# Novig vs Robinhood > Independent. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Novig. Canonical: https://novigapi.com/compare/novig-vs-robinhood Facts checked: 2026-11-12 Robinhood is a broker that routes event contracts to exchanges; Novig is the exchange. Checked 12 Nov 2026, Robinhood charges a $0.01 commission per contract plus the exchange fee, $0.01 in its own example, while Novig charges takers 0.06 x P x (1 - P) per $1 of payout, only in-game on game markets. (Source: [Robinhood Support: How event contracts work](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/how-event-contracts-work/)) Robinhood offers prediction markets inside its brokerage app, with sports, economics, weather, culture and more. You pay Robinhood a commission and the listing exchange a fee on each contract. On Novig you trade directly on the exchange. ## Fees Fees, checked 12 Nov 2026 | Fees (checked 12 Nov 2026) | Novig | Robinhood | | --- | --- | --- | | How you pay | Taker pays 0.06 x P x (1 - P) per $1 of payout; makers pay nothing | $0.01 Robinhood commission per contract plus the exchange's fee | | When it applies | Game markets: only while the event is live. NFL, NCAAF, NCAAB, NCAAWB, MLB, NBA, WNBA and NHL futures: always. Golf, tennis, UFC, F1 and NASCAR futures and series winners: never | Every contract traded; rounded up to the nearest $0.01 | | $100 of payout at 50% | $1.50 if live; $0 pregame on game markets; $1.50 any time on major US league futures | $2.00 if the exchange fee is $0.01, as in Robinhood's example | | $100 of payout at 90% | $0.54 if live; $0 pregame | $2.00 at the same rates | The two shapes differ. Robinhood's flat per-contract cost is the same at 10% or 90%, so it weighs most on cheap longshots and heavy favourites. Novig's fee shrinks toward the tails and is zero on pregame fills of game markets. ## Coverage Coverage, checked 12 Nov 2026 | Coverage (checked 12 Nov 2026) | Novig | Robinhood | | --- | --- | --- | | Sports | Sports only: NFL, NCAAF, NCAAB, NCAAWB, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL, PGA, ATP, WTA, UFC, F1, NASCAR among the leagues its fee docs list | Pro and college football, basketball, hockey, tennis, golf, soccer, MMA, boxing, cricket, esports, racing | | Markets | Game lines, player props, futures, series winners; parlays priced through RFQ | Event contracts from $0.01 to $0.99, plus weather, metals and culture | | States and regions | All US states except Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, judged by physical location; 21+ | Not covered by the pages we read | | Regulator | Ludlow Exchange, LLC (doing business as Novig), CFTC-designated contract market since 16 Jun 2026 | Contracts listed on CFTC-regulated exchanges; Robinhood acts as broker | ## Data access Data access, checked 12 Nov 2026 | Data access (checked 12 Nov 2026) | Novig | Robinhood | | --- | --- | --- | | Official API | Yes: signed trading API at docs.novig.com; needs an account, KYC and a location check in production | No public prediction-market data API on the pages we read | | Public data | Free daily CSVs at data.novig.com (trades and markets), no names, around 5 a.m. ET | Prices and volumes shown on robinhood.com market pages | | History | Trades from 3 Aug 2026, market snapshots from 4 Aug 2026, daily only | Not published | | What novigapi.com adds | No Novig account, player and team names joined, intraday line history, fair prices, line moves, MCP | Nothing: novigapi.com covers Novig only | For research on sports prices, Novig is the one with published data: every trade in a free daily file, and read-only intraday history through [novigapi.com](https://novigapi.com/novig-api). ## The cost at different prices The fee shapes diverge most away from 50%. Novig's own worked examples, per $100 of payout at the 0.06 coefficient: $1.50 at 50%, $1.26 at 30% or 70%, and $0.54 at 10%. The fee is charged to five decimal places with no cent floor, and a pregame fill on a game market owes nothing. On Robinhood, with its $0.01 commission and the $0.01 exchange fee in its own example, $100 of payout costs $2.00 at any price. At 10%, that is $2.00 against Novig's $0.54 in-game. Robinhood's contracts work the same way as Novig's: prices run from $0.01 to $0.99, read as the market's implied probability, and a correct position settles at $1 per contract. ## Who should use which - **Existing Robinhood users who want one app for stocks and events**: Robinhood. - **Sports traders who care about cost per contract**: Novig, especially pregame and on prices far from 50%. - **Developers**: Novig, for its API and data files. Robinhood rounds up to the nearest $0.01 on all trades, with a maximum commission of $0.01 per contract, so very small orders can cost proportionally more. Novig charges sub-cent fees exactly, to five decimal places, so a tiny fill pays a tiny fee. ## Verdict Robinhood wins on convenience and breadth; Novig wins on sports cost and data. At a 50% price, $100 of payout costs $1.50 in-game on Novig against $2.00 on Robinhood in its own example, and nothing pregame on Novig game markets. ## Questions ### How much does Robinhood charge for event contracts? Robinhood's support pages state a $0.01 Robinhood commission per contract, plus the exchange fee, which is $0.01 per contract in its own example (checked 12 Nov 2026). ### Is Robinhood cheaper than Novig? Not on the published numbers. At 50%, $100 of payout costs $2.00 on Robinhood in its example and $1.50 on Novig if matched in-game; pregame Novig game-market fills cost nothing (checked 12 Nov 2026). ### Can you make money on prediction markets? Only by buying contracts below their true probability, after fees. Fees matter: compare the per-contract cost on each venue with the [Novig fee calculator](https://novigapi.com/novig-fee-calculator) before you trade. ## Sources - [Robinhood Support: How event contracts work](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/how-event-contracts-work/) - [Robinhood Support: Event contracts overview](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/event-contracts-overview/) - [Novig docs: Trading Fees](https://docs.novig.com/fees.md) - [Novig docs: Trading fees (game and futures schedules)](https://docs.novig.com/api/concepts/fees.md) - [Novig Help Center: Eligibility & Legality](https://support.novig.com/en/articles/16194031-eligibility-legality) - [Novig docs: Exchange Data](https://docs.novig.com/public-data/overview.md) --- Get a free API key: https://novigapi.com/sign-up . Docs: https://novigapi.com/docs . MCP: https://novigapi.com/api/mcp . Operated by Stunning Couches LLC. Independent. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Novig.