Polymarket

Polymarket is a prediction market where users trade tokenized positions on defined real-world outcomes. Its international platform combines a Polygon collateral and settlement system with a central limit order book, so a position is a claim on a stated outcome rather than a conventional share or cryptocurrency holding.

Each outcome has its own order book

A trader selects an outcome token, chooses a price and size, signs an order and sends it to the central limit order book. An order can remain open, fill partly, be cancelled or expire. The price on screen is executable only while enough opposite-side orders are available at that level; a midpoint or last trade is not a promise of a new fill.

Binary and multi-outcome markets use separate conditional tokens for each result. In a binary market, collateral can be split into positions for both sides, and complementary positions can be merged back into collateral before the result. That link between the positions and collateral is what supports later redemption.

Market wording determines the payout

After final resolution, a winning binary outcome token redeems for the market's collateral value and a losing token has no redemption value. A holder can sell before then, but the exit price depends on the orders available for that particular outcome token.

The question, close time, outcome definitions and resolution conditions belong to the individual market. Trading may stop before the condition is determined, so a broad view that an event happened is not enough: the position pays according to the market's specified wording and final result.

Deposit Wallets and restricted trading signers

Trading connects a signer to a Deposit Wallet holding the funds and outcome positions. Matched trades settle on Polygon, and the current collateral for central-limit-order-book settlement is pUSD following the move from USDC.e. This is a token balance, not a broker-held cash balance.

The Deposit Wallet owner can authorize a session signer for trading while retaining withdrawal authority. That signer can be limited to the order book or combinations RFQ functions and cannot withdraw funds. Platform eligibility and regional access still determine whether the international Polygon platform is available; Polymarket US is a separate U.S. offering.

Wallet-held outcomes beside Kalshi cash accounts

Kalshi is the closest contrast for someone choosing between order-book prediction markets. Both let users trade an outcome position before the result and make each market's settlement terms important.

Kalshi uses a verified personal account and pays winning event contracts into a platform cash balance. Polymarket instead uses a signer, Deposit Wallet, conditional tokens and Polygon settlement. That difference matters to users who specifically want wallet-linked positions rather than an account-based cash relationship.