> Why is Kalshi structured with these yes vs. no options for all outcomes?

it's basically how they do margin. otherwise you wouldn't be able to sell / post asks without already having a long position. for kalshi, it's actually one single security in the background they just present it as two order books (but really it's one). for polymarket, they are two distinct products that trade separately, and technically could have arbitrage between them. although in practice they're normally priced correctly to sum to 1 (or 1.01)

It’s not really margin since there’s no leverage: the potential loss associated with the bet has to be deposited, so it’s fully collateralised.