On March 26, the prediction market platform Polymarket announced a major policy adjustment: Starting from March 30, Taker fees will be levied on almost all transaction categories for the first time. This means that in a few days, the days of being able to place bets on Polymarket without paying more than your stake will be over.

1. Comparison before and after Polymarket fee adjustment

Polymarket explains the fees issue in detail in the official documentation.

Polymarket charges a small transaction fee on certain markets. These fees are used to fund a market maker rebate program that reallocates a portion of fees to market makers on a daily basis to incentivize them to provide greater liquidity and narrow spreads.

Geopolitics and world events markets are fee-free. Polymarket does not receive any fees or profits from trading activity on these markets. In addition, Polymarket will not charge USDC deposit or withdrawal fees (but intermediaries such as Coinbase or MoonPay may charge their own fees).

1. Current rate situation

Currently only cryptocurrency and sports markets have taker fees enabled.

2. New rate situation

Starting March 30, 2026, fee parameters will be expanded to cover additional market categories and feature updated rates.

The fee is calculated according to the following formula:

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

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

Transaction fees are calculated in USDC and vary based on stock prices. However, the handling fee for buying orders is charged in stocks, and the handling fees for selling orders are charged in USDC. The actual rate reaches a peak at 50% probability and decreases symmetrically towards both ends.

The handling fee is rounded to four decimal places. The minimum handling fee is 0.0001 USDC. Any transactions smaller than this amount are rounded to zero, so very small transactions near extreme values ​​may not charge any fees at all.

When the contract price is close to 50-50, the handling fee is the highest, because this represents the greatest uncertainty. Once the results become clearer, the fees will gradually drop to zero. Therefore, the commission on a contract trading at $0.02 or $0.98 is almost negligible. And any contract priced at $0.50 will hit peak fees.

Rates will also vary by category. Cryptocurrencies have the highest rates at 1.80%. Rates are around 1.50% for the Economy category, 1.25% for Culture and Weather, 1% for Politics, and lowest at 0.75% for Sports.

3.API user fee processing

Use SDK

Official CLOB clients handle fees automatically - they get the rates and include them in the signed order payload.

Operations performed automatically by the client:

1. Get the rate for the market token ID;

2. Include feeRateBps in the order structure;

3. Sign the order including fees.

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

Using REST API

If you call the REST API directly or build your own order signature, you must manually include the rates in the payload of the signed order. Step 1: Before creating an order, obtain the handling rate of the token ID;

Step 2: Add the field feeRateBps to your order object. This value is part of the signature payload - CLOB verifies your signature against this value.

Step 3: Sign and submit:

1. Before signing, please include the feeRateBps order object;

2. Sign the complete order;

3. Send a POST request to the order endpoint.

2. How much revenue will Polymarket’s fees bring?

1.Polymarket’s revenue changes

According to a report jointly released by Keyrock and Dune: in 2025, Polymarket's transaction volume was US$21.5 billion; it processed 95 million transactions (accounting for approximately 54% of the cumulative transaction volume), and its monthly transaction volume has increased from approximately 45,000 to approximately 19 million transactions (a 421-fold increase).

According to data compiled by an exchange on Dune, Polymarket has accumulated approximately US$7.94 million in fee income since some markets began charging transaction fees on January 6, of which fee income in February was approximately US$4.99 million. (Markets on which Polymarket charges fees include "15-minute cryptocurrency price swings" and sports markets such as Serie A and the NCAA.)

In the past 30 days, Polymarket’s trading volume was approximately $9.55 billion. At current volume levels, this would mean monthly revenue of approximately $25 million, annualized revenue of approximately $300 million, or daily revenue of approximately $833,000, assuming effective comprehensive fee rates.

2.Polymarket’s valuation changes

Some analysts believe that the current revenue level will help maintain Polymarket’s valuation, which is currently close to US$20 billion. Just a year ago, it was valued at about $1.2 billion.

Specifically, according to data disclosed by Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan: In 2024, when Blockchain Capital led a $55 million financing, the company was valued at $350 million; when Founders Fund led a $150 million financing in 2025, the company was valued at $1.2 billion; in October of the same year, the Intercontinental Exchange Group invested $2 billion in Polymarket, with a post-investment valuation of approximately 90 At the end of October, Polymarket held preliminary discussions with investors and planned to make a new investment valued at between US$12 billion and US$15 billion.

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

3.Polymarket PS multiple (price-to-sales ratio) changes

Based on February’s fee income of approximately US$4.99 million, the current full-year revenue is US$59.88 million, and the current valuation is US$11.6 billion; based on the fee level after Polymarket, the full-year revenue is approximately US$300 million. On the premise that the valuation remains unchanged, the PS multiple (price-to-sales ratio) has changed from 193.7 times to 38.7 times.

(PS multiple (price-to-sales ratio) = company market value ÷ company operating income, that is, "how much the market is willing to pay for every 1 yuan of company income.")

In the context of the current market-to-sales ratio of 193.7 times, Polymarket’s future must be an explosive increase in users, monopolizing the prediction market, and becoming a global information pricing infrastructure. However, troubled by issues such as regulation and user stickiness, whether Polymarket can really support a market-to-sales ratio of 193.7 times. In the future, when revenue reaches $300 million, Polymarket's valuation will at least look more reasonable.

Polymarket will gradually transform from high valuations derived from storytelling to valuations supported by real revenue.

3. Will Polymarket’s adjustments affect user stickiness?

Polymarket’s new handling fee will also be used for structural updates. The Maker rebate program will return collected fees to liquidity providers in the form of daily USDC payments. The move is aimed at deepening the market and reducing spreads.

For example, political trading market makers will receive 25% back on the fees charged by their categories. This mechanism should create a healthier ecosystem, as market makers will publish more accurate quotes, traders will pay lower fees, and overall liquidity will improve.

If the number of users can remain stable after the charging policy is implemented, Polymarket can successfully convert free users into paid users without losing users. On the contrary, if the number of users drops significantly, it will be detrimental to the development of Polymarket.

But for now, it seems that users will continue to use Polymarket and will not give up Polymarket because of the fees.