Novig review: a no-fee pre-game sports exchange, and what we could not verify

Verdict: Novig is the low-fee specialist in our coverage: a sports-only exchange that charges nothing on pre-game straight trades and nothing to makers, with a published formula for everything else. On 100 contracts at 50¢, a pre-game taker pays $0.00 on Novig against $1.75 on Kalshi and $1.74 on Polymarket US. It suits sports traders who take positions before games start, or who post limit orders, and who accept a platform that has been live for only two months. It is not for people who want politics, economics or weather markets, for residents of Arizona, Michigan or Nevada, or for anyone who needs confirmed funding methods and offer terms before signing up. Several basics remain unverified as of October 4, 2026.

This is a documentary review drawn from Novig’s support and API fee documentation, the CFTC’s exchange list and launch reporting. We have not opened an account or traded and we do not assign a score. Because Novig is new and its public documentation is limited, this review is shorter than our others; we would rather leave a section thin than fill it with guesses.

Novig at a glance

Operator

Ludlow Exchange, LLC

Launched

Ludlow Exchange designated a contract market Jun 16, 2026; nationwide launch Aug 4, 2026

Regulatory status

CFTC-designated contract market (DCM)

Availability

Launched in 47 states. Arizona, Michigan and Nevada are geofenced, per launch reports.

Not available in

AZ, MI, NV

Structure

Direct exchange account (DCM)

Market categories

Sports

Trading fees

No fee on pre-game straight trades. Live straight trades: taker fee 0.03 × P × (1−P). Makers pay no fee.

Settlement

Peer-to-peer exchange contracts settled by Ludlow Exchange

Mobile apps

iOS: Not verified · Android: Not verified

Facts last verified

October 4, 2026

Still being verified: Current welcome offer terms; Funding and withdrawal methods; Minimum age; Mobile app availability. We leave these out until we can confirm them with a primary source.

Who Novig is for, and who should skip it

Novig fits you if you trade sports before kickoff and want to avoid trading fees, or you place resting limit orders, since Novig’s schedule charges makers no fee.

Consider skipping it if you want non-sports markets, live in Arizona, Michigan or Nevada, prefer a platform with years of operating history, or want verified bonus terms and banking options before you deposit.

Company, ownership and history

Novig’s markets run on Ludlow Exchange, LLC. The CFTC lists Ludlow as a designated contract market (DCM) from June 16, 2026; some press reported June 11, but we follow the CFTC’s list. According to Gaming Intelligence, Novig launched nationwide on August 4, 2026.

We have not found official information on Novig’s ownership, funding or history before its CFTC designation, and do not report it.

Regulation and legal status

Federally, Ludlow Exchange is a CFTC-designated contract market, so Novig’s contracts are listed under a rulebook filed with the CFTC.

At the state level, Novig operates in the same contested environment as every sports prediction market. Federal appeals courts are split over whether state gambling law applies to sports event contracts on CFTC exchanges. The 3rd Circuit sided with Kalshi in April 2026, while the 9th Circuit in August and the 6th Circuit in September ruled the other way, and the Supreme Court has been asked to decide. Those rulings came in cases against other platforms, but a sports-only exchange is directly exposed to their outcome. We found no state lawsuit naming Novig as of October 4, 2026. See our prediction market legal tracker for the current picture.

Where Novig is available

According to launch reporting, Novig went live in 47 states, with Arizona, Michigan and Nevada geofenced. Arizona stands out: a federal injunction has blocked that state’s enforcement against Kalshi since May 2026, yet Novig reportedly still excludes it. Novig has not published an official state list we could access, and we have not confirmed its minimum age. Rely on the app’s location check.

We also found no official signup guide to cite, so we do not describe Novig’s account-opening steps.

Offer and promotions

Novig’s promo terms are unverified. As of October 2026, the title of Novig’s promo page reads “Deposit $10, Get $50 in Trade Credits,” but the page did not load for us, so we could not read the eligibility rules, expiry date, credit conditions or withdrawal terms. We do not present this as a confirmed offer. Read the terms at novig.com/promo before relying on any amount, and see our prediction market promotions page for offers whose terms we have checked.

Markets and products

Novig lists sports contracts only. Its fee documentation refers to pre-game straight trades, live (in-game) straight trades, college-football spreads and totals, futures and parlays. As on other exchanges, a contract pays $1 if its outcome occurs and $0 if not, and the price, set peer to peer by other users, can be read as a rough implied probability.

Novig’s contracts are settled by Ludlow Exchange under its rulebook; our guide to how prediction markets settle covers what that means for disputed results. We have no reliable data on liquidity. As a two-month-old exchange, Novig may have thinner books than Kalshi or Polymarket US on less popular games, but we have not measured it.

Novig fees

Novig’s official fee article sets out the schedule:

Fees are rounded to $0.00001, with midpoints rounded up.

Worked example: 100 contracts at 50¢

If the contract loses, you lose the total paid. Novig’s 0.06 rate for futures and live college-football spreads and totals is still below Kalshi’s widely reported 0.07 taker coefficient, and its live straight-trade rate (0.03) is less than half of it. Parlays (0.10) are the exception. Compare these costs with other platforms in our prediction market fees guide.

Deposits and withdrawals

We have not verified Novig’s deposit or withdrawal methods, minimums or processing times in official documentation as of October 4, 2026, so we do not list them.

Mobile apps

We have not confirmed whether Novig offers iOS or Android apps in official sources as of October 4, 2026.

Safety and customer protections

Novig’s main protection is that its exchange, Ludlow, is a CFTC-designated contract market subject to federal oversight. Standard binary positions are fully paid for, so the most you can lose is the cost plus any fee.

Its short track record is itself a consideration. There is little public history on how Novig handles settlement disputes, withdrawals or support, and we have not found official information on its clearing arrangements or how customer funds are held, so we do not describe them.

Pros and cons

Alternatives to Novig

• Kalshi covers sports plus politics, economics and weather, with a record going back to 2021 and many documented funding methods, but charges a taker fee on every trade ($1.75 on 100 contracts at 50¢). See the Kalshi review.
• Polymarket US pays makers a rebate across sports and other categories and has an official $25 credit for a $10 deposit. See the Polymarket US review.
• FanDuel Predicts has a verified, dated new-customer offer of up to $100 (ending October 20, 2026) in 18 sports states, but a 2%-of-payout fee. See the FanDuel Predicts review.
• Robinhood caps its commission at 1¢ per contract, plus an exchange fee of up to 1¢, for its brokerage customers. See the Robinhood prediction markets review.

See the best prediction markets for the full ranking, or our Kalshi vs Polymarket comparison for the two multi-category exchanges side by side.

How we reviewed Novig

This is a documentary review. On October 4, 2026 we read Novig’s support-center fee article and API fee documentation and the CFTC’s list of designated contract markets, and we used Gaming Intelligence’s launch report for the launch date and state coverage. Novig’s promo page did not load, so its offer is listed as unverified.

We have not opened a Novig account, deposited or traded. A hands-on testing log covering signup, funding methods, fee confirmations and withdrawal timing will be added once completed, and the unverified items above will be filled in or removed. Novig carries no score until then. See our methodology.

Visit Novig (opens the operator's site in a new tab)