Kalshi opens a new up-or-down Zcash window on every quarter hour. This page is that contract: the target to beat, live Coinbase ZEC-USD candles from 1 minute to 1 week, and what a stake pays after the taker fee. Changing the chart tab changes the candles only, never the ZEC contract in the panel.
The odds and payout on this page still update on their own.
Short-term read
Move needed
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Typical move
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ATR 14
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15m range
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1h range
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vs VWAP
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Heuristics, not odds of winning. σ = recent realized volatility of these candles, scaled to the time left.
Coinbase ZEC-USD candles, your time zone. Kalshi settles this contract on the CF Benchmarks real-time index for ZEC.Charts by TradingView
Settlement
What price actually settles a 15-minute window
Kalshi settles this 15-minute window on the CF Zcash-Dollar Spot Rate, a CF Benchmarks real-time index. In the final minute before the window closes, sixty one-second prints of that index are collected and averaged, and that average is compared with the same sixty-second average taken before the previous close. The strike type is greater or equal, so a window that lands exactly level resolves YES.
CF Zcash-Dollar Spot Rate
Kalshi
Built from
CF names the exchanges and versions the method in its Spot Rates Methodology Guide. It does not publish whether the rate is struck off order books or off trades, so we are not going to tell you which.
Updates
About once per second, to roughly every 200 milliseconds on request.
Administrator
CF Benchmarks Ltd, an FCA-authorised benchmark administrator, register 847100.
Methodology
Published and versioned, with a named exchange list. CF calls this one a Spot Rate.
The two exchanges behind the number
CoinbaseKraken
Gemini was a constituent until 8 June 2026, which took this index from three exchanges to two. One venue moving on its own now carries half the number. Binance is not a constituent, which is worth knowing if you watch Binance and trade Kalshi.
Three or more price aggregators and market data vendors using exchange order books. Chainlink does not name them publicly.
Reported as
A consensus median across the oracle network, delivered as a signed report.
In use since
7 August 2026 on Polymarket’s bitcoin up-or-down market, replacing a single-price snapshot.
Methodology
Not published. Polymarket’s own docs say the sampling boundaries, weighting and rounding are not specified.
Polymarket warns readers not to try to reproduce the value independently “without a specification from Chainlink.” That is the honest difference between the two: one publishes its rules and its venue list, the other publishes neither.
Ties work the same way at both. Polymarket resolves Up when the closing TWAP is greater than or equal to the opening price, exactly as Kalshi resolves YES on a level window.
Do they disagree? Rarely, and almost only on near-flat windows. Both average about sixty seconds, so the outcome only flips when a window’s net move is smaller than the gap between the two indices, which research published on 24 August 2026 measured at roughly 2.5 basis points between a major exchange mid and the Chainlink price. That was measured on bitcoin, where it came to about $21 with bitcoin near $86,000. We have found no published study measuring the CF Zcash-Dollar Spot Rate against Chainlink directly, and CF does not publish what this rate is struck off, so we are not going to put a number on it. The study.
Reset monitor · this device
Before the next trade
After a loss, a big win or a long session, take a few minutes off the desk before the next trade.
On the desk today: . Counts while a desk page is open and on screen.
Foreword
Exclusive TunaLead writer · pen name
Trading 15-minute markets moves fast. A setup can change in minutes, so I want the right information in front of me before I make a decision.
That’s why I use PM Countdown. It puts the indicators and market information I care about in one place, so I can review the setup, understand the price being offered, and decide whether it’s actually worth taking.
The reset is part of my process too. After a big win, a tough loss, or too much time at the screen, five minutes away helps me come back focused instead of chasing the next trade.
I don’t need to trade every market. I want the right setup at the right price. PM Countdown helps me stay disciplined and wait for it.
Exclusive Tuna
Reset running
5:00
Answer honestly. Only you see this, and nothing is saved.
Is the next trade about getting that loss back?
Do I know today’s loss limit in dollars?
Have I reached it?
Would I size the next trade bigger than I planned this morning?
Have I moved some of it to my bank account?
Does money I just won feel easier to risk than money I put in?
Would I size up the next trade because I’m up?
Do I know when I’m stopping today?
Have I stood up in the last hour?
Have I eaten something in the last few hours?
Did I get a normal night’s sleep?
Is it later than I planned to stop?
After a loss
Let this one go.
After a big win
Move some of it to your bank.
