When I heard Onyx was releasing a prediction markets platform, I was excited to take a look. I’ve tried the social sportsbook before, and that’s a really cool app, so I arrived at the website with high hopes.
Unfortunately, though, this Onyx Predictions review is going to be pretty light on details – it turns out the product hasn’t launched yet! For now, the website just shows some limited information about its forthcoming release. This includes an invitation to sign up to a special mailing list for “early access” – naturally, I did that right away.
The new product that’s soon to be released by Onyx involves prediction markets. It’s a spin-off from their existing app. And given the company’s expertise in creating sports and DFS-style games, this seems like a pretty natural expansion.
I’m sure you’re familiar with this concept of prediction markets already, as several big-name sites have swept the nation in the past few years. It’s proven so popular that even Mark Zuckerberg is getting on the act – see my Meta Arena review for more on that.
This information hasn’t been announced yet, so I honestly don’t know. However, we can take an educated guess, based on the many similar platforms that already exist, that it will be accessible in around 45 US states.
It’s almost certainly not going to be available in any of the following jurisdictions, based on recent legal cases, and by looking at where competing sites and apps currently operate:
I can imagine the Onyx Predictions product being built into the existing Onyx Odds, since that’s a great bit of software. But whether or not a standalone app is launched will probably be influenced by the legal situation. There wouldn’t be any point in a combined app if there’s little overlap between where the two products are permitted.
It’s not just me that likes the Onyx Odds app, by the way. At the time of writing, it scores 4.8 out of 5 from over 13,000 App Store reviews. You have to imagine my Onyx Predictions rating will be just as high when I eventually get a look at the software.
Yes, we do. It’s certainly going to be a legitimate operation, as a number of necessary steps have already been taken to get it off the ground.
Onyx Predictions LLC is the name of the operator, and this company has a registered address on Madison Avenue in New York. It’s already taken care of its Commodity Futures Trading Commission registration and is also a National Futures Association member (ID: 0576468).
Onyx Predictions will work closely with NinjaTrader and Tradovate. The latter will hold user account funds, while NinjaTrader is the guaranteeing Futures Commission Merchant.
If you don’t know how prediction markets work, it’s a pretty simple idea – the operator poses a binary yes-or-no question, and you predict the outcome by purchasing contracts. For example, a sports-themed prediction market could be something as simple as “Will the Knicks win the 2027 NBA Playoffs?”
The contract prices might look something like this:
If you believe the Knicks can do it again, a “Yes” contract is available to buy for just nine cents. You can purchase as many as you like – 100 contracts would cost $9, for instance. Similarly, if you think some other team will triumph, you can buy “No” contracts for 91 cents.
Come the end of the 2027 season, we’ll know the outcome of this particular long-term market. If the Knicks did win, your “Yes” contracts would be paid at $1 each. Losing predictions are worth absolutely nothing.
Following on from my earlier example, if you bought 100 “Yes” contracts, you’d see a $900 return if the Knicks won it all. Well, there would likely be a commission or trading fee involved, but it’s too early to know how much. For comparison, read my Plus500 review – those guys charge one cent per contract purchase.
The product isn’t live yet, so I can’t tell you exactly what predictions you’ll be able to make. And despite joining the mailing list, I haven’t received an email yet, so the best I can do is make an educated guess. Don’t worry, though – I’ll update my Onyx prediction markets review as soon as I have an update.
In the meantime, the table below shows what some of the country’s most popular and successful prediction market brands are currently offering:
| Prediction Market Example | Category | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Will Coco Gauff win the US Open Women’s tennis singles? | Sports | Similar questions for every major sport, including NBA, MLB and NFL. |
| Will BTC hit $50,000 before $100,000? | Crypto | There are dozens of Bitcoin markets at most major sites. |
| Will SpaceX make more than 10 launches in October 2026? | Tech & Science | Updated with different options every month. |
| Will John Ternus say “iOS 27” during his Apple Keynote? | Mentions | Lots of other terms available, like “Aluminum” and “Health”. |
| Will Benjamin Netanyahu leave office in 2026? | Politics | Predictions available for many world leaders and domestic politicians. |
| Will Apple release the iPhone 18 before April 2027? | Tech & Science | Other dates are also offered |
Based on this information, you’d hope that Onyx Predictions follows suit with a diverse range of markets. A mockup on the Onyx Odds homepage includes icons for finance, economics and companies, so it’s a definite possibility.
