Polymarket Fee Calculator: What a Trade Really Costs

Polymarket charges takers a fee of shares × rate × price × (1 − price), and charges makers nothing. On a $100 stake at 50¢ that is $3.50 in crypto, $2.50 in sports, $2.00 in politics and $0 in geopolitics (rates as documented by Polymarket on 7 November 2026). Some markets carry no fee, so check the market's own setting. Enter your category, price and stake below for the exact fee, the win rate you need to break even and the sell price you need if you exit early.

Now see whether a strategy clears that break-even. Whalidate paper-trades copy strategies with these fees already taken out. Start on paper, free. Live free for 14 days on Starter. No card.

How is the fee worked out?

Polymarket's documentation gives the taker fee as:

fee = shares × rate × price × (1 − price)

The price is in dollars, so 60¢ is 0.60. The rate depends on the market's category; the table above lists each one with the date it was read. Shares are the stake divided by the price, so the price drops out of one half of the formula and the fee per dollar staked comes to:

fee per dollar = rate × (1 − price)

That is why the stake only scales the answer. Twice the stake pays twice the dollars in fees and the same percentage.

Which trades pay the most?

A taker is the side of a trade that takes a price already sitting in the order book. A copy that has to fill quickly is almost always one.

• The fee peaks at 50¢ and is symmetric. For a fixed number of shares, price × (1 − price) is largest at 50¢, and a share at 20¢ pays the same as one at 80¢.
• Cheap shares cost the most per dollar. For each dollar you put in, the fee is the rate times (1 − price), so it is largest at the bottom of the price range. A share near 10¢ needs a bigger edge to cover its fee than one near 90¢.
• Selling before resolution pays the fee twice. The sale of a position is a second taker trade, with its own fee. A position held until the market resolves pays the buy-side fee only. The calculator's two break-even figures show both cases: the win rate you need if you hold, and the sell price you need if you do not.

Do makers pay?

No. Polymarket's documentation lists no fee for makers, the side that posted an order and waits for someone to take it.

Polymarket also runs the Maker Rebates Program, listed in the last column of the table. It is Polymarket's own programme for market makers: each day it pays them a share of the taker fees collected, in proportion to their share, at a percentage Polymarket may change. It is not a discount on your fee and not money a copy trader should expect to receive.

Polymarket also runs a Taker Rebate Program, for traders who pay the fee. It is Polymarket's own programme, tiered on a trader's 30-day volume as Polymarket weights it, at percentages Polymarket may change. It is not money to expect, and the fee this calculator prints is the fee before any such rebate: the rebate is a separate programme, not a discount on the computed figure.

Whose rate counts?

Each market carries its own fee setting, and Polymarket can set it to zero for a while, so the market's own rate is the one that counts. The table shows the documented rate for a category. If a market shows something different on Polymarket, choose "The market's own rate" in the calculator and type that figure in.

What does the fee mean for a copy?

Polymarket's fee is one of three costs of copying a trader, with the tool's own fee and the price gap between the original trade and your copy. Polymarket fees for copy traders adds all three up on an example. The fee is the same whichever tool places the order.

Whalidate's builder fee is 0%. The price is a plan, and the pricing page has the current ones. Polymarket's own taker fee still applies to live trades on markets that have one, and it goes to Polymarket.

Paper trading on Whalidate pays Polymarket's fee as live trades do, so a paper result already has it taken out. If you are weighing a wallet before you copy it, What is a Polymarket whale? explains how to read one. The copy trading page shows what a copy costs end to end.

Whalidate's builder fee is 0%, and a paper strategy pays Polymarket's fee exactly as a live one does, so you see the result after fees. Start for free.

Are there other Polymarket fees?

Deposits and withdrawals carry no Polymarket fee. On 8 November 2026 Polymarket's fee documentation says there are no Polymarket fees to deposit or withdraw USDC, and its withdrawal page says withdrawals are free. A card processor, exchange or bridge you use to move money may charge its own fees. The only Polymarket fee on this page is the taker fee above; a market can also carry no fee at all, so check the market's own setting.