Polymarket Review 2026: Is Polymarket Legal in the US?

Polymarket is really two platforms, and which one you may use depends on where you live. Polymarket US is a CFTC-regulated exchange for US residents. The international site polymarket.com runs on a blockchain, settles in crypto and excludes the United States, the United Kingdom and many other countries from trading.

This review explains how both versions work, what they cost and who decides when a market is disputed. I have not traded on Polymarket with my own money. My sources are Polymarket’s terms of use, its help pages for both platforms, the CFTC filings of Polymarket US and market data, checked between September 8 and October 7, 2026. How we research and write is described on our editorial policy page.

Polymarket in 30 seconds

• What it is: a prediction market where users buy yes or no shares on events, from sports and elections to Fed decisions. Sports are now the biggest category.
• In the US: legal through Polymarket US, a CFTC-regulated exchange run by QCX LLC since Polymarket bought it in 2025. Signup requires identity checks, including your Social Security number.
• Outside the US: polymarket.com is the international site. Its terms bar trading from the US, the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Ontario and other places.
• Cost: on Polymarket US a taker pays 0.0695 × contracts × price × (1 - price) on standard single contracts, so $1.74 for 100 contracts at 50 cents. Combos and some sports use other rates.
• Who decides: on Polymarket US the exchange, using the sources in the market rules. On polymarket.com a token vote can settle disputes.
• Size: about $8.16 billion volume in August 2026, including the US platform. Kalshi traded more than four times as much.

What is Polymarket?

Polymarket is a prediction market founded in 2020 by Shayne Coplan in New York. Users trade yes or no shares on the outcome of events, and the price of a share, between 1 and 99 cents, shows the probability the market gives that outcome.

Polymarket started as a crypto project, not as a betting shop. The international site runs on the Polygon blockchain and settles in USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. Users connect a crypto wallet, and every trade is recorded on-chain.

The 2024 US election made Polymarket famous. Its prices were quoted as probabilities by the media during the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Its biggest month back then was October 2024 with almost $2 billion in volume. In August 2026 Polymarket traded about $8.16 billion including its US platform, according to The Block.

Polymarket calls itself the world’s largest prediction market, but by volume that is no longer true. Kalshi traded about $37.17 billion in the same month. Our Kalshi review covers the rival in detail, and our guide to prediction markets compares all the main platforms.

Is Polymarket legal in the US?

For US residents, the legal route is Polymarket US, a CFTC-regulated exchange. The exchange is run by QCX LLC, which does business as Polymarket US and is registered with the CFTC as a designated contract market. The international polymarket.com site is not for US residents.

The road to that point was rocky. In January 2022 the CFTC fined Polymarket $1.4 million for offering unregistered event contracts, and US users had to be shut out. On July 21, 2025, Polymarket bought the holding company behind QCX, a CFTC-licensed exchange with its own clearing house, for $112 million. That is how it came back to the US as a regulated venue.

Polymarket US works like a normal US trading app. You sign up with Google or Apple, then give your date of birth, legal name, address and Social Security number for identity checks, according to the signup page. You can deposit by debit card, bank transfer, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, USDC or wire, and withdrawals are free.

We could not confirm which US states Polymarket US excludes. Polymarket’s help pages that we read on October 7, 2026 did not publish a state list, and other sources contradict each other. The court fight over sports contracts that our Kalshi review describes is about whether states can regulate such contracts on CFTC exchanges at all, so check what the app offers in your state.

Is Polymarket legal in the UK and elsewhere?

No, UK residents may not trade on polymarket.com under its terms. The terms of use, effective August 11, 2026, bar trading for people who live in or are located in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore, the Canadian provinces Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia, and other places. The operator is Adventure One QSS, Inc.

Restricted users can be put into close-only mode. Polymarket’s live geoblock list shows countries where users can only close existing positions, among them the UK, France, Germany and the US. A few sanctioned territories are blocked completely. France’s gambling regulator ANJ announced on July 16, 2026 that internet providers must block the site.

In Great Britain, the Gambling Commission sees most prediction markets as betting. In a blog post of February 4, 2026, it said that many current products would fall under the definition of a betting intermediary and resemble a betting exchange, which needs a licence. Spread betting, by contrast, is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

A site that loads in your country is not a site that is allowed there. The binding list is Polymarket’s own terms, together with your local law. Using a VPN to get around a block breaks the terms.

