Revealed: Polymarket Sports Markets Can Be Twice as Expensive as Predict’s

It was announced earlier today that Polymarket has increased its taker fee on sports markets from 3 to 5%.

On paper, it may seem like a marginal change reflecting a bump of only a couple of percentage points. On the other, it represents a 67% rate increase.

Looking for the best bang for your buck as the World Cup edges closer to its final game?

Here’s why Predict may be the better option (at half the price).

A Worked Example

TL;DR: a transaction of $200 will cost you $8 in fees on Polymarket vs $4 in fees on Predict.

You’re looking to buy 1,000 YES shares on your team winning. 

They’re currently priced at 20¢, so the 1,000 will cost you $200 in total.

Per Polymarket’s docs, we calculate fees with the following formula:

fee = C × feeRate × p × (1 - p)

Where C is the number of shares traded and p is the price per share.

Plugging in our values, we reach a fee of $8 — resulting in an effective rate of 4%. If we examine the entire range of possible share prices, we see effective fees of 0.05% through to 4.95%.

Contrast this with Predict’s formula:

Fee = feeRate × min(p, 1−p) × C

With a feeRate of 0.02 (lowered to 0.018 still if a 10% discount is used), the same transaction only costs you $4. That’s an effective rate of 2%, which is half of what you pay on Polymarket.

Fees, Visualized

The graph above paints a clear picture: for takers, Polymarket’s sports markets are always more expensive than Predict’s.

And it’s quite a gap: for shares priced under 20¢ or over 80¢, you’ll pay at least 2x the fees. Even at the midpoint of 50¢, Polymarket remains 25% more expensive.

Predict: the Smarter Option

Want lower fees without sacrificing liquidity or user experience? It’s time to Predict.

With cheaper plays on your favorite sports, more of your winning positions stay yours. On a $200 position, you could keep up to $5.90 — and if you’re racking up a lot of positions, that margin really begins to add up.

And fees are just the start. Predict is built on BNB Chain, giving you fast, low-cost settlement without the congestion. There’s no such thing as idle USDT, either: with Predict's yield-bearing positions, your funds keep working for you while your predictions are live, something competitors don’t offer.

Half the fees. Real yield. A chain built for speed. As the World Cup heads into its final stretch, there's never been a better time to make the switch.

Use the code EARLY to get another portion of your fees reduced.