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 significant policy adjustment: starting on March 30, it will impose Taker fees on almost all trading categories for the first time. This means that in a few days, the era of being able to place bets on Polymarket without paying fees exceeding the bet amount will come to an end.

I. Comparison of Polymarket Fee Adjustments

Polymarket has detailed the fee issues in its official documentation.

Polymarket will charge a small trading fee for certain markets. These fees are used to fund the market maker rebate program, which redistributes a portion of the fees to market makers daily to incentivize them to provide more liquidity and narrow spreads.

There are no fees for geopolitical and world events markets. Polymarket will not charge any fees or profits from trading activities in these markets. Additionally, Polymarket will not charge fees for USDC deposits or withdrawals (but intermediaries like Coinbase or MoonPay may charge their own fees).

1. Current Fee Rate Situation

Currently, only the cryptocurrency and sports markets have enabled Taker fees.

2. New Fee Rate Situation

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

Fees are calculated using the following formula:

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

where C = the number of shares traded, p = the share price. The fee parameters vary by market category:

Trading fees are calculated in USDC and vary based on share price. However, Taker fees are charged in shares, while Maker fees are charged in USDC. The actual rate peaks at a 50% probability and symmetrically decreases towards both ends.

Fees are rounded to four decimal places. The minimum fee is 0.0001 USDC. Any transaction below this amount is rounded to zero, meaning that extremely small transactions close to the extreme values may incur no fees at all.

When the contract price approaches a 50-50 split, the fees are highest, as this represents maximum uncertainty. Once the outcomes become clearer, fees gradually decrease to zero. Therefore, the fees for contracts priced at $0.02 or $0.98 are nearly negligible. Any contract priced at $0.50 will reach the peak fee.

The rates for different categories also vary. Cryptocurrency rates are the highest, reaching up to 1.80%. Economic category rates are around 1.50%, cultural and weather categories are 1.25%, political categories are 1%, and sports category rates are the lowest at 0.75%.

3. API User Fee Handling

Using SDK

The official CLOB client will automatically handle fees—it will retrieve the rates and include them in the signed order payload.

Automatic actions performed by the client:

1. Retrieve 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 actions are required. Orders will function normally in markets where fees are enabled.

Using REST API

If directly calling the REST API or building your own order signature, you must manually include the fee rate in the signed order payload. Step 1: Before creating an order, retrieve the fee rate for the token ID;

Step 2: Add the feeRateBps field to your order object. This value is part of the signed payload—CLOB will validate your signature based on this value.

Step 3: Sign and submit:

1. Include the feeRateBps in the order object before signing;

2. Sign the complete order;

3. Send a POST request to the order endpoint.

II. How Much Revenue Will Polymarket’s Fees Generate?

1. Changes in Polymarket’s Revenue

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

According to data compiled from a certain exchange on Dune, since the introduction of trading fees on January 6 for some markets, Polymarket has generated approximately $7.94 million in fee revenue, with fee revenue for February being approximately $4.99 million. (Markets where Polymarket charges fees include “15-Minute Cryptocurrency Price Volatility” as well as sports markets like Serie A and NCAA.)

In the past 30 days, Polymarket’s trading volume was approximately $9.55 billion. Based on the current trading volume level, assuming an effective overall fee rate, this suggests monthly revenue of about $25 million, annualized revenue of about $300 million, or daily revenue of about $833,000.

2. Changes in Polymarket’s Valuation

Some analysts believe that the current revenue level will help maintain Polymarket’s valuation, which is currently approaching $20 billion. Just a year ago, its valuation was around $1.2 billion.

Specifically, according to data disclosed by Polymarket’s CEO Shayne Coplan: in 2024, when Blockchain Capital led a $55 million financing round, the company’s valuation was $350 million; in 2025, when Founders Fund led a $150 million financing round, the company’s valuation was $1.2 billion; in October of the same year, Intercontinental Exchange Group invested $2 billion in Polymarket, with a post-investment valuation of about $9 billion; at the end of October, Polymarket began preliminary discussions 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 Ratio)

With February’s fee revenue of approximately $4.99 million, the current annual revenue is $59.88 million, and the current valuation is $11.6 billion; based on Polymarket’s subsequent fee levels, the annual revenue is approximately $300 million, and assuming the valuation remains unchanged, the PS multiple (price-to-sales ratio) decreases from 193.7 times to 38.7 times.

(PS multiple (price-to-sales ratio) = company market value ÷ company revenue, indicating “how much the market is willing to pay for every dollar of revenue.”)

In the context of the current 193.7 times price-to-sales ratio, Polymarket’s future must involve explosive user growth, monopolizing the prediction market, and becoming the global pricing infrastructure for information. However, with issues such as regulation and user stickiness, whether Polymarket can truly support a price-to-sales ratio of 193.7 times remains to be seen. In the future, when revenue reaches $300 million, Polymarket’s valuation will at least appear more reasonable.

Polymarket will gradually convert its high valuation derived from storytelling into a valuation supported by real revenue.

III. Will Polymarket’s Adjustments Affect User Stickiness?

Polymarket’s new 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 aims to deepen the market and narrow spreads.

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

If user numbers can remain stable after the implementation of the fee policy, then Polymarket will successfully convert free users into paying users without losing any users. Conversely, if the user numbers decline significantly, it will be detrimental to Polymarket’s development.

However, at present, it seems that users will continue to use Polymarket and will not abandon it due to the fees.