What Polymarket charges and why
Polymarket charges a taker fee on most markets, applied by the protocol at match time. Makers, the limit orders resting on the book, are never charged. Geopolitical and world events markets stay fee-free: Polymarket has said it does not charge fees or profit from trading on those categories.
Those collected taker fees fund two programs. The Maker Rebates Program pays daily USDC rebates to market makers in proportion to the liquidity they provided. The Taker Rebate Program, live since May 28, 2026, returns a tiered share of fees to active takers in pUSD, paid daily.
Polymarket itself charges nothing to deposit or withdraw. Third-party on-ramps like MoonPay may apply their own charges, but those are not Polymarket fees.
The fee curve: why 50/50 prices cost the most
The official formula in USDC is fee = C × feeRate × p × (1 - p), where C is the number of shares traded and p is the share price. The fee depends on p × (1 - p), so it peaks at 50¢ and falls symmetrically toward both extremes, as the chart at the top of this guide shows. It is not a flat percentage of notional.
At 50¢, p × (1 - p) equals 0.25, the maximum. At 10¢ it falls to 0.09. At 95¢ it is 0.0475. A 100-share Crypto trade costs $1.75 at 50¢, $0.63 at 10¢, and $0.33 at 95¢.
Polymarket quotes the fee in USDC, not as a percent of trade value. A 30¢ trade and a 70¢ trade produce the same dollar fee for the same share count. The lower-priced trade commits less notional, so the fee is a larger percentage of the dollars you put at risk. 50/50 prices generate the biggest dollar fee, which also means the largest rebate pool.
Current fees by category
The current feeRate parameters per the Polymarket Fees docs: Crypto 0.07, Sports 0.05, Finance 0.04, Politics 0.04, Economics 0.05, Culture 0.05, Weather 0.05, Tech 0.04, Mentions 0.04, Other / General 0.05, Geopolitics 0. The Fees page and the Maker Rebates page agree on this schedule.
These numbers are feeRate inputs to the curve, not flat percentages. At 50¢, the peak dollar fee for 100 shares is $1.75 on Crypto, $1.25 on Sports/Economics/Culture/Weather/Other-General, and $1.00 on Finance/Politics/Mentions/Tech. Geopolitics is $0 at every price.
An older guide that mentions exponent-based fee curves, or that covers only Crypto and a slice of Sports markets, is out of date. The current docs cover 10 fee-enabled categories with the same C × feeRate × p × (1 - p) curve and per-category feeRate inputs. If you read fee parameters from code, 0xinsider.com/learn/polymarket-api covers which Polymarket API answers what and which calls need a key.
How much you pay
The Crypto schedule for a 100-share trade: at 10¢, you spend $10 of notional and pay $0.63. At 30¢, you spend $30 and pay $1.47. At 50¢, you spend $50 and pay $1.75. At 70¢, you spend $70 and pay $1.47. At 90¢, you spend $90 and pay $0.63.
Other categories use the same curve with different heights. Finance, Politics, Mentions, and Tech peak at $1.00 per 100 shares. Sports, Economics, Culture, Weather, and Other / General peak at $1.25.
Fees are rounded to 5 decimal places. The smallest fee charged is 0.00001 USDC, so a small trade near the extremes can round to zero. Buys collect the fee in shares: you receive slightly fewer shares than the gross amount. Sells collect the fee in USDC: you receive slightly less cash. The quoted fee amount is always calculated in USDC.
Maker rebates: get paid to provide liquidity
Every taker fee on an eligible market funds the Maker Rebates Program. Place a limit order that rests on the book, and when someone else's market order fills it, you are the maker. Makers pay zero taker fees and earn a share of the rebate pool, paid daily in USDC. Minimum payout is $1 USDC.
Current rebate shares are 20% for Crypto, 15% for Sports, and 25% for Finance, Politics, Economics, Culture, Weather, Tech, Mentions, and Other / General. Geopolitical markets are fee-free, so there is no rebate pool there.
Rebates are computed per market, not across the whole category, using the same C × feeRate × p × (1 - p) curve as the taker fee. Your rebate equals your share of executed maker liquidity in that single market, multiplied by that market's rebate pool. You only compete with the makers quoting alongside you.
Taker rebates: a tiered cashback program
Polymarket's Taker Rebate Program at docs.polymarket.com/programs/taker-rebates went live on May 28, 2026. Maker rebates reward resting orders. Taker rebates return a tiered share of fees on aggressive orders that consume liquidity. Tiers update daily based on the last 30 days of weighted volume, and rebates pay every day in pUSD straight to your wallet.
There are 6 tiers from Bronze to Obsidian, paying back 3% to 50% of the taker fees you were charged. The effective fee for a high-volume taker is the headline schedule minus that share: 50% at Obsidian turns the 0.07 Crypto rate into an effective 0.035. Weighted volume is not the same thing as traded volume, and the difference decides how fast you climb. 0xinsider.com/learn/polymarket-taker-rebates works through the formula, the fee bill behind each tier, and why sports is the slowest category to climb.
How fees affect your trading strategy
Cross the spread to enter and cross again to exit, and you pay taker fees twice. A trade that looks attractive before fees can become mediocre after fees, especially in Crypto and the 0.05 feeRate categories where the dollar cost peaks above $1 per 100 shares.
Use limit orders when timing is not critical. Makers pay zero taker fees, and any fill on your resting order makes you eligible for the daily rebate pool in that market. The tradeoff is execution certainty and speed, not fee math.
Fee-free markets still matter. A $1,000 notional position at 50¢ on Crypto costs about $35 in fees: 2,000 shares × 0.07 × 0.25 = $35. The same $1,000 notional on a fee-free geopolitical market costs $0. If your edge is comparable across categories, that cost difference should change how you allocate capital.
Frequently asked questions
Do I pay fees when I deposit or withdraw USDC?
No. Polymarket charges nothing on deposits and withdrawals. Third-party services like MoonPay may have their own charges, but those are separate from Polymarket fees.
Are geopolitical markets free?
Yes. Polymarket has stated that geopolitical and world events markets are fee-free and that it does not charge fees or profit from trading on these categories.
How do I know if a specific market has fees?
Markets with fees have `feesEnabled` set to `true` on the market object. For per-market fee parameters, call `getClobMarketInfo(conditionID)`. The docs explicitly tell builders to read fees at runtime rather than hardcode rates, because fee values vary by market and can change over time.
How are fees collected?
On buys, the fee is taken in shares: you receive slightly fewer shares than the gross amount. On sells, the fee is taken in USDC: you receive slightly less cash. The fee amount is calculated in USDC either way, then converted at execution price for share-denominated fills.
What about the Polymarket SDK?
The official `@polymarket/clob-client-v2` (TypeScript) and `py-clob-client-v2` (Python) clients handle the current CLOB V2 fee model automatically. You no longer sign `feeRateBps` onto orders. The protocol applies taker fees at match time, and fee parameters come from market metadata accessed via `getClobMarketInfo()`.
Can I earn fees back as a taker too?
Yes. The Taker Rebate Program went live on May 28, 2026 and returns 3% to 50% of your taker fees daily in pUSD, tiered on rolling 30-day weighted volume. Maker rebates and taker rebates are separate programs. See 0xinsider.com/learn/polymarket-taker-rebates for the tier thresholds and what each one costs in fees.
