Where Is IBKR ForecastTrader Legal? 2026 State Availability
IBKR ForecastTrader Legal States 2026
IBKR ForecastTrader is a federally regulated prediction market that lets Interactive Brokers customers trade real-money event contracts covering elections, government, economic indicators, financial markets, technology and environmental outcomes.
ForecastTrader originally offered contracts through ForecastEx, the CFTC-regulated exchange owned by Interactive Brokers. However in May 2026, IBKR expanded its prediction market offering to include eligible contracts from Kalshi and CME Group, bringing all three exchanges into the same Interactive Brokers interface.
Unlike many major prediction markets, IBKR ForecastTrader does not offer sports or entertainment contracts. That makes its product considerably more trading-focused than many of the prediction markets now competing for sports bettors.
Where Are IBKR Prediction Markets Available?
IBKR ForecastTrader is currently available in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
That includes:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Washington, D.C.
You must be at least 21 years old and an eligible Interactive Brokers client to trade event contracts.
What Prediction Markets Does IBKR Offer?
ForecastTrader covers a broad range of real-world events, with its market menu organized into several core categories.
Its main market categories include:
- Government: Government policy, political decisions and related outcomes.
- Economic Indicators: Inflation, employment, interest rates, GDP, housing and other economic data.
- Elections: U.S. elections and other qualifying political outcomes.
- Technology: Technology-related milestones and developments.
- Financial Markets: Market prices, commodities, crypto and other financial benchmarks.
- Environmental: Temperature, weather, climate and environmental indicators.
That mix makes ForecastTrader unusual in a prediction market industry increasingly obsessed with sports.
Interactive Brokers has deliberately gone the other way. Even after adding access to Kalshi and CME Group in 2026, IBKR President and CEO Milan Galik confirmed that the company has no plans to offer sports or entertainment contracts through its platform.
So if you came here hoping to trade the Super Bowl, the Oscars or who gets eliminated from a reality show, ForecastTrader is the wrong tool.
If you want to trade inflation, Fed decisions, election outcomes or whether Bitcoin crosses a certain price, now we’re talking.
How Does IBKR ForecastTrader Work?
IBKR ForecastTrader lets you trade event contracts based on whether a defined real-world outcome will happen.
Contracts have two sides: Yes and No. Prices range from $0.01 to $0.99 and move as traders buy and sell positions.
The price can be read as an approximate market-implied probability. A contract trading at $0.40, for example, implies that the market is roughly pricing the outcome at a 40% probability.
If new information changes traders’ expectations, that price can rise or fall before the event is resolved.
You do not have to hold a position until settlement. ForecastTrader allows you to close an open position before the outcome is decided, provided there is sufficient liquidity at an available price.
Since May 2026, IBKR has offered eligible contracts from ForecastEx, Kalshi and CME Group through the same prediction market interface, allowing customers to access multiple exchanges from one Interactive Brokers account.
Learn More About Prediction Markets
Can I Win Real Money on IBKR ForecastTrader?
Yes. IBKR ForecastTrader uses real money, so successful positions can generate cash profits while unsuccessful ones can lose the amount you paid for the contracts.
You buy contracts with money in your Interactive Brokers account and can make a profit either by holding a successful position through settlement or by selling a position after its market price moves in your favor.
Event contracts settle at either $1 or $0. If you buy 100 Yes contracts at $0.42 each, your initial contract cost is $42. If the event resolves Yes, the contracts settle for $100, producing a gross profit of $58 before fees. If the event resolves No, those contracts settle at $0.
You can also realize a profit or loss before settlement by closing your position after the market price moves.
Fees depend on the exchange supplying the contract. Interactive Brokers currently charges no IBKR commission on ForecastEx contracts, although ForecastEx carries a $0.01 exchange fee per contract. Kalshi and CME contracts accessed through IBKR currently carry a $0.01 IBKR commission plus a $0.01 exchange fee per contract.
For active traders, those per-contract costs can add up quickly, so they are worth factoring into the price before taking a position.
