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Every market on updown tracks one live number and cuts time into windows. This page explains the mechanic that every other trading page builds on.

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Markets and windows

A market is one tracked number. Examples:
  • Apple (AAPL) — a stock price
  • Bitcoin (BTC) — a crypto price
  • Rangers vs. Mariners — a team’s live win odds during a game
  • A prediction-market outcome — the live chance that an event happens
A window is one round of that market. When a window opens, the market’s value at that instant becomes the level to beat. The window then closes a fixed time later: On Trade, the level to beat is the value at the previous period’s close.

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Up and Down

Each window has two sides:
  • Up wins if the market’s value closes the window strictly above the level to beat.
  • Down wins if it closes at or below the level to beat.
Tie rule. If the value is unchanged at the close, the window settles as Down. Up needs a real move. The ticket’s ⓘ note says it plainly: “If the price is unchanged, it settles as Down. Up needs a real move.”
On team markets, the two sides carry the team names and colors instead of Up and Down. On three-way soccer listings, the page tracks one team’s win odds and the sides read “Up” and “Down / Flat”.

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Contracts and payout

You buy contracts on a side. Each contract is priced between 1¢ and 99¢, and the price is the market’s implied chance that the side wins. At settlement:
Every position is fully collateralized when you enter it. An Up contract at p¢ and a Down contract at 100 − p¢ together set aside exactly $1.00. You can never lose more than you paid, and you can never be short or owe money.

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Worked example

Apple (AAPL), window 2:00 – 2:15 PM. To beat: $325.40. You hold a $5 box on Up at 51¢, which buys 9.80 contracts.
  • Close at 325.62∗∗→Upwins→youreceive∗∗325.62** → Up wins → you receive **9.80 (profit $4.80).
  • Close at 325.40∗∗orlower→Downwins→your∗∗325.40** or lower → Down wins → your **5 is gone.

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Reading the window header

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Settlement

Settlement is automatic. There is no claim step.
  1. When the window closes, updown compares the value at the close with the value at the open, using the same feed that powers the chart.
  2. Strictly higher settles Up. Anything else settles Down.
  3. Winning contracts are paid $1.00 each and losing contracts expire at zero. The net amount moves on-chain once per window.
A settlement pass runs every 5 minutes, and the page also triggers one when a window rolls, so a closed window is usually recorded within seconds and paid within about 5 minutes. Until then your position reads “settling” or “awaiting settle”. Afterwards, Portfolio → history shows the result as Won, Lost, or Settled. See Positions and history. Every settled window has its own page with Result, Open, Close, and the full chart. Open it from the Past dropdown on the market page or from a history row.

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Settlement rules on every market page

Each market page has a Settlement rules section with the exact rules for that market. The stock version reads:
A new window opens every 15 minutes. Its opening price is AAPL’s price at the moment the window opens. Up wins only if AAPL’s price closes strictly above that opening price. Down wins if it closes at or below it — so a window that finishes exactly unchanged settles Down. Each winning contract pays 1.00andeachlosingcontractexpiresatzero.Everypositionisfullycollateralizedwhenyouenter,soanUpatpcentsanditsmatchingDownat100minuspcentstogethersetasideexactly1.00 and each losing contract expires at zero. Every position is fully collateralized when you enter, so an Up at p cents and its matching Down at 100 minus p cents together set aside exactly 1.00.
Sports and outcome markets add that the metric is the prediction market’s last-trade probability, sampled once a minute, and that the series ends when the underlying market closes.

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Market hours and special cases

  • Stocks trade only on weekdays from 4:00 AM to 8:00 PM ET. Outside those hours the market page reads “Market closed — stock markets trade weekdays 4:00 AM – 8:00 PM ET.” and stock cards leave the Live hub.
  • Crypto trades 24/7.
  • Sports windows begin at kickoff and keep rolling through the game.
Game over. If a game ends in the middle of a window, the odds freeze and trading pauses. The ticket reads “Trading paused — game over” and explains that the window settles at the frozen odds, with payouts following shortly. The window in progress becomes the final one, and no new window opens after it. The page then reads “Series ended”.
The settled value comes from the minute-level history feed at the close, which can differ by a tick from the last print you saw on the tape. Both the chart and settlement use the same feed.