Your gross payout is $1.00 per winning share. Subtract your total entry cost including taker fees and what remains is your net profit. The calculator on this page runs every part of that automatically for any inputs you enter.
Polymarket Payout Calculator
Enter your trade details below to calculate your exact Polymarket payout, net profit, fees paid, and return percentage before you place a trade.
How to Use This Calculator
Four inputs are all you need to get your result.
STEP 1
Select Your Market Category
Choose from crypto, sports, finance, politics, economics, culture, weather, tech, mentions, or geopolitics. Geopolitics is permanently fee-free.
STEP 2
Enter Your Entry Price
Input your share price in cents, between 1 and 99. Use the price you actually paid, not the current market price.
STEP 3
Enter Total Amount Invested
Enter the exact amount you have invested while placing a trade.
STEP 4
Select Order Type & Settings
Choose Taker (market order, filled immediately) or Maker (limit order, zero fees on most markets).
Toggle on Early Exit if you want to calculate a scenario where you sell before resolution. Toggle on Holding Rewards if you want to see your passive daily earnings on top of your trade P&L.
Read More: How Polymarket works
How Polymarket Payouts Work
Polymarket contracts trade as binary shares priced between 1¢ and 99¢. Each share pays out $1.00 USDC if your side wins and $0.00 if it does not.
The share price directly represents the market's implied probability. A share at 65¢ implies a 65% chance the event resolves Yes. If you buy at 65¢ and you are right, your gross profit is 35¢ per share.
What changes your actual take-home is the price you paid to enter, the fees on that entry, and whether you exited early or held to resolution.
PAYOUT STRUCTURE
Winning share payout$1.00 USDC
Losing share payout$0.00
Your profit per share$1.00 minus entry price
65¢ share → win
35¢ profit (53.8% return)
40¢ share → win
60¢ profit (150% return)
25¢ share → win
75¢ profit (300% return)
Understanding Polymarket Fees
Polymarket does not charge a flat fee. The amount you pay depends on three variables working together: whether you are a taker or a maker, which market category you are trading, and where the contract price sits at the time of your trade. Understanding all three is the difference between estimating your return and actually knowing it.
Taker Fees
A taker places a market order that fills immediately against existing liquidity. Takers pay a fee on every trade, calculated using Polymarket's parabolic formula:
Taker Fee = 0.0625 × Price × (1 - Price)At 50 cents this formula produces the highest possible fee because 0.50 x 0.50 = 0.25. As the price moves toward either edge, both sides of the multiplication shrink and the fee shrinks with them.
- At 20 cents: 0.0625 × 0.20 × 0.80 = $0.01 per share
- At 50 cents: 0.0625 × 0.50 × 0.50 = $0.0156 per share
- At 80 cents: 0.0625 × 0.80 × 0.20 = $0.01 per share
The fee is symmetric. Trading at 20 cents costs the same per share as trading at 80 cents. The peak is always at 50 cents.
Maker Fees
A maker places a limit order that rests on the order book and adds liquidity. Makers pay zero trading fees on most Polymarket markets and also receive daily USDC rebates funded from collected taker fees. If you are not in a rush to fill, maker trading is structurally cheaper across every market category.
The Fee Curve Explained
The fee curve visual in the calculator shows this parabolic relationship in real time. The marker moves automatically to your entered price. Drag it and your fee per share updates live before you commit to a trade.
The practical implication: if two markets have similar implied probabilities but one trades at 45 cents and another at 30 cents, the 30 cent market costs less in fees per share. Factoring fee drag into market selection improves your net return without changing your prediction.
Fees by Market Category
Polymarket applies different taker fee coefficients across its market categories. The parabolic formula stays the same but the coefficient changes by category. Geopolitics markets carry a zero percent fee rate permanently. All other categories carry their own rate, which the calculator applies automatically when you select your category from the dropdown.
