Polymarket Review
Polymarket has returned to the USA.
After an extended vetting process under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Polymarket US app launched for all iOS users in May 2026. A full Android launch should be coming soon as well.
Read on for a complete Polymarket review, where we’ll explain how it works, what markets the app covers, and how it compares to traditional online sportsbooks.
- Legal and regulated
- Trade yes/no predictions
- Trading available in all states except NV
- $50 trading bonus for new users
Pros
Low fees Available in 49 states Extensive market depth Longterm positive reputationCons
iOS only (Android/web platforms TBA) Limited non-sports markets for now Limited props and parlaysPolymarket Promo Code
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
Polymarket Promo Code | BUSA |
| Welcome Bonus | Deposit $20, Get a $50 Trading Bonus |
| Trading Requirements | None |
| Eligibility | 18+ US Resident |
Click Here to Claim Your Polymarket Bonus
$50 Polymarket Bonus
New Polymarket customers can claim a $50 trading bonus by signing up with the promo code BUSA and making a first deposit of $20 or more. Here’s how to claim your Polymarket bonus:
- Click here to download the Polymarket US app
- Sign up for an account
- Enter BUSA when asked for your Polymarket invite code
- Deposit at least $20.00
Here are the main things you should know about this offer:
- Polymarket will credit the bonus โwithin 30 daysโ of your initial deposit
- Your trading bonus is not immediately withdrawable, but you may use it to open real-money positions in any market
- Once you’ve completed $50 worth of trading activity with your bonus, you may withdraw
- This offer is not available in Nevada
How Polymarket Works
Polymarket is a prediction markets exchange that allows users to trade event contracts based on yes/no outcomes, which isn’t as technical as it sounds. Think questions like:
- Will the Dallas Cowboys win Sunday’s game?
- Will the temperature in NYC exceed 80 degrees tomorrow?
Each market (or question) is accompanied by YES and NO contracts that users can trade at prices ranging from $0 to $1.
Contracts settle at $1 if the outcome occurs and $0 if it does not. Your profit or loss is determined by the difference between how much you paid for a contract and its settlement value.
Peer-to-Peer Prediction Contracts
Unlike standard US online sportsbooks, Polymarket is a peer-to-peer marketplace where users trade directly among one another. As a result, prices reflect the collective sentiment of whether an event will happen (yes or no).
Although binary contracts only resolve with yes or no outcomes, that doesn’t mean markets are limited to yes/no questions only.
For example, a typical Polymarket sports market might ask which team will win Sunday’s NFL game. In that case, Polymarket will offer yes and no contracts for each team. However, it only displays YES contracts for each team by default to maintain an intuitive interface.
Polymarket Example
Consider this market from a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals:

Looking at this market, we can see that:
- YES contracts on the Brewers are trading at $0.64, which translates to a collective belief that the Brewers have a 64% likelihood of winning.
- YES contracts on the Cardinals are trading at $0.37, which translates to a roughly 37% chance of victory, according to Polymarket users.
Now, let’s imagine you believe the Cardinals will win, so you buy 100 YES contracts at $0.37 each for a total cost of $37. If you keep the contracts until expiry, there are two possible outcomes:
- The Cardinals win: Your contracts settle at $1 each for a total payout of $100. Your net profit is $63.
- The Brewers win: Your contracts settle at $0 each for a total loss of $37.
Polymarket Fees
Polymarket US implements a formula-based fee designed to reduce trading costs at the extremes (heavy favorites and extreme longshots) and to incentivize providing liquidity:
Fee = ? ร C ร p ร (1 – p)
Where C is the number of contracts, p is the trade price, and ? (theta) is the fee coefficient. There are two possible coefficients, and the max fee for 100 contracts cannot exceed $1.25:
| Role | Theta | Max Fee (for 100 contracts at p = $0.50) |
| Taker | 0.05 | $1.25 |
| Maker | -0.0125 (rebate) | -$0.31 |
Takers (orders that fill immediately against resting orders on the book) pay the full fee. Makers (orders that rest on the book and are filled by someone else) receive a rebate worth 25% of the corresponding taker fee.
Polymarketโs fee structure has several implications worth understanding:
- Fees are highest near $0.50: A coin-flip market is where uncertainty is greatest and liquidity is highest, so the per-contract fee shrinks toward both extremes.
