By PredictQ Team // Updated: August 2026
Novig’s regulated exchange is live. The CFTC designated its Ludlow Exchange LLC as a contract market on June 16, 2026, roughly five months after filing and one of the fastest approvals on record, and Novig has since retired the sweepstakes product entirely. What you get today is a federally regulated, sports-only exchange, available nationwide, for members 21 and up.
That buries the old version of this comparison, which was about regulatory status. Both platforms now answer to the same federal regulator. The live question is scope: Kalshi is a broad event exchange with the deepest liquidity in US prediction markets, and Novig is a purpose-built sports exchange with no vig in the price.
Quick Verdict
Kalshi, for most traders. Breadth and liquidity compound. Hundreds of markets across politics, economics, sports, crypto, weather, and culture, with order books deep enough to fill real size, make it the stronger default account. Novig is the pick for the sports-only crowd: peer-to-peer pricing with no house margin, the ability to post your own price instead of accepting one, and Novig’s own claim that its members are 10x more likely to win than at a traditional sportsbook. If sports is your entire book, run both and route each trade to the better price. If you trade anything else, only one of these platforms lists it.
Snapshot
Regulation: both are CFTC-designated contract markets. Kalshi has held its designation since 2020 and cleared its own trades since 2024. Novig earned its designation in June 2026 through Ludlow Exchange.
Markets: Kalshi runs politics, sports, economics, crypto, weather, culture. Novig runs sports, period: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, college football and basketball, UFC, tennis, golf, soccer, esports. No political or financial markets, by design.
Welcome offer: Kalshi pays $10 for trading $10. Novig pays $25 in Trade Credits on a deposit of $10 or more.
Availability: Kalshi’s non-sports markets trade nationwide, with sports contracts blocked or contested in a handful of states. Novig is available nationwide.
Pricing: Kalshi’s taker fee maxes at $1.75 per 100 contracts at 50 cents, with makers paying a quarter of that. Novig runs no-vig, market-driven pricing on an open order book; current terms are in the app.
Age: 18+ on Kalshi, 21+ on Novig.
What Novig Is Now
A two-sided marketplace where every price comes from another user. Take an existing offer at the best available price and match instantly, or make your own order at the price you want and let it sit in the open order book until someone fills the other side. Anyone can make a market. No bookmaker sets the line and no house takes the opposite side of your trade.
Coverage includes moneylines, spreads, totals, player props, futures, and parlays, with a builder that handles same-game and multi-game combos cleanly. Straight positions can be cashed out early for a fixed, guaranteed amount, and you can add to or sell positions anytime. A rewards program, Novig Points, accrues monthly and feeds a cash prize pool split among members at Bronze tier and above.
The sweepstakes era, Coins and all, is history as of the 2026 relaunch. Behind the transition sits a $75 million Series B led by Pantera at a roughly $500 million valuation, with more than $105 million raised in total.
Where Kalshi Still Wins
Range and depth. Kalshi has traded as a regulated exchange since 2021, is valued at $22 billion after a $1 billion raise, and lists categories Novig will never touch: elections, Fed decisions, CPI prints, weather. Sports on Kalshi is one deep category among many. On Novig it’s the whole company.
Depth matters at size. A five-year-old order book with mainstream volume absorbs a four-figure order with less slippage than a freshly relaunched venue. Kalshi also keeps winning on fee structure at the extremes, where its formula approaches zero.
When to Pick Kalshi
- You trade anything beyond sports.
- You want the deepest order books in US prediction markets.
- You’re working price extremes, where Kalshi’s fees are lowest.
- You want five years of exchange operating history behind your capital.
- You’re 18 to 20. Novig requires members to be 21 or older.
Sign up HERE.
When to Pick Novig
- Sports is all you trade and you’re done paying a sportsbook’s vig.
- You want to name your own price and let the market come to you.
- You win, and you’re tired of platforms that punish it. Novig welcomes winners, with no limits or bans for being good.
- You want early cash out on straight trades at a fixed, guaranteed amount.
- You want the stronger welcome offer: $25 in Trade Credits for a $10 deposit, against Kalshi’s $10 for $10.
Sign up HERE.
Both?
Cheap to find out. Twenty dollars committed across the two platforms comes back as $35 in combined credits, the market overlap is sports only, and the same game regularly prices differently on a broad exchange and a sports-native one. Line shopping between them is the closest thing to free money in this category.
Bottom Line
Novig erased the gap that used to decide this matchup. Same regulator, real dollars, nationwide access. What remains is a clean split: Kalshi is the everything exchange, Novig is the sports exchange. Default to Kalshi for breadth and depth. If sports is the whole job, make Novig the first tab and let Kalshi price-check it. Kalshi signups HERE, Novig HERE.
Disclosures: PredictQ may receive compensation when readers sign up for platforms through links on this page. Information accurate as of August 2026. Kalshi operates a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market and clearinghouse; its sports contracts are blocked or contested in several states. Novig operates a CFTC-designated contract market (Ludlow Exchange LLC) offering sports event contracts. Trading event contracts involves significant risk. This content is for informational purposes only. Kalshi requires users to be 18 or older; Novig requires members to be 21 or older. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. Restrictions & requirements apply. Not available in all states. 21+. Event contract trading involves risk & is not appropriate for all. Consider if it’s appropriate for you in light of financial circumstances. See novig.com/terms for information.