The dog days of summer turned out to be anything but sluggish for two of the busiest prediction market platforms. In July, traders on crypto‑native Polymarket and CFTC‑regulated Kalshi shuffled almost $1.8 billion in combined volume, keeping thumbs tapping through everything from Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest to last week’s Federal Reserve decision.
Polymarket again set the pace, logging $1.065 billion in trades—an 8.6% dip from June’s record haul but still well ahead of Kalshi’s $733.55 million. The comparison impresses when stacked against July 2024.
The month President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, Polymarket handled just $387 million, while Kalshi’s marquee election markets had not yet gone live.
User growth on Polymarket
User growth on Polymarket was even more dramatic. The exchange finished July with 285,259 monthly active traders, up 18% month‑over‑month, and opened 98,470 new accounts, according to the crypto analytics database Dune.
A year ago, only 43,928 users traded on the platform, meaning participation has multiplied nearly seven‑fold. Comparable tallies are not available on Kalshi, but with its election markets still on the runway this time last year, its year‑over‑year growth is plausibly even steeper.
Fees and rewards for July 2025
Kalshi collected an estimated $7.11 million in fees in July, according to greed.bot, a figure that excludes taker fees on sports contracts and other markets routed through brokerages such as Robinhood and Webull.
Polymarket, by contrast, is fee-free—for now.
In fact, it does the opposite, paying traders to provide liquidity throughout its books. The platform distributed roughly $312,000 in liquidity rewards over the past 30 days and $9.64 million since launching the incentive program in December 2023.
It’s unknown if Polymarket, which recently acquired QCEX, a federally licensed exchange, will alter its liquidity rewards system once it launches more formally—and legally—to U.S. customers.
August kickoff will bring NFL markets boost
Football season will be the next catalyst for the platforms.
Eight of Kalshi’s ten most‑traded markets in July were sports-related, and preseason NFL action for all 32 teams kicks off this week, soon to be followed by the start of college football on August 23. Additionally, football futures markets will grow more liquidity as we inch closer to September, setting up a busy and very tradable August for the burgeoning prediction market industry.
Expect even bigger numbers in the coming months.
