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Prediction Markets Now Behave Like Stock Trading Platforms

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Prediction markets have processed more than $154 billion in total volume, with daily trading on Polymarket alone often exceeding $300 million.

That scale forces a more important question. These platforms no longer look like niche betting venues. They increasingly resemble something closer to retail trading.

This analysis uses on-chain data, primarily from Polymarket—the largest platform by users and transactions in a market dominated by a Polymarket–Kalshi duopoly—to test that shift directly.

Current Notional Volume Spread: Dune

$10 Trades Are Defining the Market

Across four dimensions, who participates, how they behave, how capital moves, and at what scale, the volume growth pattern tells a consistent story.

And the category mix reinforces the framing: crypto and politics (excluding sports) now lead weekly volume on Polymarket, with the economy and earnings categories growing alongside them. These are not traditional gambling categories. They are finance-adjacent verticals.

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Notably, sports event contracts are already being offered as CFTC-regulated financial products by Kalshi and distributed through Robinhood’s Predictions Hub, placing them alongside stocks, options, and crypto within the same brokerage interface.

Prediction Markets' Growing Categories
Prediction Markets’ Growing Categories: Dune

The most revealing signal is not how much money flows through prediction markets. It is who is placing the trades.

On Polymarket, the median bet size is $10, according to BeInCrypto’s exclusive dashboard. The average sits at $89, but that figure is pulled upward by a thin tail of large participants.

The underlying distribution paints a clearer picture: roughly 20% of all wallets trade in the $0 to $10 range, another 27% fall between $10 and $50, and about 11% sit in the $50 to $100 bracket.

In total, over 57% of users trade for less than $100, and more than 80% trade for less than $500.

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Polymarket User Distribution by Average Bet Size
Polymarket User Distribution by Average Bet Size: Dune

This is not a market shaped by whales. It is a market built on small, individual participants deploying modest amounts. The pattern mirrors what defined the rise of retail stock trading.

Robinhood, for comparison, reported a median account size of $240, with the average around $5,000, according to CEO Vlad Tenev in 2021. The structural similarity is hard to miss: prediction markets are attracting the same class of small participants that reshaped equities over the past five years.

Users are Acting Like Traders, Not Bettors

Participation alone does not distinguish a financial platform from a betting one. Frequency of interaction does.

A bettor places a wager and waits. A trader enters positions, adjusts exposure, exits, and re-enters. The transactions-per-active-user ratio captures this distinction directly.

On Polymarket, this ratio currently stands at approximately 25 transactions per daily active user, meaning the average active participant executes 25 trades per day. Earlier this year, the figure peaked near 37.

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Polymarket Transactions Per Active Wallet
Polymarket Transactions Per Active Wallet: Dune

For context, through most of mid-2025, the ratio hovered between 3 and 5. The structural jump beginning in late 2025 represents a clear behavioral shift: users are no longer placing single predictions and walking away. They are actively managing positions across multiple markets.

This pattern has a direct parallel in crypto markets. A Kaiko research report on Binance found that the exchange processed 61.9 million trades against $20 billion in spot volume on a single snapshot day in December 2025, implying small average trade sizes and frequent execution across its 300 million registered accounts.

High-frequency, small-size trading is the behavioral signature of retail finance, whether the underlying asset is a stock, a token, or a prediction contract.

Capital Is Constantly in Motion

If users behave like traders, the capital dynamics should confirm it. They do. Polymarket currently holds approximately $445 million in total value locked, while open interest stands at roughly $477 million.

The near-parity between these two figures carries a specific implication: virtually all deposited capital is actively deployed in live positions rather than sitting idle. This is not passive liquidity. It is working capital.

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Polymarket TVL
Polymarket TVL; DeFillama

The volume-to-open-interest ratio reinforces the point. With daily taker volume around $339 million and open interest at $477 million, the ratio is 0.71. Capital is not just deployed. It is rotating.

Positions are being opened, closed, and re-entered at a pace that suggests continuous portfolio management rather than static, event-dependent exposure. A low vol-OI ratio would have suggested more betting-like activity.

Volume And OI
Volume And OI: Dune

In a traditional betting market, capital tends to lock in and wait for resolution. Here, it circulates. That distinction is material: it signals a system in which participants treat capital as a tool for ongoing risk adjustment, not a one-time stake in a single outcome.

