What Is Polymarket?
Polymarket is a crypto-native prediction market, founded in 2020 by Shayne Coplan and based in New York City, where users trade Yes/No shares on the outcome of real-world events, elections, sports, economics, crypto prices, and pop culture among them. Every market resolves against explicit, published criteria, and each share trades between $0.00 and $1.00, with the price itself functioning as the crowd’s live probability estimate for that outcome.
The platform runs on the Polygon blockchain and settles every trade in a USDC-backed token, meaning you’re trading with real crypto, not house credit, and every position is genuinely yours until you sell it or the market resolves. If a share you hold resolves correctly, it pays out $1.00; if not, it pays $0.00, the difference between your purchase price and that outcome is your profit or loss.
How Trading on Polymarket Actually Works
Funding works entirely through USDC: deposit directly from an external wallet, buy USDC through an integrated onramp partner using a card, or bridge funds in from other chains like Ethereum, Arbitrum, or Base into Polygon USDC. Once funded, you buy Yes or No shares on any open market, and you’re free to sell that position before resolution to lock in a gain or cut a loss, rather than being locked in until the event concludes.
Polymarket charges a taker fee that varies by category, tiered from roughly 0.75% on sports up to 1.8% on crypto markets as of 2026, with some geopolitical and world-event markets offered completely fee-free. Deposits and withdrawals themselves carry no platform fee, and gas costs on withdrawals are covered by Polymarket directly. After acquiring the CFTC-licensed exchange QCEX, Polymarket relaunched for US-based traders on December 2, 2025, a meaningful shift after years of blocking US access entirely.
Accuracy, Scale & Track Record
Polymarket’s core claim to legitimacy is accuracy: independent research published in 2025 found its markets resolve in line with their implied probabilities more than 94% of the time, often a full month before the actual outcome becomes certain, a track record that has outperformed traditional polling in head-to-head comparisons. Its highest-profile moment came during the 2024 US presidential election, when Polymarket’s odds moved toward Trump well before polling data reflected the same shift.
The platform has scaled dramatically alongside that reputation: monthly trading volume crossed $10 billion for the first time in March 2026, annualized revenue passed $1 billion by June 2026, and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, committed $600 million to the platform. Polymarket was valued at $15 billion in an April 2026 funding round, with a subsequent round reportedly targeting $20 billion.
Trading Polymarket via Telegram with PolyGun
For traders who want to act on Polymarket markets without leaving Telegram, PolyGun is a third-party Telegram trading bot built specifically for the platform, entirely separate from and not officially affiliated with Polymarket itself. Typing /start in the bot automatically generates a wallet, which supports deposits bridged in from Polygon, Solana, Ethereum, or BNB Chain, after which you can browse markets, place buy and sell orders, and set limit orders directly from a chat interface.
PolyGun’s standout feature is copy trading: you can follow specific wallets and have PolyGun automatically mirror their Polymarket trades in real time as they open and close positions, alongside a portfolio view tracking your open positions and daily profit and loss. The bot is non-custodial, you retain full control of your funds and can export your wallet at any time, and charges a 1% fee on both buys and sells. As with any copy-trading tool, it’s worth remembering that a wallet’s past performance on Polymarket doesn’t guarantee future results, and frequent copied trades can compound that 1% round-trip fee meaningfully over time.
FAQ – Polymarket
Polymarket relaunched for US-based traders on December 2, 2025, after acquiring QCEX, a CFTC-licensed exchange, allowing regulated US access after years of blocking American users entirely.
Polymarket settles all trades in a USDC-backed token on the Polygon blockchain. You’ll need to fund your account with USDC, either by depositing directly, buying it through an onramp partner, or bridging it from another chain.
Independent research published in 2025 found Polymarket’s markets resolve in line with their implied probabilities more than 94% of the time, often a month before the outcome becomes certain.
PolyGun is a third-party Telegram trading bot for Polymarket that lets you buy, sell, and copy-trade positions directly from Telegram. It’s non-custodial and separate from Polymarket itself.
No. PolyGun states that users retain full control of their funds and wallet at all times, and the wallet can be exported whenever you choose.
Taker fees vary by category, roughly 0.75% on sports up to 1.8% on crypto markets as of 2026, with some geopolitical markets offered fee-free. Deposits and withdrawals carry no platform fee.
Max Ledger
Casino and gaming expert
Max Ledger is a crypto and online casino specialist who has personally reviewed 20+ crypto casinos on this site, covering blockchain gambling platforms, bonus structures, and provably fair gaming.