Prediction Markets is serious business. But why can't they also be fun? Why can't we also have a little friendly competition? That's what Krish and juke are building.
Krish studied economics and computer science at UT Austin, helped grow the school's blockchain club, and found his way into prediction markets from there. He's now building juke, a free, risk-free competition platform where traders and AI-driven systems go head to head on real markets using paper credits, and where every pick builds a public track record. His line for it: fantasy sports for prediction markets, where instead of being the GM of a team, you're the GM of a predictive system.
Brian Hartman sat down with Krish to talk about what he's building, where he sees edge in football markets, the mistakes he sees traders make, why mention markets worry him, and where AI agents take this industry next.
Watch and Listen to The Interview Here - Read Below
From Blockchain Club to Prediction Markets
Brian: For everybody who isn't familiar, give us a little background on you.
Krish: "I went to UT Austin and graduated a couple of years ago with an economics and computer science background. Most of my background was in blockchain. I helped grow the blockchain club there and get more people involved. From there, so many different angles and possibilities emerged, and I dove into prediction markets."
Brian: I come from the fantasy football and sportsbook world, and this is the transition I've made. What attracted you to this space?
Krish: "I've always been a sports guy. I've played soccer basically my whole life, but I love football and basketball too, and I've always played fantasy. People getting more into the predictions side of things has really evolved the space, and that's where I started building my own stuff and thinking about the different layers that could be built on top.
"What drew a lot of people in is the idea that you can predict on anything. What people are saying, what people are doing on a daily basis. That's a powerful thing. These markets are becoming truth oracles in some capacity. People call it the wisdom of the crowd. There's talent in the masses, lots of people with different edges, and so many markets to tap into. And it's a different world from sportsbooks. You're trading against other people, not just the house, which is a benefit for users."
Brian: That's been the big eye-opener for me. It isn't just sports. It's your other hobbies too, whether that's weather, politics, reality TV or movies.
Krish: "Exactly. Even with my girlfriend, we'll be watching a TV show and it's, there's probably a market on that. Any kind of person can get involved, even people who never thought they'd get into anything like betting. If they realize they actually have an edge in a specific niche and can make money from it, that's a great opportunity to get involved, build models, all of it."
What Krish Is Building
Brian: What are you currently working on?
Krish: "I'm building juke. It's a prediction market-adjacent platform, and it's all risk-free. We build competitions around the same events people are already familiar with. We're starting with football and soccer, adding basketball as that season comes around, and then expanding into other markets, like politics as the midterms come up, and crypto.
"The problem I wanted to solve is this. If you go on X, the only way to verify that someone's doing well is their P&L. They post that they made $50,000 on a pick, which sounds great. But there's no real track record or trust layer underneath it. Is this person actually sharp in this field, or did they get lucky a couple of times? Are they only posting their best wins and hiding the losses?
"So I wanted to build a risk-free proving ground where people jump into familiar competitions. I've been calling it fantasy sports for prediction markets. Instead of being the GM of your team, you're the GM of your predictive system.
"With AI and forecasting tools, it's becoming easy to deploy agents and configurations on markets, and you're seeing people trade with bots they've set up. The deeper question is the trust layer between those configurations and you. Can I trust this configuration, in this format, under these conditions, to actually make me money? Instead of testing that with people's hard-earned money, you can test it risk-free.
"One feature I'm launching right now lets you build a system in one sentence with Claude or ChatGPT. You type something like, I only want favorites on NFL teams, or I only want underdogs when they hit a certain price. The idea is to recruit the best talent to come in and prove they're the best, and then let other people build off those systems, license them, or create their own."
Brian: So for somebody just coming into prediction markets, it's an easier way to get your feet wet without risking real money. My wife's dabbling right now, but she's nickel-and-diming it, trying to figure it out before fully jumping in.
Krish: "Exactly. The loop I'm creating is the arena format, the competition layer. It's weekly. You get 1,000 paper credits every week to deploy on the games and props you'd see on Polymarket, using whatever strategy you want.
