What PredictIt charges, and why the $850 figure you've seen is stale
PredictIt's fee structure is the simplest in this category and the most frequently misreported, because its own FAQ answers are hidden behind three levels of click and most people writing about it never opened them. Three numbers matter: 10% of your profit on a winning sale, 3% to deposit by credit card, and a $3,500 cap per contract. Withdrawals used to cost 5%, but PredictIt now charges nothing for a standard withdrawal from an active account. The cap is where nearly every guide is wrong: the widely repeated $850 limit has been superseded. And the answer to "PredictIt promo code" is that there isn't one.
The fees, verbatim
From PredictIt's own FAQ, in the answer to "What are your fees?", which PredictIt last updated on 22 September 2026:
"Any time you sell shares for a higher price than you paid, we charge a fee of 10 percent of your profit. There is no fee if you sell your shares at the same price that you paid or at a lower price."
"Deposits made by credit card carry a 3 percent processing fee. Deposits by bank transfer and all other methods are free, and your first deposit is fee-free up to $1,000."
"PredictIt does not charge a fee to process standard withdrawals from active accounts."
| Event | Charge |
|---|---|
| Open an account | No fee listed |
| Deposit by credit card | 3% processing fee |
| Deposit by bank transfer or any other method | Free |
| Sell above your purchase price | 10% of the profit |
| Sell at or below your purchase price | Nothing |
| Standard withdrawal from an active account | Free |
| Withdrawal from an inactive account | 5% withdrawal fee |
| Inactive account: no log in for 12 months, positive balance | $2.00 a month |
The FAQ's fees answer does not list a fee for opening an account, and neither do PredictIt's terms. The FAQ does not say how the "first deposit is fee-free up to $1,000" line applies to a card deposit, so read the deposit screen before you pay by card.
The last two rows come from PredictIt's terms and conditions rather than the FAQ:
"There is a 5% withdrawal fee for withdrawals from inactive accounts. You may avoid this fee by re-activating your account prior to making a withdrawal."
The terms treat an account as inactive after 12 consecutive months with no log in and a positive cash balance, and then charge $2.00 per calendar month for as long as the account stays inactive and a balance remains. They also say processing fees for non-standard withdrawal methods are disclosed before you choose the method.
Note the architecture. Like Betfair and Smarkets, PredictIt charges its trading fee only when you win: a losing sale costs nothing. Unlike them, it used to charge again on the way out, with a 5% fee on withdrawals. It no longer does for an active account, so a profitable trade now pays the 10% fee once, and a card deposit adds 3% on the way in.
The $3,500 cap, and why $850 is still everywhere
PredictIt limits how much any one person can hold in a single contract, and it is explicit about where the limit comes from:
"PredictIt operates under no-action relief from the Division of Market Oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. An $3,500 limit on investment by an individual participant in any contract is a condition of this relief."
The number most guides carry is $850. That was the earlier condition, and it is the figure that propagated across comparison sites, forum posts and, because they read those pages, AI-generated answers. It is out of date.
The cap is a regulatory condition rather than a business choice, which is why it is worth knowing it can move again: if the relief changes, the number changes.
Tax: the withdrawal fee no longer counts toward your 1099
PredictIt's FAQ answer on tax reporting, also updated on 22 September 2026, has changed since we first read it. The threshold is the same:
"Pursuant to IRS regulations, PredictIt is required to issue Form 1099 to any trader, resident in the U.S., who has a net profit of $600 or more in any calendar year."
The formula is not the same. PredictIt now gives it as:
Net Profit = Gross Profits − Losses − Trading Fees
(In PredictIt's own text the dashes between terms mean minus.) It adds that "Deposit and withdrawal fees are not included in the calculation", and then:
"Withdrawal fees were included through tax year 2025 and are excluded beginning in 2026."
PredictIt's own worked example, which now stops at the subtotal:
| Gross profit on winning sales | $1,000 |
| Losses on other sales | −$200 |
| Trading fees paid | −$100 |
| Net profit reported | $700 |
So from tax year 2026 the number on your 1099 is your gains, minus your losses, minus the 10% trading fees you paid. No withdrawal fee comes off it, and neither does a deposit fee, including the 3% card fee. For tax year 2025 and earlier PredictIt did include withdrawal fees in the calculation, so a form for those years was worked out differently from the way a 2026 form will be.
This is not tax advice. It is what PredictIt says it reports and how it says it calculates it. What you owe on that figure is a question for someone qualified, and it differs by where you live.
There are no PredictIt promo codes
We enumerated every question in PredictIt's FAQ, all five categories and 52 questions, and not one of them asks about a coupon, promo code, bonus, welcome offer or referral programme. Nor does any answer mention one. (The category named "Offers" is about offers to buy and sell shares, not promotions.)
Being precise about what that establishes: we read every question and every answer on 7 October 2026. That is strong evidence rather than proof, because a venue that ran a promo code would almost certainly have a question about it, and PredictIt has none.
There is one related line in the terms. PredictIt says it "may from time to time waive deposit fees as part of a promotion", with the terms of any promotion shown on the website at the time of the deposit. That makes a card deposit fee waiver possible, but it is not a code, and we found no such promotion described in the FAQ.
That is consistent with the structure: PredictIt charges no fee on most deposits (only credit cards pay 3%) and runs a capped, no-action-relief market. It is not competing on sign-up incentives, and it does not appear to run any.
If a site is offering you a "PredictIt coupon code", ask what it is supposed to do, there is no field to enter one and no documented offer to unlock. This is the same shape as Betfair and Polymarket, where the codes in the search results also describe a mechanism the venue does not operate. See the promo comparison for which venues genuinely run one.
An open question about PredictIt's regulatory status
Worth flagging rather than resolving, because it is genuinely unresolved and it affects everything above.
PredictIt describes itself, today, as operating under no-action relief, not as a registered exchange:
"We operate under the terms of a No Action letter granted by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in October, 2014."
PredictIt's terms name Aristotle International, Inc. as the clearing house supporting the site.
Meanwhile the CFTC's own filings registers list Aristotle Exchange DCM, Inc. as Designated and Underdog Clearinghouse, Inc. as Registered, both dated 5 September 2025. The clearing entity was registered as Aristotle Exchange DCO, Inc. and the register now says "Formerly known as Aristotle Exchange DCO, Inc.", so it has been renamed since our first reading, with the same date and status. These are two separately named entities, and the clearing one no longer carries the Aristotle name.
So there appear to be two things running in parallel: a PredictIt operating under a 2014 no-action letter with a $3,500 condition attached, and newly registered exchange and clearing entities. We do not know what relationship the CFTC registrations bear to the PredictIt product, and we are not going to guess, because the answer determines which rules your trades settle under.
If you have seen PredictIt described as "a fully regulated exchange since September 2025", including in an earlier version of our own research notes, that claim is doing exactly this conflation and should not be relied on.
