Panama City, PANAMA, Aug. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRED, the peer-to-peer sports prediction exchange, has introduced trading fees, which averages 1% for takers and 0% for makers. The headline rate sits below half the average charged by the two largest prediction markets, both of which publish their own schedules.
Pred Sports Exchange
The comparison is unusually clean, because the category has converged on one piece of arithmetic. Kalshi, Polymarket and PRED all calculate the same way: a base rate multiplied by the contract price and its inverse, then by the number of contracts. The charge peaks at 50 cents, where the market is least certain, and tapers toward zero as a contract approaches settlement. The structure is identical everywhere. Only the coefficient differs.
Kalshi's published taker rate is 7%. Polymarket's is 5%. PRED's is 2.5%.
On 1,000 contracts bought at 50 cents - $500 at risk, and the most expensive point on the curve, a taker pays $17.50 at Kalshi, $12.50 at Polymarket and $6.25 at PRED.
New accounts opened with a referral code pay 20% below the published rate, which puts the same trade at $5.
"Everyone in this category charges on the same curve, so there is nowhere to hide behind a pricing page," said Amit Mahensaria, CEO and co-founder of PRED. "The rate is the product. We picked 2.5%, we show you the fee before you place the order, and we've published the arithmetic so anyone can check it against the other two in about thirty seconds."
The wider comparison is with a bookmaker
Against a traditional sportsbook the gap is larger, and it is measured rather than claimed. Research by Tadgh Hegarty and Karl Whelan at University College Dublin, covering 84,230 European professional soccer matches across 22 leagues in 11 countries between the 2011/12 and 2021/22 seasons, found the average bet lost 7.8% of stake to the bookmaker's margin. That is higher than the 6.5% the standard overround calculation predicts, because bookmakers take a wider margin on longshots than on favourites.
A bookmaker's margin is not a fee. It is priced into the odds, it applies to every bet, and it is not itemised anywhere the customer can see it. The 1.25% a PRED taker pays on an even-money football position is shown on screen before the order goes in.
Fees are also not the whole cost of trading on an exchange, and PRED is not claiming otherwise. A taker crosses the spread as well as paying the fee.
Why a zero-fee platform started charging
PRED ran without trading fees through its beta and the FIFA World Cup. The new schedule funds the incentive economics the platform runs on, maker rewards for the accounts providing liquidity, and the referral programme that pays out 40% of referral fees.
"Zero fees were a good way to open the doors and a bad way to build an order book," said Mahensaria. "Liquidity is the whole product on an exchange. Somebody has to be paid to provide it, and the honest way to do that is a published rate that's lower than anyone else's, not a hidden one dressed up as free."
Takers see an estimated fee before placing an order, updating as price, quantity or side changes, with the final charge calculated from the actual fill. There is no fee on unfilled orders, cancellations or redemptions.
PRED does not limit accounts, restrict stakes or close accounts on the basis of profitability.
About PRED
Pred is a peer-to-peer sports prediction exchange. Users trade contracts on sports outcomes with one another on an order book, with Pred operating the venue rather than taking the other side. Trades execute in 200ms and markets resolve in three minutes once the official outcome is confirmed. Pred runs on Base, settles in USDC, and is backed by Accel, Coinbase Ventures and Reverie
Press Inquiries
Pred PR
pr [at] pred.app
https://www.pred.app