How does Polymarket work?

Every market asks a yes or no question with a fixed end date. A share of the right outcome pays $1, a share of the wrong one nothing. The price in between reads as a probability: a share at 17 cents means the market sees about 17 percent.

You trade against other users, not against the house. Prices come from supply and demand in an order book. You can sell your shares before the market ends if someone buys them, for example when the news has moved the price in your favour.

Polymarket example: how a trade makes or loses money

A worked example makes the mechanics clear. Assume a Polymarket US market at 50 cents for yes and the standard taker rate of 0.0695:

1. Anna buys 1,000 yes shares at $0.50 and pays $500.
2. As a taker she pays a fee of 1,000 × 0.0695 × 0.50 × 0.50, so about $17.38.
3. News supports the event, and the yes price rises to $0.75. Anna could sell now and keep about $250 before fees.
4. She holds to the end. The event happens, and she receives $1,000. After stake and fee, her profit is about $483.
5. Had the event not happened, the full $517 or so would be lost.

The order panel always shows prices slightly apart. The gap between the best buy and sell price is the spread. In busy markets it is a cent or two; in thin markets it can cost more than the fee.

What does Polymarket cost?

Polymarket US charges takers and pays makers on standard contracts. According to the fee schedule, in effect since October 1, 2026, a taker pays 0.0695 × contracts × price × (1 - price) on a standard single contract. A maker, whose resting order is filled later, receives a rebate of 0.0125 on the same formula. Combo trades have their own taker schedule and, since October 7, 2026, no maker rebate; table tennis uses a taker rate of 0.10.

Price	Taker pays (100 contracts)
10 cents	$0.63
50 cents	$1.74
90 cents	$0.63

Polymarket US fee schedule for standard single contracts, effective October 1, 2026, checked October 7, 2026. Heavy takers with more than $250,000 monthly volume get 10 to 50 percent back.

The international site uses different rates by category. Polymarket was free for years and introduced taker fees during 2026. Makers pay nothing. The rates below come from Polymarket’s documentation on September 8, 2026:

Category	Rate	Fee for 100 shares at 50 cents
Politics, finance, tech	0.04	1.00 USDC
Sports	0.05	1.25 USDC
Economics, culture, weather	0.05	1.25 USDC
Crypto	0.07	1.75 USDC
Geopolitics	0	no fee

Taker fees on polymarket.com by category, checked September 8, 2026. The old claim of “2 percent on profits” is out of date.

Polymarket runs two separate programs for liquidity providers. Part of the taker fees funds a maker rebates program, and a separate liquidity rewards program pays users who keep limit orders close to the market price. Kalshi’s standard taker rate is 0.07, so on standard contracts the two US exchanges are now almost the same price.

Who decides the outcome of a Polymarket market?

On Polymarket US, the exchange decides. According to its resolution page, the exchange confirms each result with the sources named in the market rules, for example a league, a government agency or named news outlets. All resolutions are final under the exchange rulebook.

On polymarket.com, a crypto oracle decides. The UMA Optimistic Oracle lets anyone propose a result if they post a bond of 750 USDC. If nobody objects within two hours, the proposal stands. If someone objects, holders of the UMA token vote, not an editor and not a court.

Two hours is short, and wording is the weak point. After US forces detained Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, a Polymarket market on a US invasion of Venezuela did not resolve yes. The decisive point was the wording: the contract asked for a military operation to take control of the country, and a capture did not meet it. Yes holders who felt they had called the event correctly received no payout.

Other Venezuela markets led to insider trading charges. According to an indictment announced by the Justice Department on April 23, 2026, a US Army soldier allegedly placed about 13 bets of about $33,034 in total between December 27, 2025 and January 26, 2026, using classified information. Markets such as “Maduro out by January 31, 2026” resolved yes, and he allegedly profited about $409,881. The charges are allegations; for traders the case shows that these markets attract people with inside knowledge, and that law enforcement watches them.

Is Polymarket safe?