What to do with a big win: the set-aside, the move off the exchange, and the size of the next bankroll.
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How to read this Zcash desk
Four numbers, then a decision
Each number below feeds one question: after the fee, is the price you would pay for this Zcash window lower than what you think it is worth?
The price Kalshi publishes for Zcash when the quarter-hour window opens. It is fixed at the open. Check the market subtitle on Kalshi before you size: it says whether Zcash has to finish above that figure, or at it or above.
ZEC now and the gap
The live Coinbase ZEC-USD price and its distance from the price to beat. Kalshi settles this contract on CF Benchmarks’ ZECUSDRTI real-time index, so the two run close without ever being the same number. That gap is what you are trading.
Up and Down prices
Up is what Kalshi asks for YES on this Zcash window, and Down is 100 minus the YES bid, which is what NO costs. Take a price in cents as the market's chance in percent: 44¢ means about 44%.
If you're right, if you're wrong
What your stake pays at the current ask after Kalshi's taker fee, and what you lose if Zcash settles the other way: all of it. This market reopens four times an hour, so settle that number before anything else.
15m
Real contract. A new Zcash window opens on every quarter hour and settles at its close. Every chart tab shows that same contract in the panel on the right.
1h · 4h · 1D · 1W
Chart views. Longer Zcash candles behind the same 15-minute contract, for context. Switching to them never changes which window the panel prices.
5m
Our layout. The last 5 minutes of the live Zcash window are shaded, with a countdown to when they begin.
30m · 45m
Our layout. Two or three Zcash windows side by side. Each one is its own trade, and a window Kalshi has not opened yet has no price to beat, so this page shows none for it rather than a guess.
1m · 2m · 3m
Chart views. Short Zcash candles inside the live window. Three-minute candles split a window into exactly five bars. Two-minute candles cannot, so the window box is drawn by time, not by bar.
Fees on a 15-minute Zcash window
A coin flip still costs a fee, and at 50¢ it costs the most
Kalshi's fee peaks on a contract priced near 50¢, and many Zcash windows trade right there. You pay the spread and the fee before the price moves at all, and a market that reopens four times an hour turns a small cost per trade into a large one per day.
Worked example: 100 Up contracts at a 51¢ ask on a Zcash window
This is arithmetic, not a live Zcash quote. 100 contracts at 51¢ cost $51.00, and the fee is $1.75 (0.07 × 100 × 0.51 × 0.49, rounded up to the cent), so $52.75 goes out. If Zcash settles on your side they pay $100. To break even you have to be right on more than 52.75% of trades like this one, and selling before the close costs a second fee.
Fee formula: Kalshi's taker fee is 0.07 × contracts × price × (1 − price), rounded up to the cent; a resting limit order can pay less. Most published write-ups on these markets cover the bitcoin window: predictionmarketspicks.com calls the spread plus fees on a near coin flip "a steep, constant drag", and TheLines puts the fee at 1¢ to 2¢ per contract.
Sizing
¼ Kelly, capped at 5%
Full Kelly on a Zcash contract priced at P, when you think the true chance is q, is (q − P) ÷ (1 − P). We size at a quarter of that, at most 5% of the bankroll, and at nothing when the result is zero or below. Four Zcash windows an hour means four chances to stake too much.
Full KellyWaiting
¼ KellyWaiting
StakeWaiting
Ignores fees, which lower it further. Your chance is your own estimate, and if it is off, Kelly sizes too big. Source: betstamp on Kelly, which advises never risking more than 5% on a single trade.
Take a break between windows
96 Zcash windows a day is not a reason to trade every one
Fast markets reward slow rules. You do not need to be in any of these windows. Before the first one, decide how many you will trade and how much you can lose, then stop when either runs out. After a losing Zcash window, sit out the next.
Pick a money limit for the session before you start, and keep to it.
Do not raise your stake to win back the last window.
Skip any Zcash window where you cannot say why the price is wrong.
TheLines' guide to these markets says the same: "Take breaks. Avoid rushing into consecutive trades."
Only risk what you can afford to lose. This page is information, not advice, and PM Countdown isn't affiliated with Kalshi. Kalshi users can set funding caps and opt-outs in the Responsible Trading Hub. Gambling problem? Call or text 1-800-MY-RESET. Responsible gambling guide
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Our plans, with the entry, the target and the grade
One market with the buy price, sell target and hold rule
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