Polymarket US Explained: The CFTC-Regulated Version (2026)
Polymarket US is the CFTC-regulated version of Polymarket: QCX LLC doing business as Polymarket US, designated a contract market by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on July 9, 2025. It lists dollar-funded, cash-settled event contracts, offers no perpetual futures, and is a separate app from polymarket.com. As of September 2026 it is the only Polymarket product US residents may trade, and it is not available in every state.
What Polymarket US actually is
Polymarket's documentation calls it "A CFTC-regulated exchange for trading event contracts on real-world outcomes," operating as a "designated contract market (DCM) and derivatives clearing organization (DCO) under CFTC oversight." A designated contract market is a federally regulated exchange; a clearing organization guarantees settlement; an event contract pays a fixed amount if a stated event happens.
Like the global platform in our what Polymarket is explainer, it runs a central limit order book where you trade "against other users, not the house," and price reads as probability (how odds work): "A contract priced at 62¢ means the market thinks there is roughly a 62% chance the event occurs." Winners settle at $1.00 and losers at $0.00 under the Polymarket US Exchange Rulebook.
How Polymarket got its license: the QCEX deal
On July 21, 2025 Polymarket announced it had bought the holding company of QCX, LLC, a CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange, and its clearinghouse QC Clearing LLC — together "QCEX" — for $112 million. CEO Shayne Coplan called it "laying the foundation to bring Polymarket home."
The CFTC designated QCX LLC a contract market on July 9, 2025 under Sections 5 and 6(a) of the Commodity Exchange Act. That order stated the exchange "may not permit any futures commission merchant to intermediate any transactions or carry accounts for customers." Polymarket petitioned it away between August 14 and November 24, 2025, and an Amended Order of Designation vacated it "subject to the following terms and conditions." The exchange represented it would not trade on the intermediated platform until its regulatory service provider completed part 16 reporting testing with the CFTC's Division of Data. That is the change that lets brokers carry customer accounts.
What you can trade, and what is missing
The documentation lists "NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, CBB, Tennis, golf, and more," with "Politics, culture, finance, and economics coming soon." The polymarket.us home page already shows navigation for politics, crypto, weather, tech, culture and economics, so the docs lag the product.
What is absent is leverage. Polymarket Perps launched broadly on September 3, 2026 with up to 20x leverage on major crypto, index and commodity markets and 10x on single stocks, but the United States and Canada are blocked from placing orders and Polymarket US lists no perpetuals. See our Perps hub and country eligibility guide.
Polymarket US also "does not set trading size limits" — your fill is capped by the order book.
State availability: what is actually knowable
Polymarket US publishes no state-by-state availability list in its public documentation as of September 2026, so the eligibility check at sign-up is the authority. Third-party lists disagree; verify in the app or with support on polymarket.us.
Why the map keeps moving:
The CFTC seeks a declaration that the Commodity Exchange Act's exclusive jurisdiction provision, 7 U.S.C. § 2(a)(1), preempts state law as applied to these contracts. Until courts resolve that, availability in a contested state can change on a ruling, not a product decision — our legality guide tracks it.
How it differs from the global platform
Money rails. Polymarket.com is a "crypto-based product that operates on blockchain technology"; Polymarket US is "fiat-based, US-regulated." Debit card and ACH deposits cap at $50,000 daily and clear in 3 to 4 business days; wire needs $1,000 minimum and clears in one. Debit and ACH may show instant buying power while processing, but nothing is withdrawable until cleared, deposits must come from an account in your own name, and withdrawals return to that same method. No crypto rail is documented — compare our deposit guide.
Identity. Sign up with Google or Apple ID, then verify full name, date of birth and residential address; you "may be asked to upload a government-issued ID and complete a selfie check." Accounts go under review for mismatched details, duplicate information, or extra Know Your Customer and anti-money-laundering screening.
Custody. Your funds "are kept in a dedicated customer account that is separate from Polymarket US's operating funds," and Polymarket US "cannot access or use your money." That is segregation, not insurance: the page makes no FDIC or SIPC claim.
Fees. Both venues price off the same curve, so fees peak near 50 cents. Polymarket US uses one taker coefficient of 0.06 — $1.50 on 100 contracts at 50 cents — and pays makers a 0.0125 rebate worth $0.31 on that fill, plus weekly rebates of 10%, 25% and 50% above $250,000, $1 million and $10 million of prior-month taker volume. The global platform varies by category (for example 0.07 crypto, 0.05 sports, 0.04 politics, finance and tech, zero geopolitics) with makers paying nothing, so the same sports fill costs $1.25 there. See our fees explainer.
Access. "Polymarket.com is for international users, while US residents must use the Polymarket US app." The US app is on the Apple App Store for iPhone, Android is coming soon, and the accounts "are not connected." Globally the US is one of 39 fully restricted countries, permissions run on "physical location rather than residency," and Polymarket "strictly prohibits the use of VPNs or similar tools to bypass geographic restrictions" — circumventing a geo-block breaches those terms. Readers outside the US can open Polymarket; availability depends on your jurisdiction.
How to get started
We have no affiliate link for Polymarket US: PolymarketFlow has no partnership with them and earns nothing if you sign up there.
The official site is polymarket.us; support runs through support@polymarket.us or in-app chat.
Using our tools alongside Polymarket US
Scope first: PolymarketFlow's data covers the global polymarket.com markets, and our whale tracker reads on-chain positions there. Polymarket US accounts are separate, fiat-based and cleared by Polymarket Clearing rather than on-chain, so they do not appear in our data. What transfers is the reference price and the event calendar:
A global price is not a quote you can trade in the US app: order books, liquidity, fees and wording differ, so treat it as a cross-reference, not an executable price.
Frequently asked questions
Does Polymarket US show the same odds as polymarket.com?
Not necessarily. Both quote in cents where price reads as implied probability, but they are separate exchanges with separate order books, participants and fee coefficients. Contract wording and resolution sources can differ, so identical-sounding markets can trade at different prices.
Can I use both Polymarket US and polymarket.com?
Not from inside the United States: "Polymarket.com is for international users, while US residents must use the Polymarket US app," and the accounts "are not connected." Permissions run on physical location, and Polymarket prohibits VPNs or similar tools to bypass restrictions; using them breaches the terms of service.
Is Polymarket US legal in my state?
It is federally regulated as a CFTC designated contract market, but several states pushed back with cease-and-desist letters and criminal statutes, and the CFTC has sued Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. With no public state list, the sign-up eligibility check is the practical answer.
Can I trade Polymarket Perps from a US account?
No. Perps blocks the United States and Canada from placing orders. Base-tier fees are 0.0400% taker and 0.0125% maker on notional, and funding settles hourly capped at plus or minus 4% per hour. Readers elsewhere can open Polymarket Perps subject to jurisdiction; read our risk explainer first, because leverage magnifies losses and positions can be liquidated.
PolymarketFlow may earn a commission when you sign up through links on this site. This is not financial advice; trading involves risk and availability depends on your jurisdiction.