Polymarket Strategy Parameters

This page covers platform: polymarket: regular (international) Polymarket. If you trade on the US exchange, see Polymarket US instead. The two venues use different selectors and support different features.

A Polymarket strategy has the same shape as a Kalshi one: version, platform, strategy, market, risk and loop, then params for a built-in strategy or rules for your own. The runtime underneath is different, so the same keys can behave differently.

This page gives you the overview: how Polymarket differs from Kalshi, a table of every key Polymarket accepts and the keys that are not available here. The details are split across the pages listed under In this section, and the linked rows in the parameter table take you straight to the right one. See the Strategy Reference overview for how the venue references fit together.

Note: Examples on this page and its sub-pages are illustrative shapes, not recommendations. Values are small on purpose. Choose your own markets, sizes and thresholds, and remember that automated strategies can lose money. See Risk & Limits.

In this section

Polymarket Market Selection: Every market selector (slug, condition_id, a YES/NO token pair, series_slug and recurring), which markets a Bot can trade, the discovery-only event_slug and query, the fallback tick_size and min_order_size, and what carries over when a series rolls to its next market.
Polymarket Units, Rounding and Risk: The units for prices, sizes, money and time, how buys are clamped and orders rounded onto the tick, the market's minimum order size, each risk key, and a note that Polymarket Bots don't enforce deployment risk limits.
Polymarket Built-in Strategies and Custom Rules: How each built-in strategy enters, prices, sizes and exits on Polymarket, and what is specific to custom rules here: the 12 fields, the actions, how a custom buy is priced and sized, and what the validator checks.
Polymarket Active Window, Backtests, Fees and Location: The one-time active_window, what can be backtested and where backtests differ from live Bots, how fees are charged, and where live Polymarket trading is not available.
Polymarket Example Strategies: Seven complete strategies that pass validation: custom rules on rolling crypto series and pinned markets (dollar P&L exits, NO-book fields, a skip guard and a cancel_all for stale bids), plus the built-in panic_fade on a token-pinned market, mean_reversion and pre_announcement_drift.

Polymarket at a glance

Topic	Kalshi	Polymarket
Markets per Bot	One market, or several with a Kalshi series selector	Exactly one binary market at a time. A series rolls to the next market.
Choosing the market	`ticker`, `event_ticker`, `series_ticker`, `query`	`slug`, `condition_id`, a YES/NO token pair, `series_slug` or `recurring`
Order books	One YES/NO book	Two separate books: one for the YES token, one for the NO token
Units	Whole contracts at 1-cent prices	Shares, a per-market price tick (0.1 down to 0.0001), a minimum order size (usually 5 shares), fractional sizes possible
Custom buy price	Best ask	The side's midpoint, so buys can rest unfilled
External data (`edge`), `derived`	Supported	Not available
Time controls	`trading_schedule`, `active_window`	`active_window` only
Loss and portfolio caps	`max_loss`, `max_portfolio_positions`	Not available
Backtests	Order-book history with a candle fallback	YES order-book history only
Deployment risk limits	Enforced by the Bot	Not read, and not shown when you deploy. Your `risk` block is the limit.

For Up/Down crypto markets, Up is YES and Down is NO everywhere on this page and its sub-pages: in token IDs, actions and fields.

All Polymarket parameters

Every key Polymarket accepts. Rows that link go to the section of a sub-page that covers the key in more detail.

