Open interest drops 20%: Kalshi and Polymarket World Cup fever cools down

Odaily Planet Daily News On the eve of the World Cup final, the combined open interest of Kalshi and Polymarket dropped 20% from the peak of approximately $2 billion in early July, falling from nearly $1.8 billion to about $1.5 billion. Kalshi's sports event trading volume fell to about $4 billion after reaching a peak of approximately $9 billion in the week of July 5, while Polymarket dropped from about $2.3 billion to $740 million. During the World Cup, sports events accounted for approximately 80% of the total trading volume on both platforms. Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 on Sunday to win their second World Cup title. A total of 194,000 addresses participated in trading in Polymarket's World Cup champion market, with about two-thirds incurring losses.