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Esports World Cup sees volume rise at Kalshi, but MSI and IEM remain biggest events

The final week of the Esports World Cup saw record trading volumes on Kalshi. Over $95 million was traded across esports events in the last seven days of the tournament....

AAdmin
August 28, 2026
3 min read
Esports World Cup sees volume rise at Kalshi, but MSI and IEM remain biggest events

Adam has worked as a writer and editor for five years on sites such as CasinoBeats, OddsChecker, Esports.net, CoinTelegraph and Gambling Industry News. Adam uses his experience in the gambling and gaming adjacent industries to focus on emerging stories at the intersection of esports, culture and gambling.

Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.

MSI 2025 fans Photo by Liu YiCun/Riot Games The final week of the Esports World Cup saw record trading volumes on Kalshi. Over $95 million was traded across esports events in the last seven days of the tournament.

This was up from $90 million the previous week. Volume exceeded $70 million every week of the tournament except for one, although not all the trading was on the World Cup.

In fact, as much was traded on League of Legends events last week as Counter-Strike 2, despite the latter taking headline billing at the World Cup. Both games saw a total volume of around $32 million.

Spirit vs. Vitality in the quarterfinals was the most-traded CS2 match at the Esports World Cup. Volume surpassed the $3 million mark across all markets. This was just more than the final between Spirit and FUT Esports, which had $2.9 million.

Despite last week breaking the record for the highest weekly esports volume ever on Kalshi, IEM Cologne remains the most-traded CS2 event. Over $109 million was traded over the course of the tournament

Spirit’s match against Team Falcons at IEM remains the most traded match, with volume exceeding $4.5 million across all markets.

Looking at the biggest match winner markets, IEM Cologne dominates the top 10, with eight of the matches, according to data from TickerTracker .

Image Credit: TicketTracker League of Legends now firmly most traded game When IEM Cologne took place, CS2 dominated Kalshi’s esports category, accounting for around 65% of all trading. It has now been surpassed by League of Legends.

Over the past 28 days, average daily volume on League of Legends is at almost $5 million, up from around $2 million this time last month. CS2 peaked at $4.6 million in June and then rose again to around $4 million during the World Cup last week.

MSI remains the most traded LoL event. Lyon vs. Hanwha Sports was the most-traded match across all events, with $5.9 million in volume.

Looking at match winner markets, which see the highest volumes, all 10 top in LoL were at MSI.

Image Credit: TicketTracker Esports trading passes $1 billion at Kalshi and Polymarket In the year to date, over $1.3 billion has been traded on esports at Kalshi, with League of Legends and CS2 accounting for around 85% of that.

At Polymarket, League of Legends also attracts higher trading volumes, with matches averaging $1.2 million compared to CS2 at just under $1 million.

These numbers are not far off major league sports , with NHL matches averaging $3 million in volume. NBA and MLB are around $4 million per match, with the NFL leading the way at over $5 million. Given the rise in prediction markets since the Super Bowl, the new NFL season is expected to attract far higher trading volumes on both Polymarket and Kalshi.

It should, of course, be noted that trading volume is not the…