Study finds 69% of retail Polymarket traders finish with losses
Image: BeInCryptoA Galaxy Research study of 2.9 million retail Polymarket accounts found 69.2% finished below break-even. Combined, those accounts lost $338.9 million. The median retail account lost approximately $3. Automated accounts, excluded from the retail analysis, netted $246.8 million in profits. 15.2% of losing traders stopped trading within 30 days, compared to 6.1% after a win.
Key points
- 69.2% of 2.9 million retail Polymarket accounts finished below break-even per Galaxy Research
- Combined losses for these retail accounts totaled $338.9 million
- Excluded automated accounts netted $246.8 million in total profits
Why it matters
The findings show most retail prediction market participants lose money, while automated traders capture most profits. This aligns with prior research showing a small share of traders capture most gains on such platforms.
What's unclear
The share of retail losses before and after Polymarket introduced early 2026 taker fees
Whether the findings apply to Polymarket's separate US platform
Sources · 2 publishers
BeInCrypto
Tier 2
69% of Retail Polymarket Traders Finish in the Red, Galaxy Finds
Coverage timeline
- First reported by Crypto Briefing
- Confirmed by BeInCrypto
- CryptoVideos brief published
How this brief was made. Our system found this event in 2 independent publications, summarised two complete reports with AI and checked every number above against the source text. Sources are linked in full. Not financial advice. Report an error