Worked Example: What You Actually Take Home
Scenario 1: Holding to Resolution
You buy 200 Yes shares on a Polymarket sports market at 65 cents per share as a taker.
- Entry cost:200 × $0.65 = $130.00
- Taker fee:0.0625 × 0.65 × 0.35 × 200 = $2.87
- Total cost including fee:$132.87
If the market resolves Yes:
Gross payout: 200 x $1.00 = $200.00
Net profit: $200.00 - $132.87 = $67.13
Return: 50.5% on total cost
If the market resolves No:
Total loss: $132.87
Effective odds after fee: Your 65 cent entry implies 1.538 decimal odds. After the $2.87 taker fee your effective odds drop to approximately 1.505. Small on one trade but it accumulates across a month of active taker trading.
Scenario 2: Early Exit
Same position: 200 Yes shares at 65 cents as a taker. The price rises to 82 cents and you sell early.
- Exit proceeds:200 × $0.82 = $164.00
- Exit taker fee:0.0625 × 0.82 × 0.18 × 200 = $1.84
- Net exit proceeds:$164.00 - $1.84 = $162.16
- Net profit on the round trip:$162.16 - $132.87 = $29.29 (22.0% Return)
Fees apply to both legs independently. Your entry fee and exit fee are calculated separately and both reduce your net profit. The Early Exit toggle handles this automatically and shows your two-leg P&L in the results card.
Scenario 3: Maker Order
Same trade: 200 Yes shares at 65 cents, placed as a limit order filled as a maker.
- Entry cost:200 × $0.65 = $130.00
- Maker fee:$0.00
- Total cost:$130.00
If the market resolves Yes:
Gross payout: $200.00
Net profit: $70.00 (53.8% Return)
That is $2.87 more in net profit than the taker scenario, a 2.2 percentage point return improvement from one order type decision on a $130 position.
Read More: Polymarket Bankroll Management Guide
Holding Rewards: Passive Income on Open Positions
Polymarket pays a 4% annualized holding reward on eligible open positions. The reward accrues daily on your position size in USDC and is distributed automatically, sitting on top of your trade P&L rather than replacing any part of it.
Toggle on Holding Rewards in the calculator and enter the number of days you expect to hold. The results card adds your estimated reward as a separate line beneath your net profit figure.
Three things to know before factoring this in:
- Not every Polymarket market is eligible. Check the market page before assuming the reward applies.
- The reward accrues on your position size, not your profit. On 200 shares at 65 cents the reward calculates on $130 of position value.
- The 4% rate is annualized. On a $130 position held 30 days that is approximately $0.43. Incremental, but genuine income on positions you were holding anyway.
Read More: How to make money on Polymarket
Frequently Asked Questions
Taker fees follow the formula: 0.0625 x price x (1 - price). The fee peaks at 50 cent contracts and shrinks toward either edge of the price range. Rates also vary by market category. Maker fees are zero on most markets. Geopolitics is permanently fee-free.
No. Makers place limit orders that add liquidity and pay zero trading fees on most Polymarket markets. They also receive daily USDC rebates from collected taker fees. If you are trading frequently and not in a rush to fill, limit orders are the most direct way to reduce cumulative fee drag over time.
Losing shares expire at zero at resolution. Your total loss is your entry cost plus any taker fee paid. There is no partial recovery. If you sold early at a loss, your total loss is entry cost plus both leg fees minus your exit proceeds.
Yes. Toggle on Early Exit, enter your target exit price, and the results card shows your net P&L across both legs with fees calculated independently on each. Set your profit target and see exactly what you net at that price before opening the position.
Because Polymarket's taker fee formula is parabolic, not flat. It peaks at 50 cents and shrinks toward zero at both ends of the price range. The fee curve visual in the calculator updates your fee per share in real time as you drag the price marker.
Disclaimer
This calculator provides estimates for informational purposes only and is not financial, investment or trading advice. Fees, payouts and market rules can change; always confirm current terms on Polymarket before trading.
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