"You're also competing against other people and systems on the platform. A lot of people are bringing their own models through the API and plugging them into the ecosystem to compete right alongside you. So it's two-sided. If you're just getting started, you can play around and test things. If you're already an established builder and you think you have an edge, you can prove it right away and start building a record that can become a monetizable asset later. And everyone's competing for prizes in these arenas, so there's an extra incentive layer on top."
Brian: Where are you in the build?
Krish: "It's been in beta since the start of 2026. We had good traction in soccer, with the Champions League and especially the World Cup this summer. A few hundred people were participating weekly in each arena, with thousands of settled positions. Over the last couple of months I've been focused on the agent and AI systems side, and I'm still pushing updates daily. This week was our preseason launch, and our season launches Wednesday, October 14. I've been recruiting builders, quants and traders, and talking to different communities so we have a strong network on the platform from day one."
Where Krish Looks for Edge
Brian: How do you evaluate markets and identify potential edges? Where are you looking within the space?
Krish: "Take football. Beyond moneylines, spreads and totals, there are so many player props and team props, and there's a lot of value there because there's less volume and fewer eyes on them. College football goes further. More games, more markets, fewer eyes. That's where a lot of edge is, because you have more chances to get in at better prices.
"The biggest opportunity I've been finding is live trading. You see massive price swings on one score or one play. If you follow sports, you know comebacks happen all the time, and the score in the third quarter doesn't settle anything. In my UT game against Ohio State a couple of weeks ago, I think we were at a 1% chance in the third quarter. That's literally a 100x opportunity. Obviously that's very high risk, and not many people take it. But in a different context, there are 10- or 15-point swings all the time. If you have a thesis from pregame, from your model or your own read, and the game's playing out differently and giving you a better entry, that's where a lot of edge lives."
Brian: I'm hearing that answer more and more lately. You get sucked into the games and don't check the markets, but even if it's not a full 1%-to-100% swing, there are big moves.
If you want a head start on pregame prices before the live swings start, our sports page shows the best available price across exchanges for each game.
Common Mistakes Traders Make
Brian: What common mistakes or misconceptions are you seeing in prediction markets?
Krish: "A lot of overtrading, and the flip side of what I just said: overreactions. People are putting big money behind their models, and that's what's moving these markets. Open any prime-time game and you're looking at tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars in volume. People like to follow the flow. They see a big order come in and want to jump on it. I don't think that's a good way to evaluate things. You need your own thesis first.
"I like to start with my script for the game. Is it going to be a defensive game? A shootout? Then as it plays out, you evaluate the prices against that and decide whether a trade fits.
"The other thing I've seen recently is cashing out early. It's a fine way to capture some profit and it reduces risk. But in some cases it's designed to take away a bit of the profit you'd ultimately get, and a lot of people fall for that."
Brian: I fall for it from time to time. Let me just take the small win. It tugs on the emotional heartstrings when you've got money on the line. That rolls into my next question. It's big right now on social media to follow betting influencers, but you're not getting the same lines they got. They took it because it was good then. What role do data, research and market movement play in how you approach things?
Krish: "This is going to be ongoing for who knows how long, until someone really cracks it. That's why sports is such a great entry point. There's no definitive outcome and so much randomness. Injuries all the time, lineup changes, whether a player is feeling it that day. Some of that isn't captured in tangible data.
"One thing I've noticed is that there's not a lot of injury data in the models people are putting out. They're built on team strength scores and matchups. But if you follow these sports, you know injuries have huge implications, and they're hard to weight into a model. I think that's the next thing people are trying to crack."
Markets Beyond Sports
Brian: Are there markets outside of sports you find yourself dabbling in?
Krish: "I'm looking at some stuff. Mention markets are kind of funny, and I think they're pretty manipulable. I remember the Coinbase CEO, at the very end of an earnings call, just started saying all the words that were on the market. That was crazy to me. I don't know how you build a model around that kind of thing. It seems like insider information moves those markets.
