Kalshi Tightens Trading Curbs for 18- to 20-Year-Old Users, Sets $2,500 Monthly Deposit Cap

Kalshi, the US prediction-market platform, is tightening deposit limits and risk controls to curb excessive trading by younger users.

Bloomberg reported on October 27 that Kalshi will cap monthly deposits at $2,500 for users aged 18 to 20 and impose additional safeguards.

Users in that age group will automatically be moved into a special account category. If an account holds more than $1,000 and the user invests more than 25% of that balance in a single prediction contract, the platform will send an alert recommending diversification.

Previously, users largely set their own deposit limits. Kalshi said it had already been monitoring trading patterns among that age group and contacting users directly when it detected signs of risky trading to encourage them to slow down.

Luana Lopes Lara, Kalshi's chief operating officer, said the platform, like a securities exchange, is open only to users 18 and older. The company is expanding education and protective measures because younger adults may have less experience in financial markets. Kalshi also plans to produce guidance materials for parents on youth financial trading.

The move comes as debate continues over whether prediction markets should face gambling regulations. Many US states strictly limit gambling by people under 21, and regulators and consumer-protection groups argue that similar rules should apply to prediction-market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.

Benjamin Schiffrin, director of securities policy at Better Markets, an investor-protection group, criticized the new deposit cap as evidence of the gambling-like nature of Kalshi's platform. He argued that because a significant share of Kalshi's revenue comes from sports-related prediction contracts, the company should face the same consumer-protection rules as traditional sports-betting operators.

A legal fight over who has authority to regulate sports betting on prediction markets could also reach the US Supreme Court. With both prediction-market companies and state governments asking the court to hear the dispute, the issue could be taken up as early as 2027.