Kalshi’s 15-minute Bitcoin markets: how they work and settle

Each market’s rules read, for example: YES if “the simple average of the sixty seconds of CF Benchmarks’ BRTI before 7:30 AM EST” is at least the same average before 7:15 AM. Kalshi’s help centre puts it simply: “a 15-minute market compares the average from the minute before it closes with the average from the minute before it opened” (Kalshi help centre). The starting level, shown as the target price, is the previous market’s closing value. The final value is the average of 60 index prices, rounded to two decimal places.

• Markets are created a day or two ahead, open on a quarter-hour and close 15 minutes later.
• In the markets we checked on 10 November 2026, settlement came seconds after the close.
• The source is CF Benchmarks; “If no data is available or incomplete on the Expiration Date at the Expiration Time, then affected strikes resolve to No” (contract terms).
• Kalshi pauses trading every Thursday from 3:00 to 5:00 AM ET; see is Kalshi down.

The series uses Kalshi’s standard quadratic fee, which is largest for contracts near 50¢, exactly where these near-coin-flip markets usually trade. Over many short trades, fees and the spread add up quickly. The rates are in Kalshi fees. Crypto markets on Kalshi can trade in steps as small as $0.001.

Many people searching for these markets want to automate them. Kalshi’s API allows automated trading: market data needs no key, while orders need a signed API key and are subject to rate limits. How it works, including the demo environment to test in first, is in the Kalshi API. A bot doesn’t change the arithmetic: a 15-minute coin-flip market pays only if your edge is larger than the fee and spread on every trade.