"I don't think that helps the overall prediction market space, and I think those markets need more regulation to keep things fair for all users. When people have been caught trading on government information, they've been held accountable, and it's important that continues across every kind of market.
"But I'm still very focused on sports, and it's interesting seeing the different sports that show up. My cousin will pull up a random Japanese table tennis match because he has a little wager on it."
Brian: It's fun, though. Things I typically wouldn't watch get more exciting with a little skin in the game.
Krish: "It's like fantasy sports. It makes you randomly cheer for the oddest things and makes it more fun. But it's important not to get so deep you're risking all your money. That's why a platform like mine helps. You can play on the exact same markets without worrying about the risk side."
Where the Industry Is Heading
Brian: Where do you see the industry heading?
Krish: "Agentic AI, absolutely. That's already happening, and platforms are making it easier. Robinhood is making it a couple of clicks to deploy an agent that trades on your behalf.
"I'm sure people have asked Claude or ChatGPT to make them something to trade with. The big LLMs aren't very good at it on their own. They pull on stale information, and they don't have what it takes to be a good trader. Being a forecaster and being a trader are two different things. You can predict the outcome of a game or a prop, but if you're not getting the best price, it's not really helping you.
"And as these agents get deployed everywhere, where does the edge lie between them? There will still be just as many losers. A market always needs a losing side. It won't be that everyone deploys an agent and they all keep winning. Some systems will be sharper than others, and it'll be interesting to see who builds the best ones and how people identify them. That's what I'm trying to tap into with my platform."
Brian: What does mainstream adoption look like going forward?
Krish: "Prediction markets are going to keep growing massively, and other companies are going to get involved. A couple of months ago Meta announced something it might be exploring, and it remains to be seen what they do with it. But a product like that would be massive. Prediction markets integrated into the Instagram and Facebook apps people already use every day. I think Meta mentioned something points-based, like paper trading, not real money. That would help onboard people because it lowers the risk and makes it friendlier, and they could move into real money from there if they find they have an edge.
"There are real business use cases too. Hedging business risk. A shipping company could hedge on weather markets in case a shutdown hits their profits. Mattress Mack has been doing a version of this for a while on the sportsbook side. That was an early example of what's possible on a bigger scale as prediction markets grow and regulation develops in a healthy way."
Prediction Markets vs. Sportsbooks
Brian: For a few years sportsbooks were king. Once legal betting hit more states, I had five, six, seven, eight apps. Now the competition is getting stiffer, and they're throwing out more discounts and bonuses. Do you see the sportsbooks sticking around, or evolving into prediction markets?
Krish: "They'll have to evolve. FanDuel and DraftKings have already launched prediction market platforms, so it's hard to tell whether they're focusing there or still trying to grow the sportsbook. Right now prediction markets let them operate nationally without the same state-by-state requirements, so I think that's their focus.
"People are starting to realize sportsbooks take more of a cut. Why wouldn't I trade on a prediction market with better odds on the exact same props and markets? I'm not really sure why people still gravitate to sportsbooks when the prediction market options are out there. Promos and profit boosts are their main incentive to keep people coming back right now, but they'll have to keep evolving as prediction markets grow."
Brian: I'm not going to lie, I still use both. Sunday morning I pop into DraftKings, do the three promos, and bounce. You've got to take advantage where you can find the money.
Krish: "It's definitely worth taking advantage of. Those are good opportunities, basically a free bet in some cases, that you don't get on the prediction market side. The same goes for the free props of the week on PrizePicks or Underdog. People are still very familiar with the sportsbooks. You watch a football game and you get 30 ads for them, and they're official partners with the leagues. I don't see them going away anytime soon. But their volume has to be dwindling in some capacity and shifting to prediction markets, and that's a concern for them."