However, plenty of similar products focus on one specific niche, or just a couple of categories – see my ADI PredictStreet review, for an example. Given the other products in the Onyx portfolio, I’ve got a suspicion this app will launch with nothing but sports-related markets.
The company already has the technology, data and expertise to handle sports, so it just seems like an obvious starting point. They might well expand over time, adding some other categories along the way. But sport is clearly their thing.
It’s hard to say with any certainty, as there’s no official information in the public domain. I would expect to see some kind of Onyx Predictions bonus for new registrants, though, based on what other apps are doing. Quite a lot of the biggest platforms have a signup promotion for new accounts, actually.
There are some sites without a welcome bonus, so it’s not impossible that Onyx Predictions could launch without one. But the brand is already pretty late to the party, so it will be hard to entice users away from other, more well-established products without some kind of signup incentive. A loyalty program would help, but you really need a headline offer to get people’s attention.
Other potential bonus types that Onyx could offer include:
It seems likely that Onyx Predictions will accept bank wires and major credit cards, as these already exist within the Onyx Odds app. I would expect Apple Pay to also be an option, and PayPal seems like a realistic possibility. It’s certainly present at some other platforms, as I found when researching my Gemini Predictions review.
Onyx also plans to launch some sort of cryptocurrency app in the Fall of 2026. I don’t know much about that, to be honest. But it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that blockchain-based payments could somehow be included in the predictions app, if all of these products are joined up.
In an attempt to research what kind of features Onyx Predictions might have when it launches, I contacted the support team by email. Their address is [email protected] if you want to ask them anything yourself. I wouldn’t bother, though – they couldn’t tell me anything.
I asked a few questions, including which states might be excluded from the initial release, and when the estimated launch date was. It didn’t take them long to get back – I had a response within about 15 to 20 minutes. But it was extremely short and to the point:
“Hello,
We will be reaching out with more information once we get closer to launching.
We appreciate your understanding.”
Onyx also has a Discord server, which features a few support-type channels, such as #potential-bugs for reporting issues and #idea-hub for feature suggestions. It also encourages discussion in several specialist areas, like sports cards, NFL chat and bad beats.
However, you must agree to eight rules before joining the Discord, and the final one states it’s not the place to go for support. It asks that you contact the team by email, in the event of a problem.
I’m pretty excited about Onyx Predictions, and you should be too. I’ve been using the Onyx Odds social sportsbook app, which is a great piece of software, for a while now. It’s sleek, with fast loading times, and is highly rated by players. If the new product matches those standards, we’re guaranteed something that looks fantastic and is really user-friendly.
It’ll be interesting to see whether it focuses solely on sports to begin with. Although I’d prefer to see a broader range of markets, I wouldn’t hate the idea of this operator sticking to what it knows best. Trying to build the best sports-focused predictions app to begin with, before expanding later, would be a sensible strategy.
Only time will tell us what approach Onyx Predictions takes. Bookmark this page, as I will update it whenever more information is released.
When Onyx Predictions eventually launches, it will be the prediction market arm of Onyx Odds, a social sportsbook and DFS operator. We don’t yet know if it will be a standalone app or website, or built into the existing Onyx Odds software. I’ll let you know when I get more information.
It will be, yes. Onyx Predictions hasn’t actually launched, but it’s affiliated with Onyx Odds, the well-known social sportsbook app. Operating company Onyx Predictions LLC is already registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, so everything’s legal and above board.
No. You buy and sell event contracts on predictions, which is more like a trading product than betting. The CFTC doesn’t class prediction markets as gambling, and believes they fall under its jurisdiction.
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