TL;DR
Polymarket’s political prediction markets generated $396 million in weekly volume during the first week of November, rising 34.2% week over week amid U.S. midterm activity overall.
Political contracts represented about 12% of Polymarket volume, while Kalshi’s political markets accounted for roughly 1.5% of its activity as sports remained dominant.
Polymarket retained a 300% to 900% lead over Kalshi across political categories, while open interest reached $762.65 million in early November.
Polymarket’s political prediction markets generated $396 million in weekly trading volume during the first week of November, climbing 34.2% from the previous week as activity around the U.S. midterm elections accelerated. According to a CryptoRank update , political volume has more than tripled since October 11. Polymarket continues to dominate political prediction trading even as Kalshi leads other segments of the broader market. The surge reinforces the role of prediction markets in event-driven trading.
Political Prediction Markets Trading Volume Surges
Weekly trading volume in political prediction markets reached $396M in the first week of November, up 34.2% WoW and more than tripling since October 11, amid heightened trading activity around US midterms. @Polymarket … pic.twitter.com/lRx1XgQcWQ
— CryptoRank.io (@CryptoRank_io) November 10, 2026
Midterms Push Political Markets Higher
Political contracts represented around 12% of Polymarket’s overall volume and ranked as its third-largest category. The platform retained a lead over Kalshi in politics and elections, with the gap ranging from roughly 300% to 900% depending on the category measured. The comparison is category-specific and does not mean Polymarket generated more total trading volume than Kalshi across all prediction markets. That distinction matters as Kalshi and Polymarket increasingly specialize across different verticals .
Kalshi’s political contracts accounted for about 1.5% of its total trading volume during the midterm period, while sports represented 85.2%. Polymarket US was even more concentrated in sports, where that category represented 95.4% of activity. The data show that politics remains a defining liquidity source for Polymarket’s international platform rather than for every prediction-market venue. The pattern extends an earlier trend in which Polymarket drew strong engagement from political and current-event markets .
The political spike also followed a recovery in Polymarket liquidity. Total value locked briefly moved above $400 million at the end of October, while open interest reached a new high of $762.65 million in early November. Political markets benefited from traders repositioning around the midterm results, adding volume to an expanding platform. Higher activity around elections shows how major political events can rapidly concentrate liquidity in a narrow set of contracts. Similar concentration has appeared when prediction-market volume surged around major headline events .
The rise in political volume does not imply uniform growth across all Polymarket markets. The platform continues to host a long tail of niche real-world event contracts alongside its major political markets, while liquidity can vary sharply between categories. The first week of November therefore highlights Polymarket’s strength in politics specifically, not a blanket lead over Kalshi across the prediction-market industry. CryptoRank’s data point to specialization as the competitive split: Polymarket dominates politics, while Kalshi maintains exposure to sports-driven activity.
