Prediction market platform Polymarket has updated its documentation to show that 15-minute crypto up/down markets now carry taker fees, marking a shift away from its long-standing zero-fee trading model.
According to the revised “Trading Fees” and “Maker Rebates Program” sections of Polymarket’s documentation, the platform has introduced taker-only fees on these short-duration crypto markets to help fund liquidity incentives for market makers.
Fees collected from takers are redistributed daily to liquidity providers in USDC, rather than retained by the protocol itself. The change applies exclusively to 15-minute crypto markets, while the vast majority of Polymarket’s offerings continue to trade without fees.
The fee level varies based on market odds, with the highest charges applied when prices are near 50%. Fees decline toward zero as odds approach either 0% or 100%. Based on examples in the documentation, a taker trade of 100 shares priced at $0.50 would incur a fee of roughly $1.56 — just over 3% of the trade’s value at the peak of the fee curve.
The update appeared without a formal announcement, though archived versions of Polymarket’s documentation indicate that the fee language is new.
A liquidity incentive, not a platform-wide tax
The quiet rollout sparked debate on social media, with community members characterizing the change as a market-structure adjustment rather than a straightforward fee increase.
X user 0x_opus said the update would “increase protection from wash trading,” arguing that Polymarket is not “starting to charge users in the classic sense,” since the fees are redistributed to market makers.
Another trader, kiruwaaaaaa, described the move as being “aimed at high-frequency bots,” suggesting that fee-funded rebates could encourage tighter spreads and more consistent liquidity.
User Tawer955 offered a more detailed assessment, calling the headline “scary, but not as bad as it sounds.” He said the system creates a sustainable revenue stream for liquidity providers while reducing incentives for bots that previously exploited zero-fee liquidity.
For most Polymarket users, the impact is expected to be limited. The new fees do not apply to longer-term event markets, political markets, or non-crypto predictions, all of which remain fee-free.
Even within the fee-enabled markets, the structure mitigates the impact on smaller or directional trades. Fees decline sharply near probability extremes and are rounded down for very small transactions.
