Prediction markets are monetary platforms the place contributors commerce contracts linked to future occasions, with costs reflecting collective chances. Whereas these markets effectively combination info, systematic inefficiencies create buying and selling alternatives. Notable methods embody inter- and intra-market arbitrage, exploiting value variations throughout platforms or mispricing inside a single market. Behavioral biases, such because the longshot bias, lead merchants to overvalue underdogs and undervalue favorites, whereas bookmakers might manipulate odds to mislead naive contributors. Skilled merchants can exploit these patterns to safe earnings. This text evaluations frequent systematic edges in prediction markets, illustrates their sensible utility, and highlights the potential for worthwhile buying and selling.
Introduction
Prediction markets are monetary platforms the place contributors commerce contracts tied to future occasions. For instance, “Will the Democrats maintain the Senate after the 2026 midterms?” Every contract sometimes has two sides, Sure and No, and pays out 1 USD if the occasion happens or nothing if it doesn’t. The market value of the “Sure” contract, say, 0.63 USD, might be interpreted because the collective likelihood (63%) assigned by merchants to that consequence.
These markets operate very like binary choices, however as a substitute of being pushed by firm earnings or macroeconomic information, they mirror public expectations and personal details about political, social, and even cultural occasions. As a result of each dealer has an incentive to be proper, prediction markets are inclined to combination info effectively, typically outperforming polls or skilled forecasts.
Curiosity in prediction markets has been steadily rising, particularly round election cycles. After the latest U.S. presidential race, platforms equivalent to Polymarket, Kalshi or earlier tasks equivalent to PredictIt noticed file participation and liquidity. With the 2026 U.S. Senate elections approaching, exercise is anticipated to extend once more, as political analysts, journalists, and even unusual traders flip to those markets to gauge the real-time odds of partisan management.
The underlying mechanism is easy. Markets rework collective beliefs into costs. A tighter unfold signifies larger confidence, whereas wider spreads sign uncertainty or restricted liquidity. Although transaction prices and regulation nonetheless restrict retail participation, the rising visibility of those platforms suggests they’re turning into a authentic different supply of probabilistic perception.
Let’s illustrate the primary precept with a easy instance. Take into account the New York Metropolis mayoral election and the profitable chances of 4 candidates – Zohran Mamdani, Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa, between Might and November 2025. Every candidate had their very own token or contract, for instance: “Zohran Mamdani wins the NYC Mayoral Election 2025.” The evolution of those chances on Polymarket is proven under.
As we will observe, Mamdani’s possibilities had been initially under 5%, then started rising sharply in June and stabilized above 80% from July onward. By late October, his likelihood of profitable was practically 100%, indicating that the market finally priced him because the overwhelming favourite. Andrew Cuomo skilled a very completely different trajectory. At first of the noticed interval, he was the main candidate till June, when his possibilities dropped considerably and haven’t exceeded 20% since.
This case has the next implications for merchants. As talked about earlier, the value of every contract ranges from 0 to 1 USD, which is interpreted as a likelihood (0% to 100%). In the course of the market’s lifetime, merchants purchase and promote these contracts primarily based on new info, inflicting costs to alter in actual time, as proven in Determine 1.
Now that the official election outcomes are recognized, the market has settled. Since Zohran Mamdani received, his contract paid out 1 USD. For instance, should you had invested in his profitable token 10 occasions when his possibilities had been 30%, paying 10 × 0.30 USD = 3 USD, you’d obtain 10 × 1 USD = 10 USD, incomes a revenue of seven USD. If he had misplaced, the contract would have paid out 0 USD, and you’d have misplaced your 3 USD funding.
Much like different funding instruments, buying and selling on prediction markets will also be analyzed and strategized to realize larger earnings. On this article, we’ll current the commonest systematic edges in prediction markets, clarify their underlying rules, and present particular functions of those approaches.
Systematic edges
The purpose of this paper is to current a number of buying and selling approaches utilized in predictive markets with the intention to develop the simplest and worthwhile funding technique. To attain this, we’ve reviewed a number of research specializing in this subject and summarized them in a single work to make the subject extra accessible to merchants. Within the following sections, we’ll progressively introduce probably the most well-known patterns.