Why Is IBKR ForecastTrader Legal?
When I'm looking at ForecastTrader, I start with the regulatory entities behind the screen.
ForecastEx LLC received designation from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a Designated Contract Market and registration as a Derivatives Clearing Organization in June 2024.
Interactive Brokers LLC, meanwhile, is a CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant and provides eligible customers access to those contracts.
That structure puts ForecastTrader inside the federal derivatives framework rather than the state-by-state sportsbook licensing system.
IBKR has since expanded the consumer interface to include event contracts from Kalshi and CME Group as well, but the basic principle remains the same: these are exchange-listed financial contracts traded through regulated market infrastructure.
It is also worth looking at what IBKR chooses not to offer.
Sports-related event contracts have driven many of the sharpest disputes between prediction market companies and state gambling regulators. IBKR currently stays out of that fight by excluding sports contracts entirely, along with entertainment markets.
IBKR ForecastTrader Legal States FAQ
Yes. IBKR ForecastTrader is currently available to eligible users in all 50 U.S. states. Washington, D.C. is also supported, giving the product a 51-jurisdiction U.S. footprint.
Yes. Eligible California users can access IBKR ForecastTrader. California does not currently have statewide legal online sportsbooks, but ForecastTrader operates through federally regulated event-contract infrastructure rather than California's sportsbook licensing system.
Yes. IBKR ForecastTrader is available in Texas. Texas residents who meet Interactive Brokers' eligibility requirements can trade ForecastTrader event contracts even though conventional online sportsbooks are not legally operating statewide.
Yes. IBKR ForecastTrader is currently available to eligible users in New York. Its market menu does not include sports or entertainment contracts, with the platform instead concentrating on categories such as economics, government, elections, financial markets and technology.
Yes. ForecastTrader is available in Florida to eligible Interactive Brokers clients aged 21 or older. Florida users receive access to the same broad non-sports prediction market offering available elsewhere in the United States.
Yes. IBKR ForecastTrader is available in New Jersey. ForecastTrader operates separately from New Jersey's regulated sportsbook industry and offers federally regulated event contracts rather than conventional sportsbook wagers.
Yes. Current availability evidence supports IBKR ForecastTrader access for eligible users in Nevada. IBKR does not offer sports or entertainment contracts in Nevada or anywhere else in the United States.
Yes. IBKR ForecastTrader is currently available in Washington. The product's normal offering is focused on non-sports markets such as economics, elections, government, technology, financial markets and environmental outcomes.
Yes. ForecastTrader is available to eligible users in Washington, D.C. D.C. users must satisfy the same account and age requirements that apply elsewhere, including the 21+ minimum for event-contract trading.
No. IBKR ForecastTrader does not currently offer sports event contracts. Interactive Brokers has specifically chosen to focus its prediction market business on events connected more closely with financial markets, economics, politics, technology and environmental conditions.
No. Entertainment contracts are not currently offered through IBKR ForecastTrader. That means you should not expect markets covering awards shows, reality television, celebrities or similar entertainment outcomes, even if another prediction market exchange lists those contracts independently.
Yes. ForecastTrader offers election-related event contracts. ForecastEx contracts tied to U.S. election results are limited to eligible U.S. residents, so simply having an Interactive Brokers account does not automatically qualify every international client to trade them.
You must be at least 21 years old to trade event contracts through eligible Interactive Brokers entities. You must also satisfy Interactive Brokers' normal account and trading-permission requirements.
ForecastTrader is the consumer-facing Interactive Brokers experience used to find and trade prediction market contracts. ForecastEx is the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearing organization owned by Interactive Brokers that lists many of those contracts. ForecastTrader now also gives IBKR clients access to qualifying contracts from Kalshi and CME Group, so the interface is broader than ForecastEx alone.
No. Eligible Interactive Brokers clients can access contracts from ForecastEx, Kalshi and CME Group through the same IBKR account. That unified setup is one of the defining features of the current IBKR Prediction Markets platform.
