Polymarket review 2026

What is Polymarket US?

Polymarket US is the CFTC-regulated US exchange of Polymarket, the prediction-market brand best known for its international crypto site. You trade yes/no event contracts on sports, politics, crypto and more in US dollars, and it’s #4 in our ranking of the best prediction markets in the US.

The exchange, QCX LLC, was designated a contract market by the CFTC on July 9, 2025, and trades clear through its own clearinghouse, QC Clearing LLC. Polymarket bought both, then known as QCEX, for $112 million in July 2025, after the Justice Department and the CFTC closed their investigations, according to Covers. You deal with the exchange directly, not through a broker.

The international site, polymarket.com, runs on the USDC stablecoin and lists the United States as “close-only”: US users can close existing positions but can’t open new ones. For US residents, Polymarket US is the only way in.

Polymarket was founded in New York in 2020 by its CEO, Shayne Coplan, but the US app is new: it opened to invited users in December 2025 and dropped its iOS waitlist on May 12, 2026. It traded about $8.5 billion in September 2026, according to DeFi Rate data, while Kalshi handled about $53 billion through September 29, according to The Block. New to the format? Read how prediction markets work.

Is Polymarket legal in the US?

Yes, through Polymarket US, which is regulated by the CFTC. As of September 30, 2026, its App Store listing says trading is unavailable only in Nevada, where a court has blocked it. Some third-party guides list up to eight more excluded states, and several states are challenging it in court, so check the app for what’s offered where you are.

The underlying question is whether federal commodities law overrides state gambling laws for sports contracts. As of September 30, 2026, federal appeals courts are split: the Third Circuit sided with Kalshi against New Jersey, while the Ninth Circuit (Nevada) and the Sixth Circuit (Ohio and Tennessee) sided with the states. Three petitions from other platforms are pending at the Supreme Court, and none has been granted.

Our guide to whether prediction markets are legal tracks the cases.

Federal registration doesn’t override a court order in your state. Trade only what the app offers where you are, and don’t use a VPN to reach Polymarket US from Nevada or polymarket.com from the US.

What can you trade on Polymarket US?

Polymarket US lists sports, politics, crypto, economics, weather, tech and culture markets, including 2026 midterm House and Senate races as of September 30, 2026.

• Sports: NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, college sports, tennis, golf and more, with winner, spread, total, futures and player prop contracts.
• Combos: 2 to 10 legs in one position. Every leg must win, and a leg that can’t be resolved settles at its last fair market price.
• Trading tools: limit orders that stay open until cancelled, no exchange-imposed size limits, and REST, WebSocket and FIX APIs.

Trading runs nearly 24/7, apart from maintenance on Thursdays from 6am to 8am ET. Contracts are fully collateralized, and there’s no interest on cash or positions, unlike at Kalshi and Interactive Brokers’ ForecastEx.

Polymarket US resolves its own markets using publicly verifiable information, and its decisions are final. The international site instead uses the UMA Optimistic Oracle, with a $750 bond and a two-hour challenge window.

Polymarket US fees

Polymarket US charges takers slightly less than Kalshi and pays makers a rebate. Under the schedule effective September 25, 2026, takers pay at most 1.74¢ per contract, makers earn up to 0.31¢, and deposits and withdrawals are free.

The taker fee is 0.0695 × contracts × price × (1 − price) and the maker rebate 0.0125 × the same, rounded to the nearest cent, so both peak at a 50¢ price. Combos carry an extra taker charge. Here’s how the fee compares with Kalshi, OG and ForecastEx:

Brokers such as Robinhood cost more, adding a commission of up to 1¢ per contract to the exchange fee.

Worked example: you buy 100 Yes contracts at 50¢ as a taker, paying $50.00 plus a $1.74 fee, $51.74 in total, and you collect $100 if the event happens. As a maker, the same fill costs $50.00 and earns $0.31 back. On bigger orders, Polymarket US’s own examples put the taker fee at $6.26 for 1,000 contracts at 10¢ and $17.38 for 1,000 at 50¢.

Heavy traders also get 10% to 50% of their taker fees back each week, depending on the previous month’s volume ($250,000, $1 million or $10 million and up).

Use our odds calculator to turn prices into odds, and see our guides to prediction market odds, fees on all five platforms and gambling taxes.

Deposits and withdrawals

Polymarket US takes debit card, ACH bank transfer (through Aeropay) and wire. It lists no deposit fees and describes withdrawals as free, but there’s no PayPal or Venmo, and card and bank deposits take 3–4 business days to clear.

Withdrawals go back to the method you funded with, oldest deposit first, once that deposit has cleared. The docs give no general minimum deposit; CBS Sports reports $10, plus a $5,000 wire minimum that conflicts with the docs’ $1,000. Some third-party sites list Apple Pay, but the official deposit docs don’t.

App and experience

Polymarket US runs on iOS and on the web at polymarket.us. Its iOS app, “Polymarket: Trade Live Sports”, was rated 4.6 out of 5 from about 60,000 ratings on Apple’s App Store as of September 30, 2026. Reports conflict on whether the Android app is fully available or still invite-only, so check Google Play.

You sign up with a Google or Apple ID, then give your name, date of birth and address. Most identity checks are instant; a manual review, which may ask for a government ID and a selfie, can take 3–5 business days. Markets have live chat and comments.

Safety and customer support

Polymarket US is regulated like the other exchanges we rank: its exchange and clearinghouse are CFTC-registered, contracts are fully collateralized, so you can’t lose more than you pay, and trading on material non-public information is banned. The company’s record has blemishes, though:

• 2022 CFTC settlement: in January 2022 the CFTC ordered Blockratize, the company behind Polymarket, to pay $1.4 million and wind down markets it had offered without registering.
• Lawsuits: a consolidated class action is pending in federal court in New York, and Baltimore’s suit alleges that Polymarket’s internal market-making teams take positions against users.
• Cases on the international site: in April 2026 a US Army soldier was charged over about $409,000 of profit on polymarket.com bets about Nicolás Maduro’s removal, and Polymarket said it referred the activity to the Justice Department. The CFTC has also charged a Google employee over trading on polymarket.com. Both cases concern the international site, not Polymarket US.

Support is by in-app chat or email (support@polymarket.us), and no phone support is documented. We couldn’t confirm which responsible-gambling tools, such as deposit limits or self-exclusion, Polymarket US offers, so ask support and see our responsible gambling guide.

Who is Polymarket US best for?

• Limit-order traders, who earn a rebate instead of paying a fee.
• High-volume traders, who get up to 50% of their taker fees back.
• Sports traders outside Nevada who want player props and combos of up to 10 legs; our prediction markets vs sportsbooks guide explains how trading differs from betting.
• Political traders following the 2026 midterms.
• API traders, with REST, WebSocket and FIX access.

It’s a weaker fit if you want PayPal or Venmo, interest on your cash, or a confirmed Android app.

Our verdict

Polymarket US is our pick for low fees. Among the platforms we rank that offer sports, it has the lowest taker fee, if only just below Kalshi’s, and it’s the only one in our top five whose fee schedule pays makers a rebate. Deposits and withdrawals are free too.

It ranks #4 because the US exchange is newer and far smaller than Kalshi, takes only debit card, ACH and wire, pays no interest, and faces a Nevada injunction and a New York lawsuit, with a 2022 CFTC settlement in the company’s past. If those gaps matter, compare the best Polymarket alternatives or see how all five US prediction markets compare.