Arbitrage
On the lookout for an arbitrage alternative is a longstanding strategy not solely in predictive markets, but in addition in equities, futures or different developed market. Nevertheless, in talked about areas is just not that straightforward to use arbitrage because the markets are already well-developed and established, whereas predictive markets have existed for a comparatively quick time and their inefficiencies, which usually create arbitrage alternatives, should not but effectively captured. This class contains each inter-exchange and intra-exchange markets.
Inter-exchange arbitrage
Inter-exchange arbitrage alternatives come up when the identical occasion is priced otherwise throughout a number of platforms. The principle thought is to seize the best second by shopping for a contract on the platform the place its value (implied likelihood) is decrease and promoting it the place the value is larger. The distinction between these costs is known as the inter-exchange unfold and sometimes exists just for a brief interval because of the speedy reactions of market contributors.
One of many latest research analyzing inter-exchange arbitrage is Value Discovery and Buying and selling in Prediction Markets. This paper primarily focuses on political occasions and compares contract costs throughout a number of platforms, particularly Polymarket, Kalshi, and PredictIt. The methodology is simple. The costs of the identical contracts on completely different markets are transformed into chances. When the sum of the chances of opposing positions on completely different markets is lower than 1 minus the transaction prices, it signifies an arbitrage alternative.
Determine 2 exhibits the discrepancy between Kalshi and Polymarket, by way of each absolute value unfold and potential arbitrage revenue. The unique determine is Determine 6 within the research.
The research additionally finds that Polymarket usually leads Kalshi as a result of its larger liquidity, making it significantly informative within the final hours earlier than market closing. Nevertheless, these arbitrage alternatives sometimes exist just for a number of seconds, at greatest a couple of minutes, and transaction prices considerably cut back the potential earnings.
Into this class, we will additionally embody the research Unravelling the Probabilistic Forest: Arbitrage in Prediction Markets, revealed in 2025, though it doesn’t characterize a typical inter‑alternate instance. This paper examines when arbitrage arises and whether or not it’s current on Polymarket throughout a number of dependent markets. Subsequently, it’s not a regular inter‑alternate arbitrage case, because it focuses on a single platform, however considers completely different dependent markets inside it. The principle drawback of this strategy is that it’s not sustainable because of the unpredictable incidence of arbitrage alternatives, which often exist solely briefly. Furthermore, the authors notice that liquidity and earnings are decrease in comparison with typical inter‑alternate arbitrage. How this mechanism works shall be defined within the following part.
Intra-exchange arbitrage
In distinction to inter-exchange arbitrage, intra-exchange arbitrage focuses on arbitrage alternatives created by mispricing inside a single market. As talked about earlier, the costs of the contracts characterize chances, so the sum of all contract costs ought to equal 1 USD (100%).
Nevertheless, typically contracts are incorrectly priced, and the sum of the costs deviates from 1. When the sum of all contract costs is lower than 1, a buy-all arbitrage alternative arises. A dealer can purchase all contracts for lower than 1 USD, say 0.95 USD. Regardless of which contract wins, the dealer will obtain 1 USD, because the profitable contract is included. Subsequently, by paying 0.95 USD and receiving 1 USD, the dealer secures a risk-free revenue of 0.05 USD.
Conversely, when the sum of all contract costs is bigger than 1, a sell-all arbitrage alternative happens. On this case, the dealer can promote one unit of every contract for, say, 1.05 USD in whole. Ultimately, they might want to pay out 1 USD to the holder of the profitable contract, leading to a risk-free revenue of 0.05 USD.
In each conditions, the arbitrage stems from the truth that contract costs don’t completely align with the payout construction, permitting merchants to take advantage of non permanent inefficiencies available in the market.
The kind of sell-all arbitrage is current in politics ass effectively. Research Arbitrage in Political Prediction Markets, revealed in 2020, presents mispricing in PredictIt and IEM throughout 2016 U.S. election, specializing in Democratic nomination, Republican nomination and normal election. At PredictIt market the sum of all contracts was typically greater than 1 USD largely from 2014 to 2015. Then PredicIt launched linked markets and revenue charges which repeared the fallacious pricing.
