Trading is simulated. Entry fees and prizes are real, where permitted.
You pay a real entry fee, trade with virtual capital against other competitors, and the highest profit wins the prize pool. You can lose your entry fee.
Two kinds of money, kept apart
Simulated
$100,000SIM
Default starting balance. Each contest shows its own.
- Your trading balance inside a contest.
- No real trades are placed.
- It cannot be withdrawn, and it stays in the contest.
Cash
Real money
Your Alpha Kings wallet balance, in USDC.
- Entry fees and arena fees are paid from Cash.
- Prizes and refunds are paid into Cash.
- You can request a withdrawal to your own Polygon address.
What a round looks like
An example: the price moves, you open and close a trade, and your realized profit is what counts.
Step 1
Reserve a seat
Pick a free event or a free arena round.
Step 2
Check in
Confirm you are there before the start.
Step 3
Trade the round
Same balance, same markets, same clock.
Step 4
Ranked by realized P&L
Open positions close at the live price at the end.
From sign-up to results
- 01
Create an account
It is free. You must be 18 or older, and Alpha Kings is not available in every region. - 02
Add Cash
Deposit USDC on the Polygon network. There is no deposit fee. Your wallet shows the minimum. - 03
Join a contest
Check the entry fee, arena fee, prize pool, players and rules, then pay from your Cash wallet. - 04
Trade and finish first
Everyone starts with the same simulated balance. First place takes the prize pool.
Every fee, in dollars
A contest has two fees: an arena fee when you enter, and a 5% victory fee taken from the prize pool when a winner is paid.
Example: 3 players, $10 entry
Each player pays $12. The pool is $30 and the winner receives $28.50.
- Entry fee Goes into the prize pool
- $10.00
- Arena fee Kept by Alpha Kings
- $2.00
- You pay
- $12.00
- Prize pool, 3 players
- $30.00
- Victory fee (5%)
- -$1.50
- Winner receives
- $28.50
The prize pool grows with each entry. Winner takes all.
Arena fee by entry fee
Paid on top of the entry fee and kept by Alpha Kings. It does not go into the prize pool.
| Entry fee | Arena fee |
|---|---|
| $0 to $10 | $2 |
| $11 to $25 | $3 |
| $26 to $50 | $5 |
| $51 to $100 | $7 |
| $101 to $250 | $10 |
| $251 to $500 | $15 |
| $501 and up | $25 |
Tiers are for whole-dollar entry fees. Each contest shows its exact arena fee before you pay.
- Victory Fee: charged on the prize pool, to the winner only
- 5%
- Deposit Fee: Free deposits - no fee charged.
- $0
- Withdrawal Fee: Processing fee for USDC withdrawals.
- 1%
How a winner is decided
- Trades
- Orders fill at the current ask when you buy and the current bid when you sell, at prices set by our server. There is no commission on simulated trades.
- Ranking
- Players are ranked by realized profit and loss in dollars, highest first. Percentage return does not count.
- End of the contest
- The server closes any position still open at the live price: longs at the bid, shorts at the ask. If no price is available for an instrument at that moment, the position stays open and its profit or loss is not counted.
- Winner
- First place takes the prize pool, less the 5% victory fee, paid to their Cash wallet. Second place and below receive nothing.
- A loss can win
- If everyone loses, the smallest loss wins. A player who never trades finishes on $0 and ranks above anyone with a loss. There is no minimum number of trades.
- Ties
- If players finish on exactly the same profit, the prize is not split. One entry sorts first in the final ranking and is paid. There is no time-based tie-break.
- No stop-out
- There is no drawdown rule and no liquidation. Your simulated balance can fall below zero and you stay in the contest. New orders are refused if you do not have enough margin.
Cancellations and refunds
- Too few players
- Every contest has a minimum number of players, normally 2, checked when it is due to start. Below the minimum, the contest is cancelled.
- Your refund
- A cancelled contest refunds your entry fee and your arena fee to your Cash wallet, and you get a notification in the app.
- Leaving a contest
- You cannot leave a contest after you join it.
- King's Court
- The creator of a challenge can delete it until someone else joins, and gets the entry fee and arena fee back.
Not every competitor is a person
Alpha Kings runs Automated Trading Accounts. They are software, not people, and they are marked with this tag wherever our pages show them: Automated
- They can join contests and King's Court challenges, including private ones.
- They count toward a contest's minimum number of players.
- They can finish first and win the prize pool.
- In some contests, every other competitor may be automated.
The full disclosure is in our Terms.
See what is open now.
Or try Practice first. It uses simulated capital and costs nothing.