Overview of the Kalshi Prediction Market App Platform
Prediction Apps have become one of the most attractive connections of finance, technology and interactive economics. Among the big players in this sector is Kalshi, a regulated prediction exchange based in the United States.
Kalshi allows users to buy and sell contracts based on real world events, such as:
- Will inflation exceed 3% this year?
- Will the Federal Reserve raise interest rates in the next quarter?
- Will a major tech company surpass a given stock price?
Unlike the traditional betting markets, Kalshi works as regulated financial exchange which has been approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This official approval gives Kalshi validity, separating it from other unregulated event betting platforms.
Kalshi basically transforms opinions into tradable assets, providing liquidity to knowledge and democratizing access to event futures.
For entrepreneurs and fintech innovators, Kalshi presents a powerful case study on how prediction markets can be turned into profitable and legally compliant business.
Key Market Takeaways for Prediction Market Apps
The global prediction market is gaining power across multiple industries:
- Global Market Size : As of 2024, estimated at $15.8 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.2% through 2030.
- Top Users: Retail investors, economists, policy analysts, political enthusiasts, sports fans and businesses using market opinion.
- Reasons:
- Increasing adoption of AI & data analytics in trading platforms.
- Growing demand for alternative investment products.
- Expansion of DeFi (Decentralized Finance) and blockchain-based prediction markets.
Platforms like Kalshi, PredictIt, Polymarket and Augur are proof that prediction markets are no longer niche they’re moving into the mainstream financial services ecosystem.
Are Prediction Market Apps like Kalshi Profitable?
Prediction marketplace are growing a fast pace and platforms like Kalshi are marketleaders in this. So, yes if such platforms are executed, a prediction Apps can be highly profitable.
Apps like Kalshi can be extremely profitable if they are designed and operated strategically. The success comes from the fact that these platforms boom on liquidity, user engagement and transactions volumes, similar to traditional stock exchanges. Every trade or contract that happens on the platform generates fees and as more number of users participate, the revenue rises.
For example, Kalshi charges fees for every trade performed on the platform and with many users engaging in multiple contracts daily, the overall fees that is collected turns into significant revenue flow. Other than trading, prediction marketplaces can also be monetized by offering data to institutions such as mutual funds, economists and researchers. They are ready to pay in order to access the collected prediction data because it returns real time feelings of users on economic, political and social events.
Another reason prediction markets are profitable is their continuous importance. Unlike other apps that are limited to seasonal activities or small industries, prediction apps can create new markets every day, whether it is government policy changes, inflation forecasts, election outcomes or even weather events. This makes sure that the platform never runs out of content to engage users.
When joined with strong compliance, user trust and innovative features, prediction marketplace apps present long term productivity opportunities. For entrepreneurs, this means building a Kalshi like app isn’t just about launching another fintech product, it’s more about catching a rapidly expanding market where knowledge becomes a tradable advantage.
In short :
- Multiple Revenue Streams like transaction fees, listing fees, data licensing, API access etc.
- High Liquidity Demand where users are continuously buying and selling event contracts.
- Sticky User Base because predictions often lead to frequent re engagement.
- Expansion Opportunities providing new markets created daily, unlike traditional stock exchanges that depend on limited assets.
Business Model of Kalshi Explained
The business model of Kalshi is designed as a regulated financial exchange, similar to how a stock or commodities market works but is more dependent on event based contracts. Other unregulated prediction apps that works as a betting platforms, Kalshi authorizes itself through compliance and transparency, which strengthens its sustainability and users trust.
The make revenue source for Kalshi is transaction fees. Every time a user buys or sells a prediction contract, the platform takes a small percentage of the trade. The high volume of contracts traded daily, it creates a recurring income stream.
In addition, Kalshi earns from market creation fees. Institutions, corporations or researchers can request the creation of specific event contracts, paying Kalshi to help these markets. This not only adds revenue but also expands the mixture of predictions available on the platform.
Another profitable stream is data monetization. The gathered data from predictions reveals actual users sentiments data about critical events like inflation trends, policy shifts or corporate earnings. Financial institutions and mutual funds often purchase this data to gain a good edge.
Lastly, Kalshi offers institutional level access through APIs, enabling large firms to integrate predictive insights directly into their investment models.
Varition is the key strength of any business model. By not only dependent on user fees, Kalshi protects itself against revenue fluctuations. Its mix of transaction fees, market requests, data sales, and institutional partnerships makes it both sustainable and highly scalable.
Key Revenue Sources:
- Transaction Fees – Percentage charged per trade.
- Market Creation Fees – Institutions can request specific markets.
- Data Monetization – Selling market sentiment and trading data.