Taking advantage of promos works on the prediction market side too. The current sign-up offers on the exchanges are worth claiming before you put real money in.
Krish's Football Approach
Brian: We're recording this just before Week 5 of the NFL season, and it's Red River Rivalry week. You talked about live trading. Tell me more about your strategy going into football markets.
Krish: "I go into everything with a thesis about what's going to happen in the game. Texas's defense has been very stout the last couple of years, and OU's defense has been a focus too. But a couple of years ago, I was trading the Red River Rivalry while I was at the game, and at that point both defenses were bad. So I was thinking overs on all the player props, and that hit massively. I was finding mispriced lines and thinking about which players would get fed the ball. Jonathan Brooks was the running back on our side, and Dillon Gabriel was the quarterback on theirs. I figured Gabriel would be scrambling all day and we weren't going to stop him, so I took his passing and rushing yards overs.
"That's how I approach it. Think about the game from a broad perspective first, then analyze the lines. Do I want to package it as a parlay or combo, or are there specific lines that look interesting?"
Brian: So you're not limited to game lines and totals. Player props are part of building that game script.
Krish: "Player props are my favorite. There's more variance. A star player will have 10 yards one game, and you're thinking, how could I have seen that coming? I'm sure it wasn't in the coach's plan either. But there's more opportunity there. I was looking at a couple for tonight's Bucs-Cowboys game. The market basically doesn't think the Bucs receivers are going to catch anything in the first quarter. Their first-quarter receiving yards props are all around 11.5. There are mispriced lines like that out there. One of them is going to get a catch."
Brian: You're a UT fan. Do you still trade on UT? I'm a Colts fan, and on the NFL side I just stay away. I don't like bringing the bias into trading. Does that mess with you at all?
Krish: "A little. If you're watching and supporting your team, you want to throw away the bias when you're trying to make money, and that's hard. When I traded that Red River game, I took overs on their players too, because I knew our defense couldn't stop them. I was trying to remove the 'we're going to win' bias.
"It doesn't stop me from trading it. But that bias, wanting your team to win, is something I'm sure a lot of people lose money on. They bet their favorite teams to win every time and their favorite players to go off. I used to bet on my own fantasy players to do well, and I was definitely losing money. That's what you want to happen, but it's not going to happen every week."
Brian: I'm famous for building parlays with my fantasy opponent's lineup. That way I always win.
Krish: "That's a win-win."
Brian: Any football trends worth watching this season?
Krish: "Injuries. It feels like every year, every player is getting hurt. Like I said earlier, that has implications for these lines and models that I don't think are fully priced in, because it's so hard to evaluate what missing one player, or several, does to a whole game. But it does change the dynamic, for betting and for fantasy. My best friends in my fantasy league are crying about full injury lists. That opens up new opportunities, like how the Bucs players are priced in tonight's game. When the market cuts expectations that much, there's a lot more potential on those players."
Brian: They say if you take the under on every single prop, you'll hit about 60%.
Krish: "This year, with the injuries, it feels closer to 70."
Where to Find Krish
Brian: Where can people find you, and what else are you working on?
Krish: "Check us out on X and at getjuked.io. We're running free, no-risk weekly competitions on NFL, college football and soccer, and we're looking to expand into basketball and other sports. Come test your strategies and compete. There's prize money if you're really good, and a lot more opportunity coming. I'm literally shipping all day, every day."
You can follow Krish on X at @jukedkrish.
Want to talk through live trading, player props, or building a system that holds up? Jump into the PredictQ Discord. New to prediction markets? Start with our Prediction Markets 101.
This article is an adapted interview based on a real conversation about how one builder approaches prediction markets. It is not an exact transcript, a directional prediction, a trade recommendation, or investment advice. Prices, odds and platform details discussed were quoted at the time of recording (October 8, 2026), are point-in-time, and may change. PredictQ is a marketing partner of Kalshi and Polymarket and may receive compensation for referrals.