Parameter	Type	Default	Allowed values	What it does
`version`	integer	required	`1`	DSL version.
`platform`	string	required	`polymarket`	Selects regular Polymarket. Must match the venue of your Studio session.
`strategy`	string	required	`custom`, `spread_capture`, `mean_reversion`, `panic_fade`, `observation_momentum`, `pre_announcement_drift`	Your own rules, or a built-in strategy.
`strategy_name`	string	none	free text, stored up to 80 characters	Display name.
`strategy_name_origin`	string	`generated`	`user`, `generated`, `curated`; anything else, including `legacy`, is treated as `generated`	Where the name came from. Metadata only.
`name`	any	none	any	Legacy key, accepted and ignored. Use `strategy_name`.
`market`	mapping	required	one concrete selector	The market the Bot trades. See Market selection.
`market.slug`	string	none	a Polymarket market slug	Pins one market by its URL slug.
`market.condition_id`	string	none	a `0x…` condition ID	Pins one market by its condition ID.
`market.yes_token_id`	string	none	a token ID	The YES (Up) token. Needs `no_token_id`.
`market.no_token_id`	string	none	a token ID	The NO (Down) token. Needs `yes_token_id`.
`market.series_slug`	string	none	a Polymarket series slug	Follows a rolling series, one market at a time.
`market.recurring`	mapping	none	`kind`, `asset`, `interval`	Shorthand for the crypto Up/Down series.
`market.recurring.kind`	string	`updown`	`updown`	The only kind on regular Polymarket.
`market.recurring.asset`	string	required in `recurring`	`btc`, `eth`, `sol`, `xrp`, `doge`, `hype`, `bnb`	Which asset's series to follow.
`market.recurring.interval`	string	required in `recurring`	`5m`, `15m`, `1h`, `4h`, `1d`	Length of each market in the series.
`market.recurring.event_slug_prefix`	string	none	any	Accepted and ignored here. Used only by arbitrage.
`market.event_slug`	string	none	an event slug	Discovery only. Cannot be deployed.
`market.query`	string	none	free text	Discovery only. Cannot be deployed.
`market.neg_risk`	boolean	`false`	`false`	`true` is rejected: multi-outcome markets are not supported.
`market.tick_size`	string or number	`0.01`	`0.1`, `0.01`, `0.001`, `0.0001`	Fallback price tick for token-pinned markets.
`market.min_order_size`	string or number	`5`	a positive number	Fallback minimum order size, in shares, for token-pinned markets.
`risk`	mapping	required	`max_position`, `price_floor`, `price_ceiling`, `max_entries_per_market`, `max_notional`	Position and price limits. See Risk keys on Polymarket.
`risk.max_position`	whole number (shares)	required	greater than 0	Most YES + NO shares held in the current market.
`risk.price_floor`	number ($ per share)	`0`	0 or more, below 1 and below the ceiling	Lowest price the Bot buys at. Clamps every live buy.
`risk.price_ceiling`	number ($ per share)	required	above 0, up to 1, above the floor	Highest price the Bot buys at. Clamps every live buy.
`risk.max_entries_per_market`	whole number	off	0 or more; custom only	Caps buy orders per market.
`risk.max_notional`	number ($)	off	0 or more; custom only	Dollar budget for buys in the current market.
`loop`	mapping	required	`interval`	How often the Bot runs.
`loop.interval`	whole number (seconds)	required	10 or more	How often the Bot checks the market and runs its logic.
`active_window`	mapping	always active	`start`, `end` (at least one); custom only	One-time trading window.
`active_window.start`	timestamp	none	RFC 3339 with offset, e.g. `2026-10-04T09:00:00-04:00`	The Bot does nothing before this time.
`active_window.end`	timestamp	none	RFC 3339, after `start`	The Bot cancels its own resting buys and stops entering; exits keep running.
`params`	mapping	none	depends on the strategy	Built-in strategy settings. See Built-in strategies on Polymarket.
`params.spread_floor`	number ($)	required for `spread_capture`	greater than 0	Minimum YES spread before quoting; also sets quote distance.
`params.order_count`	whole number	required for `spread_capture`	greater than 0	Price levels quoted on each side.
`params.post_only`	boolean	`false`	unquoted `true` or `false` only	`spread_capture` quotes are maker-only.
`params.refresh_on_fill`	boolean	`false`	`true`, `false`	Accepted; no effect on Polymarket.
`params.entry_low`	number (YES price)	required for `mean_reversion`	below `entry_high`	Buy YES at or below this price.
`params.entry_high`	number (YES price)	required for `mean_reversion`	above `entry_low`	Buy NO when YES is at or above this price.
`params.exit_target`	number (YES price)	`0.5`	a number	Sell everything when YES is within ±0.02 of this.
`params.cooldown`	whole number (seconds)	`60`	0 or more	Minimum time between entry attempts.
`params.panic_threshold`	number ($)	required for `panic_fade`	greater than 0	Drop from the 5-minute high that triggers a buy.
`params.fade_size`	whole number (shares)	required for `panic_fade`	greater than 0	Shares bought per fade.
`params.recovery_exit`	number ($)	`0.04`	a number	Rise above the entry price that triggers the exit.
`params.recovery_target`	number ($)	none	a number	Legacy key read only by backtests. Use `recovery_exit`.
`params.max_fades`	whole number	`3`	a whole number	Most fades per Bot run.
`params.lookback_periods`	whole number (loops)	required for `observation_momentum`	2 or more	How many recent loop samples of the YES price to compare (newest minus oldest); it can fire once 2 samples exist.
`params.momentum_threshold`	number ($)	required for `observation_momentum`	greater than 0	Minimum move that triggers a buy.
`params.position_scale`	string	`linear`	`linear`, `exponential`	How order size grows on repeated signals.
`params.entry_hours_before`	whole number (hours)	required for `pre_announcement_drift`	greater than 0	When the entry window opens before the end date.
`params.blackout_minutes_before`	whole number (minutes)	required for `pre_announcement_drift`	0 or more	Final minutes with no entries.
`params.drift_direction`	string	auto	`bullish`, `bearish`	Which side to buy. Anything else means auto.
`params.exit_on_release`	boolean	`false`	unquoted `true` or `false` only	Sell everything when the blackout starts. Never fires with `blackout_minutes_before: 0`.
`rules`	list	required for `custom`	1 or more rules, at least one exit	Your if/then rules. See Custom rules on Polymarket.
`rules[].name`	string	required	non-empty text	Label shown in logs and decisions.
`rules[].when`	mapping	required	exactly one of `all`, `any`	The rule's conditions.
`rules[].when.all[].field` (or `any[]`)	string	required	one of the 12 Polymarket fields	The live value to compare.
`rules[].when.all[].op`	string	required	`<`, `>`, `<=`, `>=`, `==`, `!=`	Comparison operator. Quote it in YAML.
`rules[].when.all[].value`	number or duration	none	an unquoted number; for `time_to_expiry` a whole-number duration such as `"90s"`, `"5m"`, `"6h"`, `"1d"` (`"1.5h"` is rejected; write `"90m"`)	Fixed value to compare against.
`rules[].when.all[].value_field`	string	none	another field	Compare against another live field instead.
`rules[].action`	string	required	`buy_yes`, `buy_no`, `sell_yes`, `sell_no`, `sell_all`, `cancel_all`, `skip`	What happens when the rule matches. See Actions.
`rules[].size`	whole number (shares)	buys: 1; sells: all held	0 or more; buys up to `max_position`	Shares per order.