- Institutional Access – APIs for financial institutions and hedge funds.
Regulatory Framework for Prediction Market App
The regulatory environment is one of the most critical factors when building a prediction marketplace app. Because these platforms involve trading contracts related to real world events, they must define the gambling regulations, securities law and commodities trading law. Without proper licenses and permissions, there is a risk being closed or fined heavy.
In United States, Kalshi is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) which is organization that supervises future markets. Kalshi is the first federally regulated prediction marketplace in the U.S. This makes Kalshi a legitimacy and distinguishing it from other betting platforms that operates in legal areas.
In Europe, the complete prediction markets comes under MiFID II command, which runs financial markets and investor protections. Under the regulations the compliance must involve implementing KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) processes.
In other regions, regulations vary considerably. For example:
- In Asia, some countries prediction apps falls under gambling laws.
- In Australia, they may require a license from financial regulatory bodies.
For developers and entrepreneurs, regulatory compliance must be built into the business model from starting. That means they must set up identity verification systems, financial reporting tools, dispute resolutions and data protection.
In short :
- In U.S.: These platforms are regulated by the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) if they operate as an exchange.
- In Europe: Compliance falls under MiFID II regulations.
- In Asia: Different jurisdictions treat prediction markets either as gambling or financial products.
What are the Three Types of Predictions?
Prediction Apps typically revolve around three wide categories of events, each providing to different user bases and engagement forms.
Economic Predictions
Economic markets allow users to trade on financial outcomes such as inflation rates, interest rate hikes, unemployment levels or stock market movements. These interests investors, economists and businesses looking for risks or gain insights into market sentiment.
Political Predictions
This cover events such as election results, legislative outcomes or international policy changes. E.g. users can trade on whether a political party will win the next election or if a bill will pass within a specific timeframe. These predictions involves politically active users, analysts and journalists.
Event Based Predictions
These include forecasts related to entertainment, sports, climate events and cultural happenings. For example : “Will a major movie surpass $1 billion at the box office? or Will a hurricane reach category 5 by September?”. Event based markets involves casual users who may not be financially motivated but cares of the excitement of outcomes.
By offering all three types, a platform can attract a large variety of users, ensuring money flow and continuous activity across markets.
Essential Features to Include When You Create a Prediction App like Kalshi
To successfully compete with Kalshi, a prediction app must be feature rich, secure and engaging. Essential features include:
| Market Creation & Resolution System | Allows admins or institutions to create prediction markets and ensures fair, transparent resolution of events. |
| Order Matching Engine | Similar to stock exchanges system, this also matches buy and sell orders to provide smooth flow. |
| User Wallets & Multi Payment Options | This must supports deposits, withdrawals and seamless integrations with credit cards, bank transfers and other wallet types. |
| Real Time Data Feeds | It is essential to keep markets updated with external data providers such as government economic reports or weather services. |
| Liquidity Pools | Encourage active participation by ensuring the users that they can always enter or exit markets. |
| KYC/AML Compliance | It protects against fraud, money laundering and regulatory violations. |
| Analytics Dashboard | This provides users with in depth insights on the latest trends, current positions and current market. |
| Gamification | Advanced features may include leaderboards, rewards and referral bonuses to keep users engaged on the platform. |
| Community Integration | Features like forums and discussion boards may encourage user interaction on the platform including the predictions sharing between each other. |
| 24/7 Customer Care & Support. | It helps users resolve their issues quickly, increasing the trust and loyalty among the users |
These features ensures that the platform is secure, compliant and user friendly in turn increasing the users engagement and revenue.
Development Steps for a Prediction Market App like Kalshi
In order to create an App like Kalshi, it must involve multiple structured steps:
| Market Research & Feasibility Study | You must understand the user demand, regulatory walls and competitor weaknesses. |
| Define Business Model | Must Identify main revenue soruce such as transaction fees, subscriptions or institutional partnerships. |
| Tech Stack Selection | The technology stack that must be chosen for frontend (React, Angular), backend (Node.js, Django), databases (PostgreSQL) and possibly blockchain impacts the overall development and after launch performance. |
| UI/UX Design | Focus on simplicity and user friendliness ensuring users can make predictions in just a few clicks. |
| Backend & Contract Development | Developing a strong order matching algorithm and event resolution logic. |
| Security & Compliance | Integration of KYC, AML and encryption systems to match legal requirements. |
| Testing & Quality Assurance | By doing testing like unit, load and penetration tests to guarantee performance and safety |
| Deployment & Scaling | The platform must be launched with cloud based infrastructure with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) for scalability. |
| Continuous Improvement | Always gather users feedback and provide regular app updates to improve engagement and trust |
Each step must be a balance between technology, compliance and user experience, making development complex but highly rewarding if executed correctly.
