Short answer: a Kalshi settlement floor is a minimum payout per contract to YES holders. Kalshi can raise it partway through a scalar market once part of the outcome can no longer change. When the floor goes up, YES holders get that already-certain part credited to their available balance right away. At settlement they receive the rest. Kalshi's documentation says settlement floors are not live yet, and the launch timeline is TBA. This guide explains how they are designed to work, which API fields to watch, and what changes for orders, balances and bots.
Everything below was checked against Kalshi's developer documentation (docs.kalshi.com, "Settlement Bounds") on October 29, 2026. The feature is not launched, so details may change before it goes live. Confirm against the docs before you write code that depends on it.
What problem a settlement floor solves
Most Kalshi markets are binary: a YES contract pays $1 if the event happens and $0 if it does not. Some markets are scalar instead. They pay a fraction of $1 that depends on how big the outcome turns out to be. Kalshi's example is a government shutdown market that pays $0.10 for each day the shutdown lasts, up to 10 days, so the payout runs from $0.00 to $1.00.
A market like that can be partly decided long before it ends. If the shutdown has already lasted 3 days, YES is certain to pay at least $0.30, whatever happens next. Without a floor, that certain $0.30 per contract would stay locked as collateral until final settlement. A settlement floor lets Kalshi recognise the certain part early. It credits YES holders now and lets trading continue only on the part still in doubt.
The two API fields to know
Kalshi's market objects carry the fields that tell you whether a floor can ever apply:
-
settlement_bounds_type: eitherdefaultorfloor.defaultmeans Kalshi will never apply a settlement floor to that market. -
settlement_floor_dollars: present onfloor-type markets. It starts at $0 when the market is created and goes up as Kalshi raises the floor.
There is also a rule tied to the event: markets in events whose collateral_return_type is MECNET or DIRECNET are always default. They never get a floor.
For a bot, the practical check is simple. Read settlement_bounds_type for each market you trade. If it is default, nothing in this article affects that market. If it is floor, your code needs to track settlement_floor_dollars and handle the order and balance rules below.
The Settlement Bounds page does not mention the 15-minute crypto markets, so do not assume they are floor-type markets. Check the field on the market itself. For how those binary markets settle, see How Kalshi markets settle and Kalshi 15-minute close times and settlement.
What happens when Kalshi raises the floor
Per Kalshi's docs, a floor raise has these effects for members who trade directly with Kalshi:
- YES holders: available balance goes up by the floor increase times the number of contracts held. Holding 100 YES when the floor rises from $0 to $0.30 adds $30.
- NO holders: available balance does not change.
- Buying YES after the raise: collateral equal to the floor is released, so available balance goes down by the price minus the floor, not the full price.
- Selling held YES: available balance goes up by the price minus the floor. You already received the floor part when it was raised.
How order prices change
A floor also moves the range of prices you can trade at:
- A YES order must have a price above the floor.
- A NO order must have a price below $1 minus the floor.
- After a raise, Kalshi cancels resting YES orders priced at or below the new floor, and resting NO orders priced at or above $1 minus the new floor.
For an automated strategy this matters in two ways. First, any order your bot sends outside the new range will not be accepted, so the price logic must read the current floor rather than assume a $0.01-$0.99 range. Second, some of your resting orders may disappear when the floor moves. A bot that tracks its own open orders should re-sync from the API after a raise instead of trusting its local copy. The same habit helps with any exchange-side cancel. See order groups and trading pauses.
A worked example, step by step
This is Kalshi's own shutdown example. Fees are left out to keep the arithmetic clear.
- The floor is $0. Member A buys 100 YES at $0.40, so A's available balance drops $40. Member B takes the other side, 100 NO at $0.60, and B's balance drops $60.
- After day 3, Kalshi raises the floor to $0.30. A's available balance rises by $0.30 × 100 = $30. B's does not change.
- A sells 50 YES at $0.45 to member C. A's balance rises by ($0.45 − $0.30) × 50 = $7.50. C's balance drops by the same $7.50.
- The shutdown ends after 5 days, and the market settles at $0.50.
- A and C each hold 50 YES. Each receives $0.50 − $0.30 = $0.20 per contract, or $10.