This Is No Longer Event-Driven Growth

The behavioral and capital patterns described above would be noteworthy even at modest volumes. But they are not operating at modest volumes.

Polymarket’s weekly notional volume has consistently exceeded $1 billion through Q1 2026, with recent weeks surpassing $2.5 billion. The 7-week rolling average has crossed $2 billion.

Monthly volumes have climbed from around $1 billion in mid-2025 to over $8 billion by March 2026. The growth trajectory is not driven by any single event cycle.

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Rolling Average of notional volume
Rolling Average: Dune

Volume is diversifying across categories: sports, crypto, and politics. Each contributed substantially in the most recent weekly data, with economy, weather, and culture adding further breadth.

This diversification is what separates structural growth from event-driven spikes. A presidential election creates a temporary surge.

Sustained, multi-category volume growth across sports, crypto, macro, and culture points to a user base that engages with prediction markets regularly, not just occasionally, as a typical retail habit.

What the Prediction Markets’ Data Says

Each dimension reinforces the next in a single causal chain. The majority of participants are small, retail-sized users. Those users trade frequently, not once, but dozens of times per session.

The capital they deploy is almost entirely active, rotating through positions rather than sitting idle. And this behavior is occurring at billions of dollars in monthly volume, across a broadening set of categories.

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When small users dominate participation, execute frequent trades, and keep capital constantly in play at scale, the system begins to resemble a retail financial market rather than a betting platform.

Prediction markets are no longer just mechanisms for forecasting outcomes. They are changing into retail trading systems for real-world events, platforms where participants express views, manage risk, and deploy capital with a frequency and discipline that mirrors stock markets.

The post Prediction Markets Now Behave Like Stock Trading Platforms appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Crypto World

Bitcoin, Altcoins Give Back March Gains As Investors Cut Risk

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Bitcoin, Altcoins Give Back March Gains As Investors Cut Risk

Key points:

  • Bitcoin’s fall below the $66,000 support heightens the risk of a drop to the $62,500 level.

  • Select major altcoins have broken below their immediate support levels, opening the gates for further downside.

Bitcoin (BTC) is under pressure from the bears, who are attempting to sustain the price below the $66,000 level. The uncertainty regarding the US and Israel-Iran war is capping the upside and putting downside pressure. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $171 million in outflows on Thursday, the biggest since the $348 million in redemptions on March 3, according to Farside Investors data. 

Although BTC is facing selling on rallies, the bulls have successfully defended the $60,000 level since Feb. 6. Glassnode said in its latest Week On-chain newsletter that the sharp contraction in BTC’s entity-adjusted realized profit from $3 billion per day in July 2025 to $0.1 billion currently suggests that the bear market is transitioning into its later stages.

Crypto market data daily view. Source: TradingView

A positive sign in favor of the bulls is that BTC whales and sharks have continued to accumulate. Santiment said in a post on X that large BTC holders owning between 10 and $10,000 BTC have boosted their holdings by 0.45% in the past month. Historically, an upside breakout happens when large wallets are accumulating, and retail is selling.

Could BTC and select major altcoins hold on to their crucial support levels? Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

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Bitcoin price prediction

Buyers could not maintain BTC above the $72,000 level on Wednesday. That may have attracted sellers who pulled the price below the support line of the ascending triangle pattern on Friday. 

BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

If the BTC price closes below the support line, the bullish pattern will be invalidated. That may intensify selling, pulling the BTC/USDT pair to the $62,500 to $60,000 support zone.

Instead, if the price turns up sharply from the current level and breaks above the $72,000 level, it suggests that the bulls are attempting to get back into the driver’s seat. The pair may then challenge the crucial $74,508 resistance. If buyers overcome the barrier, the pair may surge to $84,000.

Ether price prediction

Ether (ETH) turned down and fell below the breakout level of $2,111 on Thursday, indicating that the bears are trying to make a comeback.

ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Sellers kept up the pressure and pulled the ETH/USDT pair below the 50-day SMA ($2,044) on Friday. The ETH price may decline to the $1,900 level, which is likely to attract buyers. However, if the bears prevail, the pair may collapse to the vital $1,750 support.

This negative view will be invalidated in the near term if the price turns up sharply and breaks above the $2,200 level. That enhances the prospects of a rally above the $2,400 level. 

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BNB price prediction

BNB (BNB) has been oscillating between $570 and $687 for the past few weeks, signaling buying near the support and selling close to the resistance.

