TL;DR
- Polymarket became the most visited decentralized application in January 2026, recording 38.4 million site visits.
- The platform outperformed Kalshi across nearly all metrics and strengthened user engagement through smart betting, incentives, and social media presence.
- On-chain activity focused on diverse prediction markets, sports, politics, and cryptocurrencies, with trading volumes exceeding $12 billion.
Polymarket became the most visited decentralized application in January 2026, logging 38.4 million site visits. The platform nearly matched Robinhood’s traffic and reached peak on-chain activity while expanding its presence in the mainstream market. Most visits came from the United States, though the platform also registered international traffic after offering prediction pairs compatible across multiple jurisdictions.
The platform outperformed Kalshi across almost all metrics, including site visits, recording roughly four times more traffic. Polymarket expanded its social media reach and promoted smart betting without competing directly against the “sharps,” gaining an edge in user acquisition over Kalshi. The company also implemented additional incentives, such as shopping vouchers and product giveaways, to attract traffic and maintain high participation levels.
Polymarket Leads Across All Markets Except Sports
On-chain activity concentrated on diverse prediction markets categorized as “other,” in addition to sports, politics, and cryptocurrencies. Total trading volume exceeded $12 billion, driven by retail predictions and highly active players averaging more than five bets each. Polymarket combines organic activity with bots and promotions via copy-trading and influencers. Most trades occurred in events with probabilities between 40% and 60%, and in nearly resolved topics with probabilities between 80% and 90%.
Open interest remained near $411 million, below the November 2024 record but showing an upward trend. Polymarket reported peak USDC volumes, which led to a collaboration with Circle to use the native stablecoin version.
Mobile usage grew significantly over the past three months, as did platform searches, surpassing Kalshi over the same period. Polymarket demonstrates clear leadership in predictions on current events and politics, being surpassed only in the sports category
