Research indicates that a minuscule group of traders dominates the profits on Polymarket, with fewer than 1% of wallets taking in roughly half of all gains. According to a report by blockchain analytics firm Solidus Labs, on Polymarket's politics markets between December 2025 and February 2026, a mere 0.55% of profitable maker wallets captured 50% of gains. Similarly, 0.26% of winning taker wallets accounted for nearly the same share, translating to approximately $8 million out of $16 million in profits.
This data reinforces a pattern observed in academic studies, which found that around 3% of Polymarket traders drive most price discovery. The findings suggest a significant disparity between a small, highly sophisticated group of traders and the broader base of participants, with the former operating with substantial advantages.
The report highlights signs of wash trading, with around 15% of volume in some markets showing patterns consistent with self-trading or economically neutral positions. While some of this volume may be due to incentive farming, it is speculated that Polymarket's upcoming POLY airdrop will factor in trading volume as a metric to allocate tokens.