Regardless of the 2015 regularization, arbitrage remained sufficiently worthwhile. Market inconsistencies created alternatives of as much as 0.55 USD per contract, representing a 55% revenue. In distinction, the IEM market didn’t exhibit such environment friendly arbitrage alternatives. Equally, in the course of the subsequent 2020 election on PredictIt, the revenue from this strategy was notably decrease than within the earlier election cycle.
The research Unravelling the Probabilistic Forest: Arbitrage in Prediction Markets additionally examines intra-exhange arbitrage opportunuties specializing in Polymarket between 2024 and 2025, overlaying not solely political occasions but in addition sports activities occasions. Different notable publications on the subject embody Election Arbitrage In the course of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, which particularly examines arbitrage alternatives within the 2024 U.S. election markets.
Longshot bias
One other systematic edge noticed on prediction markets is longshot bias. This technique falls below behavioral results, that means that contract costs are influenced by human elements equivalent to beliefs and decision-making. Longshot bias is a psychological phenomenon that happens when merchants overpay for underdogs, hoping for a bigger payoff with decrease funding if the unlikely consequence happens, despite the fact that the precise likelihood is low. On prediction markets, the place costs are decided by individuals and their bets on occasions, this typically ends in some contracts being overvalued relative to their true possibilities.
Nevertheless, on this state of affairs, it’s more practical to put money into the actual favorites as a result of their larger likelihood of profitable.
One of many research examing this bias is Biases within the Soccer Betting Market revealed in 2017. Authors analysed 12 084 sport matches from February 2017 to Might 2017 and confirmed that common revenue after betting on favorites was -3.64%, whereas common revenue after betting on outsiders was -26.08%.
Not solely different merchants can create bias, but in addition bookmakers themselves. The research The Favourite-Longshot Midas, revealed in 2020, demonstrates how bookmakers intentionally manipulate morning-line odds to mislead naive merchants into believing that underdogs have the next likelihood of profitable. The principle goal of this technique is to reduce the sum of money paid out to profitable bettors. Nevertheless, expert merchants are sometimes in a position to acknowledge who the actual favourite is and who’s merely a “bait” deliberately set by the bookmakers.
One other research specializing in longshot bias is for instance Value Biases in a Prediction Market: NFL Contracts on Tradesports (2007) aimed toward NFL contracts.
An identical pattern is noticed not solely in prediction markets but in addition in shares and ETFs, referred to as the lottery impact. This impact displays that the market is dominated by retail traders favoring underdogs, whereas there’s inadequate skilled capital investing within the “boring” however worthwhile shares. In consequence, underdogs are typically overpriced and favorites underpriced.
Different
There are, after all, many different profit-boosting approaches in prediction markets that aren’t included within the earlier classes.
For instance, research Predictive Energy of Info Market Costs (2011) presents a easy buying and selling technique primarily based on observing the buying and selling course of within the prediction market.
Alternatively, if you wish to place a wager however lack expertise, you is likely to be within the BetAI utility, which is designed to gather and analyze related information that will help you decide which contender has the best likelihood of profitable. Extra info might be discovered within the paper BetAI: a Web3-Native Platform for Prediction Markets, AI Brokers, and Actual-World Asset Possession.
Prediction markets should not as fashionable as different investing fields like shares, subsequently availibity of research and researches is just not ultimate and enough. Nevertheless, our workforce will do the most effective to maintain you up to date on this matter.
Conclusion
Prediction markets supply distinctive alternatives for knowledgeable merchants to take advantage of systematic edges equivalent to inter- and intra-market arbitrage and behavioral biases just like the longshot bias. Whereas these markets effectively combination info, non permanent inefficiencies and mispricings create potential for worthwhile buying and selling methods. In comparison with extra established funding fields equivalent to shares or ETFs, prediction markets are nonetheless comparatively area of interest, and the supply of complete research and analysis is proscribed. However, they proceed to supply useful insights into collective expectations about future occasions. Our workforce will attempt to maintain you up to date on developments on this space and supply steerage as analysis and market practices evolve.
Writer: Sona Beluska, Junior Quant Analyst, Quantpedia
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