Unknown keys inside market, risk, loop and active_window are rejected, so conditon_id, max_notinal or active_window.timezone fails with an unknown … field error, as do unknown top-level keys and unknown rule keys. Unknown keys inside params are still ignored without an error, so check their spelling.

Not available on Polymarket

These keys are rejected when platform is polymarket:

market.ticker, market.event_ticker, market.series_ticker are Kalshi selectors. Use slug, condition_id, a token pair, series_slug or recurring.
market.selection is Kalshi's multi-market mode. A Polymarket Bot trades one market at a time; use series_slug or recurring to follow a series.
risk.max_loss is Kalshi custom only. The closest option is a sell_all rule on unrealized_pnl, which can match only while the Bot can value your position (see Fields).
risk.max_portfolio_positions is Kalshi only. There is no equivalent, because a Polymarket Bot holds one market.
trading_schedule, at the top level or on a rule, is Kalshi only. Use active_window for a one-time window, or time_to_expiry conditions.
edge (external data such as Coinbase prices and indicators) is not available on regular Polymarket. Kalshi and Polymarket US support it. See Edge Data.
derived metrics are Kalshi custom only.
rules[].orders and rules[].max_combined_price (composite orders) are Kalshi only. Use buy_yes or buy_no.
entry_profit_offset, entry_stop_loss_offset, entry_profit_targets, entry_profit_min_time_to_expiry are Kalshi only. Write sell_yes or sell_no rules on price, the book fields or unrealized_pnl instead. See Advanced Kalshi Rules.
Fields yes_position_size and no_position_size are Kalshi only. On Polymarket, position_size is YES and NO shares combined.
Fields paired_best_bid_sum and paired_best_ask_sum are Kalshi only. You can compare yes_best_ask with no_best_ask using value_field.
Field portfolio_position_count is Kalshi only: Polymarket never supplies it.
risk.max_entries_per_market, risk.max_notional and active_window are rejected on built-in strategies. They work with strategy: custom.

# Rejected: max_loss needs run-level loss tracking that only Kalshi custom strategies have
# error: currently supported only for Kalshi custom strategies
version: 1
platform: polymarket
strategy: custom
market:
  slug: "will-example-event-happen-by-2026-12-31"
risk:
  max_position: 10
  price_floor: 0.05
  price_ceiling: 0.95
  max_loss: 5
loop:
  interval: 30
rules:
  - name: take_profit
    when:
      all:
        - {field: position_size, op: ">", value: 0}
        - {field: price, op: ">=", value: 0.60}
    action: sell_yes
  - name: buy_yes_low
    when:
      all:
        - {field: position_size, op: "==", value: 0}
        - {field: price, op: "<=", value: 0.40}
    action: buy_yes
    size: 5

# Rejected: regular Polymarket has no external data feeds
# error: regular Polymarket strategies do not support edge aliases
version: 1
platform: polymarket
strategy: custom
market:
  slug: "will-example-event-happen-by-2026-12-31"
edge:
  btc:
    provider: coinbase
    symbol: BTC-USD
    fields: [price]
risk:
  max_position: 10
  price_floor: 0.05
  price_ceiling: 0.95
loop:
  interval: 30
rules:
  - name: take_profit
    when:
      all:
        - {field: position_size, op: ">", value: 0}
        - {field: price, op: ">=", value: 0.60}
    action: sell_yes
  - name: buy_yes_low
    when:
      all:
        - {field: position_size, op: "==", value: 0}
        - {field: price, op: "<=", value: 0.40}
        - {field: edge.btc.price, op: ">", value: 0}
    action: buy_yes
    size: 5