Kalshi copy: specialist
Copy a trader only inside their specialty, the market category holding more than half of their positions. Traders without a specialty are not copied.
Kalshi's market data works for Boostio's own paper testing (checked 2026-10-22): the paper fills can be priced from live quotes, fee terms and settlements. The copy books still have nothing to copy: named traders' entries and exits are shown only on Kalshi's website and app, whose terms do not allow scripted collection, and the API carries none.
Pre-registered as KALSHI-COPY-1. From the test's own records with a 5-minute delay, as of 2026-10-23 03:15 UTC. Paper only, not investment advice.Can copying the best traders on Kalshi's public leaderboard make money once you pay their fees and arrive a minute late?
- Traders observed
- 0
- Market data
- Available for own use (checked 2026-10-22)
- Paper books
- $10,000 event contracts, $10,000 perpetuals
- First read needs
- 28 days and 30 episodes
The test, stage by stage
- RegisteredDoneOct 19, 2026Roster rules, copy timing, fees, caps and the read written down.
- Historical testNot usedNone: a fair test needs trades observed live, with their times.
- Forward recordNeeds dataNeeds a permitted source of named traders' trades; market data is ready.
- First readAhead4 and 8 weeks after collection starts.
- DecisionAhead
Nothing to show yet, and why
Checked Oct 19, 2026, from Kalshi's own documents
What the documents say
- Market data (quotes, fee terms, settlements) comes from Kalshi's public API, which its developer agreement allows a member to store to facilitate their own trading. It prices Boostio's own paper fills and is never shown to visitors.
- Named traders' positions and history exist only on Kalshi's website and app (an opt-in leaderboard, public profiles and private circles). The API has no leaderboard, profile or social data, and its public trades carry no account.
- Kalshi's data terms forbid collecting or compiling its website data with scripts, and using it with AI tools, without prior written authorization.
- Kalshi's demo environment needs an account, which this test is not authorized to open.
What it needs to copy
- A permitted source of named traders' entries and exits with their times: Kalshi's prior written authorization for leaderboard and public-profile activity, or a Kalshi-sanctioned feed with each trader's consent.
- Market data is not a prerequisite: Kalshi's public API already gives the quotes, fee terms and settlements the paper fills need, for Boostio's own testing.
- Nothing has been requested from Kalshi yet.
Not used instead
- Third-party leaderboards or scrapers built on Kalshi pages (derived from the prohibited collection).
- Screen claims in promotional videos: not execution records.
- Kalshi's public trades: unattributed, so no trader can be followed. Using them would be a different experiment about anonymous order flow, never copy trading.
The rules, as registered
Form a roster of up to 8 traders over 60 days from opt-in public results: at least 15 closed positions on 14 active days, ranked by a lower bound of their mean return. Never by dollar profit, win rate, volume or followers, and at most 3 traders per specialty.
Act on each observed trade 60 seconds after it is first seen, at a quote no older than 120 seconds and for at most a quarter of the displayed size, paying Kalshi's published fee formula.
Event contracts ($10K paper, 1% per position) and perpetuals ($10K paper, 2% notional at 1x leverage) are separate books and are never added together.
Compare with a baseline taking the favourite side of the same market at the same times (perpetuals: the reference market, same notional, same times).
What this test cannot tell you
- Leaderboards show winners after the fact: a roster formed on past results can simply be lucky, which is why it is ranked on a conservative lower bound and judged forward only.
- Copying arrives late and pays the spread and fees the trader may have avoided.
- Not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Kalshi.
- Paper only: no orders, no real money, and not investment advice.