- B holds 100 NO and receives $1 − $0.50 = $0.50 per contract, or $50.
Totals:
- A paid $40 and got back $47.50: $30 at the raise, $7.50 from the sale and $10 at settlement. Net +$7.50.
- C paid $7.50 and got back $10. Net +$2.50.
- B paid $60 and got back $50. Net −$10.
Check the result without floors: A's 100 YES at $0.40 would have paid $0.50 each, and 50 were sold at $0.45. The profit totals are the same. The floor changes when the money becomes available, not how much each side ends up with. C's purchase cost only $0.15 per contract in available balance, even though the trade price was $0.45. The other $0.30 was already certain to be paid.
How a floor market pays at settlement
- YES holders receive the settlement value minus the floor, per contract. The floor part was credited earlier.
- NO holders receive $1 minus the settlement value, per contract.
The FCM exception
All of the balance behaviour above applies only to members who trade directly with Kalshi. For members who clear through an FCM (a futures commission merchant), Kalshi says the floor never changes available balance, and YES holders receive the full settlement value per contract at the end. If you build tools for both kinds of account, do not hard-code the early credit.
When the floor goes down
Kalshi says it may, in rare cases, lower a settlement floor because the settlement source was corrected. Then:
- YES holders' available balance goes down by the floor decrease times their contracts.
- NO holders' balance does not change.
- Resting orders that a subaccount can no longer pay for are canceled. This can include orders in other markets.
If a subaccount's available balance goes negative, Kalshi first covers it from the member's other subaccounts. Anything left stays as a negative balance on the primary subaccount. A subaccount with a negative balance cannot place any orders, including orders that would close a position, until its balance is back to zero.
That last rule is the one to plan for. A floor decrease in one market can, through your shared balance, cancel your resting orders in an unrelated market and block new orders. If you run several strategies, giving each its own funded subaccount keeps that effect contained.
What this means if you automate Kalshi trading
-
Read the field, don't assume. Branch on
settlement_bounds_type. Most code can treatdefaultmarkets exactly as today. -
Use the floor in price checks. On floor markets, valid YES prices start above
settlement_floor_dollars, and valid NO prices end below $1 minus it. - Expect exchange-side cancels. Re-sync open orders from the API after any floor change.
- Size from available balance, not trade price. On a floor market a YES buy uses price minus floor in available balance, so position sizing based on the quoted price will be wrong.
-
Watch for the launch. Until Kalshi turns floors on, every market behaves as
defaultin practice.
What is a settlement floor on Kalshi?
A minimum payout per contract to YES holders in some scalar markets. Kalshi can raise it once part of the outcome is certain. Per Kalshi's docs, floors are not live yet and the launch date is TBA.
How do I tell whether a market can have a floor?
Check settlement_bounds_type on the market. default means a floor will never apply. floor-type markets also carry settlement_floor_dollars, which starts at $0. Markets in events with a collateral_return_type of MECNET or DIRECNET are always default.
What happens to my balance when the floor is raised?
If you trade directly with Kalshi, your available balance rises by the floor increase times your YES contracts. NO holders see no change. FCM members see no balance change from a floor.
Which orders get canceled after a floor raise?
Resting YES orders priced at or below the new floor, and resting NO orders priced at or above $1 minus the new floor.
How is a floor market paid at settlement?
YES gets the settlement value minus the floor per contract. NO gets $1 minus the settlement value. FCM members get the full value per YES contract at settlement.
Can the floor go down?
Rarely, after a settlement-source correction. YES balances drop by the decrease, and orders a subaccount can no longer fund are canceled, possibly in other markets. A subaccount left negative cannot place any order, including closing orders, until it is back to zero.
Do Kalshi's 15-minute crypto markets have settlement floors?
Kalshi's Settlement Bounds page does not mention them. Check settlement_bounds_type on the specific market rather than assuming.
Does DeskBot trade settlement-floor markets?
DeskBot is built for Kalshi's 15-minute crypto markets and does not claim to trade floor-type markets.
Trading can lose money. Nothing here is a promise of profits, returns or win rates, and it is not financial advice. DeskBot is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Kalshi. Settlement floors are not live on Kalshi yet and details may change; confirm them at docs.kalshi.com before you build on them.
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