- Fees are low on heavy favorites and longshots: A contract trading at $0.95 or $0.05 has a fee of just $0.24 per contract
- Thereโs an incentive to submit open offers: If you submit a resting order and someone else accepts it, youโll receive a 25% rebate on the takerโs fee.
Here are two examples straight from Polymarketโs US help center:
- Buying 1,000 contracts at $0.65: Taker pays $11.38; maker rebate is $2.84
- Buying 1,000 contracts at $0.10: Taker pays $4.50; maker rebate is $1.13
Polymarket Sports Markets
Polymarket offers a broad range of sports event contracts covering professional US sports, international leagues, and college sports:
- Golf
- NBA
- MLB
- Tennis (ATP / WTA)
- NHL
- IPL
- WNBA
- UCL
- UFC
- Esports
- MLS
- EPL
- La Liga
- Bundesliga
- Serie A
- International / FIFA World Cup
- Politics
Generally, Polymarket offers five categories of sports event contracts, most of which are tradeable before and during the game:
- Game Winners: Short-term markets based on the outcomes of specific teams (will Team A or Team B win)
- Game Props: Standard proposition predictions like whether there will be a run in the first inning and which team will be ahead after the first quarter
- Player Props: Props based on specific athletes (will player X score at least Y points, will the Padresโ pitcher get at least X strikeouts, etc.)
- Futures: Medium to long-term markets based on league, conference, and division winners
- Prop-Style Futures: Medium to long-term markets like the season home run leader, will player X get engaged, who will headline the Super Bowl halftime show, will X stadium be renamed, etc.
Other Polymarket Prediction Markets
The Polymarket USA app primarily focuses on sports-related markets for now, with a dabbling of political and weather markets. However, Polymarket will continue to expand its non-sports market coverage.
For now, Polymarketโs non-sports offerings in the USA are limited to:
- Politics: Upcoming Presidential election markets and party control; currently limited to federal elections but likely to expand into state-level races, domestic policy, foreign elections, and international relations
- Weather: Daily high temperature predictions (e.g., will the high temperate in San Francisco exceed 67 degrees today
Expect Polymarketโs catalog to expand significantly in both breadth and depth moving forward. Outside the US, Polymarket has a reputation for offering extensive market variety and depth, especially concerning politics, cryptocurrencies, and current events.
At the same time, donโt expect Polymarketโs US offerings to mirror its international catalog. Now that Polymarket operates under CFTC oversight and federal law, it faces more limits than when it operated as an unregulated decentralized prediction market.
That said, Polymarketโs offerings outside the USA provide some perspective on its creative capacity and willingness to offer prediction markets not found elsewhere. For example, Polymarketโs non-US platform offers:
- Politics: Approval ratings; policy decisions; international relations; high-profile court cases; US cabinet selections; war
- Middle East: Regional conflict; military actions; negotiations; internal politics
- Crypto: Bitcoin/crypto prices; ETF approvals; market caps; companies buying/selling BTC
- Tech: AI benchmarks and model release dates; self-driving car milestones; tech company acquisitions and leadership changes; space missions; drug approvals
- Culture: Box office gross figures; Nobel Peace Prize; Person of the Year; video games; celebrity divorces and legal issues; Emmys; Academy Awards; pandemics and disease outbreaks
- Weather: Daily temperatures by city; monthly temperatures; natural disasters
- World: Country-specific politics, conflict, and relations
- Economy: Inflation rates; interest changes; stock indices; GDP growth; tariffs; jobs reports; other economic indicators
- US President: Current Presidential news predictions; pardons; countries visited; public appearances; approval ratings; executive orders
- Elections: Country-specific elections; US city, state, and federal elections; US Presidential party nominations
- Mentions: Whether speakers will use specific words or how many times they’ll use certain words during upcoming speeches or appearances
Some examples of past non-sports markets at Polymarket include:
- Who will win the next US Presidential election?
- Will the current Fed Chair be removed this year?
- What price will Bitcoin hit in July?
- Will there be a 7.0+ earthquake by the end of next month?
- Will there be a bird flu pandemic this year?
- Will the next James Bond be British?
- Will Russia and Ukraine sign a ceasefire by the end of this year?
Who Can Use Polymarket?
Traders located anywhere in the USA can download the Polymarket app, sign up for accounts, deposit funds, and trade real-money contracts.
Note: Polymarket has paused trading in Nevada.
