Your First Trade on Kalshi: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Placing Your First Kalshi Trade

Let's walk through a complete trade from start to finish.

Choosing a Market

Good first markets:

• •S&P 500 daily close (familiar, liquid)
• •Weather contracts (easy to understand)
• •Simple yes/no outcomes

Avoid initially:

• •Complex multi-leg markets
• •Illiquid contracts
• •Events you don't understand

Analyzing the Contract

Before trading, check:

1. Current price: What's the market saying?

2. Volume: Is there liquidity?

3. Expiry: When does it settle?

4. Settlement source: How is outcome determined?

Executing Your Trade

Market Order

• •Executes immediately
• •Takes best available price
• •Use for liquid markets

Limit Order

• •Set your maximum price
• •May not fill immediately
• •Better for illiquid markets

Example Trade

Contract: "S&P 500 above 5,000 today"

• •Price: $0.65 YES / $0.35 NO
• •You think it's more likely than 65%
• •Buy 10 YES contracts at $0.65
• •Cost: $6.50 + $0.30 fees = $6.80

Outcome A: S&P closes above 5,000

• •Receive: $10.00
• •Less fees: $0.10
• •Net: $9.90
• •Profit: $3.10

Outcome B: S&P closes below 5,000

• •Receive: $0.00
• •Loss: $6.80

After Your Trade

• •Watch the market price change
• •Monitor your position in Portfolio
• •Learn from the outcome