Glossary

Understanding the terminology of prediction markets is key to a successful trading experience.

Core Terms

The off-chain matching engine used by Polymarket. Orders are matched on the CLOB before being settled on-chain.

The underlying smart contract framework on Polygon that manages the minting, splitting, merging, and redemption of outcome tokens.

The unique identifier for a market's resolution condition on the blockchain.

The unique identifier for a specific outcome token (e.g., the "Yes" token for a specific market).

The difference between the highest bid (buy price) and the lowest ask (sell price) on the orderbook.

The total volume of orders resting on the orderbook at various price points. Higher depth means larger trades can be executed with less price impact.

The difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which the trade is actually executed.

When an order is successfully matched with a counterparty on the CLOB.

A service (like UMA) that provides external data to the blockchain to resolve market outcomes.

The process of exchanging winning outcome tokens for $1.00 USDC each after a market has resolved.

For a full list of technical terms, refer to the Official Polymarket Glossary.