The technology works; the risk lies in the wording. Trades on polymarket.com run through smart contracts and are public on the blockchain, and the wallet stays under your control. On Polymarket US your money sits in a regulated exchange account. Neither setup protects you from a market that settles differently from what you expected.

Before fees, prediction markets are a zero-sum game. The wins and losses of all users cancel out, and fees make the total negative. A dashboard by LayerHub showed more than 87 percent of Polymarket wallets in the red on November 28, 2024. That figure is old, and a wallet is not the same as a person, so it does not tell you how many users lose today.

User ratings differ by platform. In the US App Store, the official app had 4.6 of 5 stars from 53,762 ratings on September 8, 2026. Ratings measure the app and its handling, not the quality of the markets.

Pros and cons of Polymarket

Polymarket is a good source of market expectations and a risky place to bet. The main strengths and weaknesses in brief.

Pros

• Prices as probabilities: a share price between 1 and 99 cents shows what the market expects.
• Regulated in the US: Polymarket US is a CFTC-regulated exchange with identity checks and dollar accounts.
• No house: you trade against other users, not against a bookmaker who sets the odds.
• Exit any time: shares can be sold before the market ends, if there is a buyer.
• Maker rebates: limit orders that add liquidity are free on polymarket.com and earn a rebate on Polymarket US.

Cons

• Restricted in many countries: the international site excludes the US, the UK, Australia, several EU countries and four Canadian provinces.
• Taker fees since 2026: up to $1.74 per 100 standard contracts on Polymarket US.
• Disputes over wording: in January 2026 a Venezuela market did not resolve yes, although Maduro had been captured.
• Zero-sum before fees: every win is someone else’s loss, and fees make the total negative.
• Thin markets, wide spreads: away from big events, liquidity is low.

Our verdict on Polymarket

Polymarket has real value as a source of information. Since the 2024 election its prices are widely quoted as probabilities, also by analysts. The stock exchange operator ICE, parent of the New York Stock Exchange, announced in October 2025 that it would invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket and distributes its event data to clients.

Two things have changed since 2024. Polymarket is no longer free, and it is no longer the biggest platform. Anyone who still has the 2024 numbers in mind calculates with the wrong costs.

My verdict: read the prices, and be careful with the money. For US readers, Polymarket US is the legal route, and its costs are now close to Kalshi’s. For readers in the UK and other restricted countries, the question is not whether you can make money but whether you may take part at all, and the terms say no. If you trade, read the market rules in full and treat every stake as money you can lose.

• Good fit for: US traders who want to follow or trade event probabilities on a regulated exchange.
• Not a fit for: residents of restricted countries, crypto beginners on the international site, and anyone hoping for a steady income.

Event contracts carry a high risk of loss. This review describes Polymarket’s rules and costs; it is not investment advice and not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions about Polymarket

Is Polymarket legal in the US?

Yes, through Polymarket US, a CFTC-regulated exchange. It is run by QCX LLC, which Polymarket bought in July 2025. The international site polymarket.com bars US residents from trading.

Can UK residents trade on Polymarket?

No, the UK is on polymarket.com’s list of restricted countries. The terms of use effective August 11, 2026 bar trading for people who live in or are located in the United Kingdom. Polymarket US is only for US residents.

Is Polymarket legit?

Polymarket is a real company with a regulated US exchange and major investors. ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, announced an investment of up to $2 billion in October 2025. Legit does not mean safe for your money: the market is zero-sum before fees, and disputed wording has cost traders money.

How much does Polymarket charge?

On Polymarket US, takers pay up to $1.74 per 100 standard contracts. The fee is 0.0695 × contracts × price × (1 - price), and makers get a rebate; combos and table tennis use other rates. On polymarket.com the rate depends on the category, from zero for geopolitics to 0.07 for crypto.

Does Polymarket require ID?

Polymarket US asks for full identity details. You give your legal name, address and Social Security number, and some users must upload a government ID and a selfie. On the international site, a crypto wallet is enough unless you pay through a card provider, which runs its own checks.

What happens when a Polymarket market is disputed?

On polymarket.com, the UMA oracle decides. A proposed result needs a bond of 750 USDC and stands after two hours without objection; otherwise UMA token holders vote. On Polymarket US the exchange decides with the sources named in the market rules.