See what an order really costs before you place it. Kalshi's fee depends on the price, so the same stake costs a different share at every price.
Most markets charge makers nothing (multiplier 0); set the multiplier to 0 for those. Kalshi's schedule says fees round up to the next cent, but real fills we've checked were charged slightly less, so treat both figures as a range.
Buying 100 contracts at 50¢ as a taker: 0.07 × 100 × 0.5 × 0.5 = $1.75 on a $50 order, or 3.5% of the cost. The same order at 90¢ costs 0.07 × 100 × 0.9 × 0.1 = $0.63 on $90, under 1%.
A 2-point edge on a 50¢ contract is mostly eaten by a 1.75-point fee. Near 50¢ you need a bigger gap between your fair probability and the price before a bet is worth taking. The edge calculator subtracts the fee for you.
The taker fee is 0.07 × contracts × price × (1 − price), times the market's multiplier. Resting maker orders use 0.0175 instead, and on most markets makers pay nothing.
price × (1 − price) peaks when the price is 0.5, so a coin-flip contract costs about 1.75¢ in fees while a 95¢ contract costs about 0.33¢.
No. The fee is charged when your order fills; holding to settlement adds nothing.