The fee charged when your limit order rests on the book and gets filled later. Typically lower than taker fees to incentivize liquidity.
A maker fee is charged when your limit order adds liquidity to the order book and is later executed against. Because you're 'making' the market by providing quotes, platforms reward you with lower fees.
On Kalshi, the maker fee is 1/4 of the taker rate: 1.75% × p × (1-p) per contract. Some platforms (Polymarket US) charge the same fee regardless of order type.
Using limit orders to get maker fees is one of the simplest ways to reduce your costs in prediction markets.
Kalshi maker: ceil(0.0175 × P × (1-P) × 100) / 100
Limit buy Yes at $0.50: maker fee = ceil(0.0175 × 0.50 × 0.50 × 100)/100 = ceil(0.4375)/100 = $0.01. Effective cost = $0.51 (vs $0.52 for taker).
The fee charged when you execute against existing orders in the book. Taker fees are higher than maker fees on platforms like Kalshi.
Order BookA list of all pending buy and sell orders at different prices. Platforms with order books offer better price transparency.
LiquidityHow easily you can buy or sell contracts without significantly moving the price. More liquidity means tighter spreads and less slippage.