Cost of Developing a Prediction Market Platform like Kalshi
In order to develop an App like Kalshi, the cost depends on the features includes in the scope, the compliance needed and the development teams location.
| MVP (Basic): | $40,000 – $80,000 |
| Full Scale Exchange: | $120,000 – $200,000+ |
| Annual Maintenance : | Approx. 10 – 15 % of development costs |
Main Cost Factors Include:
- App Complexity – More features (like pools, APIs etc.) increase costs.
- Security & Compliance – Licensing, KYC/AML and encryption add noteworthy expenses.
- Team Location – Developers in the U.S. or Europe may cost 3x more than teams in Asia.
- Third-Party Integrations – Real-time data APIs, payment gateways and cloud hosting all add costs.
While initial investment is high, prediction platforms have multiple revenue streams that allow recovery and scaling within 1–2 years if executed effectively.
Here’s Why You Should Invest in a Kalshi Like App
Investing in a Kalshi like prediction marketplace app deals in multiple benefits:
- Setting off the Market Demand – As many users look for alternative investment opportunities, prediction markets are rapidly gaining power.
- Varied Revenue Streams – Transaction fees, data monetization, institutional services and subscription models.
- User Engagement & Retention – Unlike other one time use apps, prediction platforms increase constant re-engagement of users.
- First Mover Advantage – Many regions still lack regulated prediction marketplaces, creating opportunities for expansion.
- Scalability – Prediction App markets can be expanded for an indefinite period by adding new events daily.
For fintech entrepreneurs, prediction markets combines financial invention, user engagement and sustainable monetization which makes them a strong investment opportunity in 2025 and beyond.
How Long Does It Take to Develop a Prediction Marketp App?
As explained above, the development timeline & cost varies depending on features and compliance requirements. Still lets provide you with an idea,
| MVP | 4–6 months (basic prediction markets, wallets, KYC) |
| Full Platform | 9–12 months (liquidity pools, APIs, data integrations) |
| Enterprise-Level Exchange | 12–18 months (multi-region compliance, institutional-grade features) |
The timeline also depends on team size, technical complexity and legal processes. Securing regulatory licenses may take additional months, so planning for compliance early is crucial.
Partner With Softcurators & Create An App Like Kalshi
At Softcurators, we specialize in building fintech, BNPL and prediction marketplace solutions that combine advanced technology with regulatory compliance
Our expertise:
- Fintech App Development – Secure and scalable architecture custom-made for financial platforms.
- Blockchain & DeFi Integration – Optional decentralized prediction modules.
- Compliance & Reg Tech Solutions – With Built-in KYC/AML and regulatory reporting.
- User Centric UI/UX Design – Ensuring seamless on boarding and engagement.
- Post Launch Support – Continuous updates, feature enhancements, and user acquisition strategies.
By choosing Softcurators, you’re not just hiring developers , you’re partnering with a team that understands finance + technology + regulations.
Conclusion
Prediction marketplaces app like Kalshi are reshaping the future of finance. By allowing users to trade on real world events, they unlocks a new class while democratizing access to financial markets.
For entrepreneurs, this is the right time to build a Kalshi-like app. With proper compliance, robust features, and innovative design, your platform could capture significant market share.
Softcurators is here to make that vision a profitable reality.
FAQs
Q1. What is a prediction marketplace app, Kalshi?
A prediction marketplace app like Kalshi allows users to buy or sell contracts based on real world events which is similar to trading futures.
Q2. Is developing a Kalshi like app legal?
Yes, but it requires compliance with CFTC in the U.S. or local regulators in other jurisdictions.
Q3. How does the App like Kalshi make money?
Through various methods like transaction fees, market creation fees, and data monetization.
Q4. How much does it cost to build a prediction marketplace platform?
It ranges between $40,000 and $200,000+, depending on complexity.
Q5. How long does it take to build?
MVP might take approx. 3 – 5 months, while a full-fledged platform may take 6 months or more.
Q6. What features are must have in a prediction app?
Order matching algorithms , market creation, KYC/AML compliance, wallets and real-time data feeds.
Q7. Can I integrate blockchain in my prediction platform?
Yes, many platforms use Ethereum or Solana for DeFi-based prediction markets.
Q8. How do prediction marketplaces differ from betting apps?
They are regulated financial exchanges, not gambling platforms.
Q9. Are prediction markets profitable?
Yes—they offer multiple monetization opportunities, from fees to institutional services.
Q10. Why partner with Softcurators?
Because we combine fintech expertise, compliance knowledge, and advanced development capabilities