural differences from a casino or sportsbook. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Who owns Polymarket?

A plain answer to who owns Polymarket as of 2026: privately held, founded in 2020 by CEO Shayne Coplan as its largest individual shareholder, backed by venture investors such as Founders Fund and Polychain and angels including Vitalik Buterin, plus a 2025 strategic investment of up to $2B from Intercontinental Exchange, the NYSE owner. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Is Polymarket legit?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket is legit as of 2026: a real, well-funded company founded in 2020, a CFTC-regulated US entity launched December 2025 alongside the original on-chain market, the 2022 to 2025 regulatory history, and the resolution disputes critics raise. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

How accurate is Polymarket?

A plain answer to how accurate Polymarket is as a probability source: what calibration means, Polymarket's self-published Brier score near 0.06, why liquid near-resolution markets are far more accurate than thin ones, and what a Vanderbilt study of the 2024 election found. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Is Polymarket legal in the US?

A plain answer to whether Polymarket is legal in the US as of 2026: the CFTC-regulated Polymarket US relaunch on December 2, 2025, how it differs from the geoblocked original on-chain market, and the state-level limits such as Nevada. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket fees explained

A plain answer to how Polymarket fees work as of 2026: a category-based taker fee that peaks near a 50 cent price and shrinks toward the tails, no fee for makers who add liquidity, fee-free geopolitical markets, no platform deposit or withdrawal fee, and a separate US-exchange schedule. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Robinhood, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Robinhood event contracts as of 2026: an on-chain USDC market on Polygon with public wallet activity versus event contracts routed to CFTC-regulated exchanges from inside the Robinhood app, on regulation, settlement, fees, regions, and data visibility. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Myriad Markets, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Myriad Markets as of 2026: an established on-chain USDC market on Polygon versus a newer, media-integrated multichain market with both free points and real-money USDC markets, fees, chains, and resolution. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Why do Polymarket prices move?

The mechanics behind a moving implied probability: news being absorbed, orders walking a book, thin liquidity amplifying small trades, and prices drifting toward zero or one as resolution nears. Editorial, not advice.

Volume vs liquidity on Polymarket

Volume is what has already changed hands; liquidity is what sits in the book to absorb new orders. What each figure measures, the four combinations they form, and why both appear next to every market on this site. Editorial, not advice.

The favorite-longshot bias, explained

One of the oldest findings in the study of wagering and prediction markets: prices in the deep tails tend to overstate how often long shots actually happen. Where the pattern was documented, the leading explanations, and what a study of $67 billion of Polymarket volume found about heavy extreme-price exposure. Editorial, not advice.

Updated June 2026

What is a prediction market?

A plain answer to what a prediction market is: a venue where the live price of a yes-or-no contract reads as the crowd's implied probability of an event, how that differs from a poll or a model, how accurate they are, and the main types. Editorial, not advice.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Metaculus, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Metaculus as of 2026: a real-money on-chain market versus a free, reputation-based forecasting platform, how each turns opinions into a probability, resolution, fees, and regions. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

How does Polymarket resolve markets?

How Polymarket settles a market: the UMA Optimistic Oracle, the proposer bond, the two-hour challenge window, dispute escalation to a token-holder vote, and 50/50 resolutions, as of 2026. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Manifold Markets, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Manifold Markets as of 2026: real-money USDC versus play-money Mana, who creates markets, fees, regulator status, regions, and resolution source. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs PredictIt, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and PredictIt as of 2026: regulator and legal status, what each can list, settlement, fees, position limits, regions, and resolution source. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

How to track Polymarket whale activity for free

What a Polymarket whale is, and three free ways to read large-wallet activity: an editorial reading desk, real-time dashboards, and a block explorer, compared as of 2026. Description only, never advice.

Updated June 2026

Polymarket vs Kalshi, explained

A factual side-by-side of Polymarket and Kalshi as of 2026: regulator and legal status, settlement, fees, available regions, and resolution source. Description only, never a recommendation.

Updated June 2026

What is Polymarket and how does it work?

A plain answer to what Polymarket is and how it works: YES and NO shares priced as probabilities, USDC on Polygon, how resolution settles, and how to read the figures. Editorial, not advice.

Updated June 2026

How to read implied probability on Polymarket

What a price in cents actually says about an outcome, why a market near resolution can still trade in a tail, and how to read these numbers as observations rather than guidance.