Basic registration requirements include:
- Be 18 or older
- Live in the United States (you must be a resident)
- Have a government-issued photo ID
Additionally, Polymarket US is subject to federal Know Your Customer (KYC) laws and identity verification. That means Polymarket must ask new users to verify their identities by supplying the following:
- First and last name
- Date of birth
- Residential address
- A copy of a government-issued photo ID
Polymarket Deposit Options
The Polymarket USA app accepts four deposit methods:
Polymarket does not charge any fees for depositing or withdrawing, and daily deposit limits range from $50,000 to unlimited:
| Deposit Method | Daily Deposit Limit |
| Debit Card (Visa and Mastercard) | $50,000 |
| Apple Pay | $50,000 |
| Online Banking | $50,000 |
| Wire Transfer | No limit (min. deposit $5,000) |
Polymarket App & User Experience
Polymarket features a sleek, user-friendly interface optimized for both novices and experienced traders.
The design emphasizes clarity, with market predictions displayed prominently, alongside real-time updates on pricing and probability. Market pages are structured intuitively, allowing users to quickly access relevant market details, including current odds, historical price movements, and liquidity indicators.
- Advanced filtering and sorting options allow users to easily find markets based on categories, volatility, and closing timelines.
- Real-time notifications and updates enhance responsiveness and trading efficiency.
- Clear visuals, including graphs and charts, illustrate market trends and price history effectively, supporting informed decision-making.
One (potential) weak point worth noting: The app may feel almost too sleek at first. Individual market pages are intuitive, but accessing certain pages is unintuitive.
For example, the interface provides no indication of where to access your account settings area. Thereโs not an obvious icon anywhere, and you canโt get to it from inside the prominent dropdown menu located in the upper-right corner of the app. Instead, you have to select โPortfolioโ in the bottom nav menu, then hit the gear icon in the upper-right corner once youโre inside your portfolio.
That said, the occasional navigational quirk is far from a dealbreaker, and it does keep the interface clutter-free.
Social Features
The Polymarket US app is comparable to other prediction market platforms in terms of social features:
- Chat: A community feed attached to each open market displays recent trades and discussions, where users can interact and criticize one another’s analyses.
- Discord Community: Polymarket maintains a dedicated Discord server where users discuss market insights, share predictions, argue over their predictions, and showcase their winning plays.
Social Features Weโd Like to See
Polymarketโs non-US platform offers a couple of unique features that would distinguish it from the competition if it launches them in the US market.
However, itโs unclear if Polymarket has plans to add these features and whether CFTC rules would allow them:
- Leaderboards: Polymarketโs non-US app provides a leaderboard that ranks traders based on their profit and loss performances over various time periods, such as weekly and all-time.
- Trade Tracker: Users can access public profiles of top traders to view their open positions, historical trades, and try to ascertain their portfolio strategies.
- Suggest a Market: Polymarketโs non-US platform also provides a feature for users to suggest new markets through an online form or community channels.
Polymarket Strengths & Weaknesses
Pros
- Low Fees: Polymarketโs fee formula is unintuitive, but it results in lower-than-average fees, especially when trading contracts at extreme price points (a downside at many competing platforms)
- Maker Rebates: Traders who post limit orders that add liquidity earn a rebate worth 25% of the corresponding taker fee.
- Nationwide Accessibility: As a CFTC-registered platform regulated at the federal level, Polymarket is not regulated at the state level as a gambling platform. As a result, Polymarket is available nearly nationwide.
Cons
- Price Slippage: In less popular markets with lower liquidity, the price at which a trade is executed may differ from the expected price.
- Limited In-Play Trading: Although trading is active until a market closes, it lacks the kind of micro-betting markets that the best online sportsbooks offer today.
- No Responsible Gambling Tools: The current platform lacks dedicated tools for responsible trading, such as deposit limits or self-exclusion options.
Final Thoughts: Is Polymarket Legit?
Polymarket is a legitimate, CFTC-registered trading platform in the USA. It already has an established track record, a positive reputation, holds customer funds in segregated accounts, and has the backing of major institutional investors.
However, itโs also an incomplete product. Sports-only markets (aside from a handful of political/weather markets), no web access, and a fee structure that requires a little reading to understand are legit downsides for anyone deciding between Polymarket or a standard online sportsbook.
Additionally, fans accustomed to online sportsbooks may find Polymarket’s lack of granular in-play betting lines, parlays, and props comparatively limiting. Remember: Polymarket is not an online sportsbook and doesn’t offer sports wagers







