By all estimates, the 2026-27 NFL regular season will represent a record-breaking stanza for Kalshi. As the prediction platform seeks to satisfy the massive liquidity demand in preparation for Week 1, the exchange has paused all market maker fees that are associated with NFL-only combo trades.
Kalshi’s revamped fee schedule carves out an exception for uncorrelated NFL combo trades for market makers. NFL combos are expected to gain popularity in (if not dominate) the upcoming regular season, which begins on Wednesday, September 9th, with a Super Bowl LX rematch between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.
The fee waiver introduced by Kalshi applies solely to market makers who list uncorrelated NFL combo trades that are made available on the platform. The move should go a long way to reduce friction that market makers experience by offering NFL combo options for “takers,” who find multi-leg trades extremely attractive due to their high-risk, high-reward formats.
In some cases, “takers” may opt to predict the outcome of more than a dozen NFL games and wrap those forecasts into a single trade, much like the “parlays” that are offered by online sportsbooks. If the “taker” correctly predicts all legs of the trade, the payout can be significant compared to the original trade amount. This can ultimately lead to market makers experiencing exponential risk complexity that is meaningfully decreased due to the new lack of fees for NFL games on Kalshi.
According to recent data, Kalshi is experiencing platform-wide trading volume that is in excess of $1 billion daily on average. Since they were introduced, Kalshi combo trades have proven to be a massive trading volume driver, attracting new traders across the country who want to legally participate in NFL prediction markets that are federally regulated.
Unlike traditional online sportsbooks, which are state-licensed and not available in all jurisdictions, Kalshi’s business model technically relies on a “peer-to-peer” trading model rather than sportsbook wagers in which account holders compete against a “house.” However, the soaring popularity of sports event contracts has attracted “institutional” market makers who typically provide the vast majority of overall liquidity to create a broad range of sports-based markets.
Transaction fees still apply to “takers” who purchase NFL combo contracts on Kalshi. The main difference that everyday traders on the platform will notice is that combo prices for more obscure multi-leg predictions appear almost instantly when solicited, as opposed to taking longer (or not appearing at all) on competing exchanges.
At present, Kalshi sports contracts are available in all US jurisdictions except Nevada, Michigan, Washington, and Massachusetts. The minimum age requirement to sign up for a new account and begin trading in less than five minutes is 18 years old. Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated exchange that offers prediction markets on sports, politics, elections, entertainment, and global affairs outcomes.
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