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Updated September 25, 2026 · facts checked against the dated sources listed below
Mostly from trading fees: in 2026 Polymarket.com began charging takers, the traders whose orders fill at once, a fee on most markets, while makers pay nothing and get part of the fees back as rebates. Its US exchange, Polymarket US, has its own fee schedule, and the company also has data and media deals whose terms are mostly private. Investors such as Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which has put in $1.6 billion, fund its growth, but that money is capital, not revenue.
Polymarket's documentation gives the taker fee as shares × fee rate × p × (1 − p), where p is the share price in dollars. A taker order fills at once against orders already on the book; a maker order rests on the book until someone else fills it, and makers are never charged. Because of the p × (1 − p) term, the fee in dollars is largest at 50 cents and shrinks toward 1 cent and 99 cents.
As of September 25, 2026, the documented rates were 0.07 for crypto; 0.05 for sports, economics, culture, weather and other markets; and 0.04 for finance, politics, mentions and tech. At those rates, buying 100 shares at 50 cents costs $1.75, $1.25 or $1.00 in fees. Geopolitics and world-events markets are fee-free, and Polymarket's help center says it does not profit from trading on them. Polymarket charges nothing to deposit or withdraw USDC, although a wallet or exchange used on the way may charge its own fee.
See also: Polymarket fee calculator and live rates by category · Maker and taker
Until 2026, Polymarket did not charge users to trade, as The Block noted when the first fees appeared. On January 5, 2026, Polymarket's changelog switched on taker fees for 15-minute crypto markets, with fees highest at a 50% price. College basketball and Serie A markets followed on February 18, and new hourly, daily and weekly crypto markets carried fees from March 6.
On March 30, 2026, a “Fee Structure V2” extended fees to crypto, sports, finance, politics, economics, culture, weather, tech, mentions and other markets created from that date, while geopolitics stayed free. On July 10, 2026, the sports rate rose from 0.03 to 0.05 and the sports maker rebate fell from 25% to 15%. Because rates change and older markets can keep older schedules, check the fee shown on a market before trading.
Taker fees fund a maker rebate program: each day, makers whose orders were filled share 15% to 25% of the taker fees, depending on the category, at Polymarket's discretion. Since May 28, 2026, takers can also get 3% to 50% of their fees back, depending on their 30-day volume; referrers receive 10% of the net fees of users they bring in, for 30 days; and a variable holding reward, 3.25% a year as of June 2026, is paid on positions in selected long-dated markets. So Polymarket keeps less than the headline fee.
See also: Polymarket APY and holding rewards calculator
US residents cannot trade on Polymarket.com; they use Polymarket US, a separate app with its own accounts, run by QCX LLC, a CFTC-designated contract market. Polymarket bought the exchange and its clearinghouse, together called QCEX, for $112 million in July 2025, and in November 2025 the CFTC approved an amended order that lets brokers and futures commission merchants bring customers to it.
Its fee schedule, effective September 25, 2026, charges takers 0.0695 × contracts × p × (1 − p), at most $1.74 per 100 contracts at 50 cents, and pays makers a rebate of 0.0125 × contracts × p × (1 − p); takers with $250,000 or more of monthly volume get 10% to 50% back. A March 6, 2026 filing with the CFTC shows an earlier model in which takers paid 0.30% of the contract premium.
See also: Polymarket US: is Polymarket legal in the US? · Designated contract market
ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, said in October 2025 that it would distribute Polymarket's event-driven data globally, and in February 2026 it launched a Polymarket Signals and Sentiment product for institutional investors. Dow Jones agreed in January 2026 to show Polymarket data in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's and MarketWatch, and Google began adding Polymarket and Kalshi odds to Search and Google Finance in November 2025.
Polymarket has also signed partner deals with X (June 2025), the NHL (October 2025), UFC owner TKO (November 2025) and Major League Baseball (March 2026). None disclosed financial terms, and money can flow the other way: Front Office Sports quoted unnamed sources saying Polymarket pays MLB, with figures from about $150 million to $300 million. How much the data deals earn is not public.
Polymarket is private and publishes no audited accounts. Reuters reported on June 26, 2026, citing a source familiar with the matter, that its annualized revenue had passed $1 billion, and CoinDesk wrote in August that Polymarket had told CNBC the figure was well above $1 billion. Those are run rates, not annual results, and no profit figures have been disclosed.
Polymarket raised $4 million in a round led by Polychain Capital in October 2020. In May 2024 it announced a $45 million Series B led by Founders Fund, with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin among the investors, and an earlier $25 million Series A led by General Catalyst.
ICE said on October 7, 2025 that it would invest up to $2 billion, valuing Polymarket at about $8 billion before the money. It put in $1 billion that month and $600 million in March 2026, as part of a round that closed in April 2026 at a $15 billion valuation, according to CoinDesk and Bloomberg. Bloomberg reported on August 31, 2026 that 1789 Capital was leading a $1 billion raise at a $21 billion valuation; the sources we checked had not confirmed it as closed by September 25, 2026.
Polymarket's documentation says it does not set prices: they emerge as users trade with each other on an order book, so its trading income comes from fees on volume, not from which side wins. For traders, a resting limit order pays no fee, and fees weigh most on cheap long shots, because as a share of the stake the fee equals the rate × (1 − p): at a 0.04 rate that is 3.6% of the stake at 10 cents but 0.4% at 90 cents. This is educational information, not financial advice.
See also: How to read a Polymarket order book
Yes, on most markets since 2026. Takers pay shares × fee rate × p × (1 − p), with rates of 0.04 to 0.07 by category as of September 25, 2026. Makers pay nothing, and geopolitics and world-events markets are fee-free.
No. Its documentation says prices come from users trading with each other on an order book, and its trading income is the fee charged on trades, whichever side wins.
It does not say. Polymarket is private and publishes no audited results; the figures reported in 2026 are revenue run rates of more than $1 billion a year, with no profit numbers.
Disclosed investors include Intercontinental Exchange, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Polychain Capital, D.E. Shaw, G Squared and 1789 Capital. ICE's $1.6 billion is the largest disclosed investment.
Polymarket says it charges no fee to deposit or withdraw USDC on Polymarket.com, though intermediaries may charge their own. Polymarket US says withdrawals are free.
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