BNB/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

There is minor support at $607, but if the level gives way, the BNB/USDT pair may slump to the $570 level. A strong bounce off the $570 support suggests that the pair may remain inside the range for a while longer.

The next trending move is expected to begin on a close below $570 or above $687. If buyers clear the overhead hurdle, the BNB price may jump to $790. Alternatively, a close below $570 might sink the pair to the psychological level at $500.

XRP price prediction

XRP (XRP) turned down from the moving averages on Thursday, indicating that the bears remain in control.

XRP/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The XRP price may slide to $1.32 and then to $1.27. Buyers will attempt to aggressively defend the $1.27 level, but if the bears prevail, the XRP/USDT pair may decline to the support line.

The first sign of strength will be a close above the moving averages. The pair may then rise to the breakdown level of $1.61, which is expected to pose a substantial challenge for the bulls. If buyers pierce the $1.61 level, the next stop is likely to be the downtrend line.

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Solana price prediction

Buyers attempted to push Solana (SOL) above the $95 resistance on Wednesday, but the bears held their ground.

SOL/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The SOL price has dipped below the 50-day SMA ($86), indicating that the bulls have given up. That suggests the SOL/USDT pair may extend its stay inside the $76 to $95 range for some more time.

The next trending move is expected to begin on a break above or below the range. If the bulls propel the price above $95, the pair may reach the $117 level. On the downside, a close below $76 might sink the pair to $67.

Dogecoin price prediction

Dogecoin (DOGE) rose above the moving averages on Wednesday, but the bulls could not sustain the higher levels.

DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The DOGE price turned down on Thursday, and the bears have pulled the DOGE/USDT pair below the critical $0.09 support. If the sellers sustain the price below $0.09, the pair may collapse to $0.06.

Buyers are unlikely to give up easily. They will attempt to defend the $0.09 level and swiftly push the price above the moving averages. If they succeed, the pair may ascend to $0.10 and later to $0.12.

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Hyperliquid price prediction

Hyperliquid (HYPE) turned down from $41.59 on Wednesday but is likely to find support in the zone between the 20-day EMA ($37.64) and the breakout level of $36.77.

HYPE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

If the HYPE price bounces off the $36.77 level, it suggests that the bulls are trying to flip the level into support. Buyers will endeavor to strengthen their position by pushing the HYPE/USDT pair above the $43.77 level. If they can pull it off, the pair may start its northward march toward $50.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price continues lower and breaks below $36.77, it suggests that the bulls are losing their grip. The pair may tumble to the 50-day SMA ($33.34), which is likely to attract buyers.

Related: Ether traders see ‘further decline’ as ETH price slips below $2K

Cardano price prediction

Buyers pushed Cardano (ADA) above the 50-day SMA ($0.27) on Wednesday but could not sustain the higher levels.

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ADA/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The ADA/USDT pair turned down sharply on Thursday, signaling that the bears had renewed their selling. There is strong support at $0.25, but if the level breaks down, the ADA price may slump to $0.22.

This negative view will be invalidated in the near term if the price turns up sharply from the $0.25 level and closes above the moving averages. That clears the path for a rally to the downtrend line.

Bitcoin Cash price prediction

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) fell below the 20-day EMA ($468) on Thursday, indicating that the bears are attempting to retain control. 

BCH/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The BCH/USDT pair may descend to the $443 support, which is a crucial level to watch out for. If the bears sink the BCH price below the $443 level, the pair will complete a bearish head-and-shoulders pattern. That may start a drop to $375.

On the contrary, if the price turns up from the $443 level, it signals solid buying at lower levels. The pair may form a range between $443 and the 50-day SMA ($491) for some time. Buyers will have to push and maintain the price above the 50-day SMA to signal the start of a sustained recovery toward $520.

Chainlink price prediction

Chainlink’s (LINK) rebound fizzled out at $9.50 on Wednesday, indicating that the bears are selling on rallies.

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LINK/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The price turned down sharply on Thursday, and the bears have pulled the LINK/USDT pair below the support line of the ascending channel pattern. If the LINK price closes below the channel, the pair may drop to $8.05 and then to $7.15.

Buyers are likely to have other plans. They will attempt to retain the price inside the channel and push the pair above the $9.50 level. If they do that, the pair may rally to the resistance line.