Polymarket bids farewell to the zero-fee era: What does the fee structure reform mean?

On March 26, the prediction market platform Polymarket announced a major policy change: starting March 30, it will impose a Taker (order-taking) fee on almost all trading categories for the first time. This means that, a few days from now, the era in which you can bet on Polymarket without paying more than the wager amount in fees will come to an end.

1. Comparison of Polymarket fees before and after the adjustment

Polymarket explains the fee structure in detail in its official documentation.

Polymarket charges a small trading fee on certain markets. These fees are used to fund a market maker rebate program. Each day, the program redistributes part of the fees back to market makers to incentivize them to provide more liquidity and narrow the bid-ask spread.

Geopolitical and world events markets are exempt from fees. Polymarket does not charge any fees or profits from trading activity in these markets. In addition, Polymarket does not charge USDC deposit or withdrawal fees (though intermediaries such as Coinbase or MoonPay may charge their own fees).

1. Current fee rates

At present, only crypto and sports markets have enabled taker fees.

2. New fee rates

Starting March 30, 2026, the fee parameters will expand to cover more market categories and use updated fee rates.

Fees are calculated using the following formula:

fee = C × p × feeRate × (p × (1 - p))^exponent

Where C = the number of shares traded, and p = the share price. Fee parameters vary by market category:

Trading fees are denominated in USDC and vary with the share price. However, taker fees for buy orders are charged in shares, while taker fees for sell orders are charged in USDC. The effective fee rate reaches its peak at a 50% probability and symmetrically decreases toward both ends.

Fees are rounded to four decimal places. The minimum fee is 0.0001 USDC. Any trade smaller than this amount is rounded to zero, so extremely small trades near the extreme values may end up paying no fees at all.

When the contract price is close to a 50-50 split, the fee is highest, because this represents the greatest uncertainty. Once the outcome becomes clearer, the fee gradually drops to zero. Therefore, contract fees for prices of 0.02 USD or 0.98 USD are almost negligible. Any contract priced at 0.50 USD will reach the peak fee.

Fee rates also differ across categories. The crypto category has the highest fee rate, up to 1.80%. Economics is about 1.50%, culture and weather are 1.25%, politics is 1.0%, and sports has the lowest fee rate at 0.75%.

3. Handling API user fees

Using the SDK

The official CLOB client automatically handles fees—it fetches the fee rate and includes it in the signed order payload.

Actions automatically executed by the client:

1. Fetch the fee rate for the market token ID;

2. Include feeRateBps in the order structure;

3. Sign the order that includes the fees.

No additional action is required. Orders also work normally in markets where fees are enabled.

Using the REST API

If you call the REST API directly or build and sign your own orders, you must manually include the fee rate in the payload of the signed order. Step 1: Before creating the order, get the fee rate for the token ID;

Step 2: Add feeRateBps to your order object. This value is part of the signed payload—CLOB verifies your signature based on it.

Step three: Sign and submit:

1. Before signing, make sure the order object with feeRateBps is included;

2. Sign the complete order;

3. Send a POST request to the order endpoint.

4. How much revenue will Polymarket’s fees generate?

1. Changes in Polymarket revenue

According to a report jointly released by Keyrock and Dune, in 2025 Polymarket trading volume was $21.5 billion. It processed 95 million trades (about 54% of cumulative volume), and its monthly trading volume grew from about 45,000 trades to about 19 million trades (a 421x increase).

Based on data compiled from a certain exchange on Dune, since some markets began charging trading fees on January 6, Polymarket has accumulated approximately $7.94 million in fee income, of which February’s fee income was about $4.99 million. (The markets where Polymarket charges fees include “15-minute crypto price volatility” as well as sports markets such as Serie A and NCAA.)

Over the past 30 days, Polymarket’s trading volume was about $9.55 billion. At the current trading-volume level, assuming the effective blended taker fee rate, that implies monthly revenue of about $25 million, annualized revenue of about $300 million, or daily revenue of about $833,000.

2. Changes in Polymarket valuation

Some analysts believe the current revenue level will help sustain Polymarket’s valuation, which is currently approaching $20 billion. A year earlier, its valuation was about $1.2 billion.

Specifically, based on data disclosed by Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan: in 2024, when Blockchain Capital led a $55 million funding round, the company’s valuation was $350 million; in 2025, when Founders Fund led a $150 million funding round, the company’s valuation was $1.2 billion; later that same year in October, Intercontinental Exchange Group invested $2.0 billion in Polymarket, with post-investment valuation of about $9.0 billion; at the end of October, Polymarket also held preliminary talks with investors for a new investment with a valuation between $12 billion and $15 billion.

According to the latest data from PM Insights: as of January 19, 2026, Polymarket’s implied valuation reached $11.6 billion.

3. Changes in Polymarket’s PS multiple (price-to-sales)

Using February’s fee income of approximately $4.99 million as a reference, the current annual revenue is $59.88 million, and the current valuation is $11.6 billion. With Polymarket’s fee level after the change, the annual revenue would be about $300 million. Assuming the valuation remains unchanged, the PS multiple (price-to-sales) would drop from 193.7x to 38.7x.

(PS multiple (price-to-sales) = company market value ÷ company operating revenue—i.e., “how much the market is willing to pay for $1 of the company’s revenue.”)

Against the backdrop of the current 193.7x price-to-sales multiple, Polymarket’s future must involve explosive user growth, monopolizing prediction markets, and becoming the global information pricing infrastructure. But with challenges such as regulation and user stickiness, can Polymarket truly support a 193.7x price-to-sales multiple? Going forward, once revenue reaches $300 million, Polymarket’s valuation will at least appear more reasonable.

Polymarket will gradually convert its inflated valuation—built on storytelling—into a valuation supported by real revenue.

3. Will Polymarket’s adjustment affect user stickiness?

Polymarket’s added fees will also be used for structural updates. The maker rebate program will return the collected fees to liquidity providers in the form of daily USDC payments. This is intended to deepen markets and reduce spreads.

For example, political market makers will receive a 25% rebate of the fees collected for their category. This mechanism should create a healthier ecosystem: market makers will post more accurate quotes, the fees paid by traders will decrease, and overall liquidity will improve.

If user volume can be maintained after the fee policy is implemented, then Polymarket can successfully convert free users into paying users without losing users. Conversely, if user volume drops significantly, it will be unfavorable for Polymarket’s growth.

But for now, it seems users will continue to use Polymarket and won’t abandon Polymarket because of the fees.