Market structure
A market is a frozen question with named outcomes, entry timing, settlement rules and one stake pool per outcome.
Event, market and position
These terms describe different objects:
- Asset or event — the token, launch or observable event being discussed;
- Market — one resolvable question about that subject;
- Outcome — one of the market’s mutually understood result labels;
- Position — one user’s accepted stake on one outcome;
- Outcome pool — all accepted stakes on the same outcome.
A token may receive different markets over time, but Pools Markets normally exposes one current question per asset to keep the injected experience focused.
Question types
Markets use approved question structures that can be resolved from clearly defined observations. Examples include:
| Question type | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Threshold at expiry | A metric is compared with a target at a defined time |
| Threshold touch | A metric reaches a target at any point in a defined window |
| Event occurred | A named, verifiable event occurs before a deadline |
| First to barrier | One of several defined barriers is reached first |
The interface should show natural language such as “First to reach its target” instead of exposing internal enum names like FIRST_TO_BARRIER.
Questions follow token state
Pools Markets does not show the same PRICE / MCAP / LIQUIDITY menu for every token. It evaluates the token’s current launch state and available evidence before offering a question.
Examples:
- a live bonding-curve token may support a graduation market;
- a graduated token may support a valuation-at-expiry market but not another graduation market;
- a token without reliable liquidity observations may be ineligible for a liquidity threshold;
- an event market requires sources that can later produce verifiable evidence.
Immutable semantics
Once a market opens, its outcomes, deadlines, measurement rules and settlement sources are fixed. Display copy may be shortened, but it cannot change what the market asks or how it resolves.