Market Lifecycle

A market progresses through a fixed set of statuses. Each status gates which operations are allowed. The status codes are stable and shared between the contract (STATUS_* constants) and the frontend (MARKET_STATUS in lib/constants.ts).

Status table

Code	Constant	Name	Meaning	Allowed operations
0	STATUS_OPEN	Open	Created, pending activation	(markets go straight to TRADING on creation)
1	STATUS_TRADING	Trading	Open for trading & liquidity	buy_shares, sell_shares, add_liquidity, remove_liquidity, resolve_market*, create_book
2	STATUS_RESOLVING	Resolving	Oracle proposed an outcome; dispute window open	raise_dispute, finalize_resolution
3	STATUS_RESOLVED	Resolved	Outcome finalized	redeem_shares
4	STATUS_DISPUTED	Disputed	An active dispute is pending review	raise_dispute (re-extends window), finalize_resolution
5	STATUS_ABANDONED	Abandoned	Never resolved past 30-day grace window	reclaim_abandoned_seed (any caller)

Lifecycle steps

1. Create

A market is created with ≥ 2 outcomes and an initial liquidity seed of exactly 10,000 USDC (FIXED_INITIAL_LIQUIDITY). Any other amount is rejected with EInvalidParam. It is created directly in STATUS_TRADING. The creator may pass a creator_fee_bps value, but it is ignored — the creator fee is fixed at 0.25% (25 bps) — and may optionally pass a referrer address, which is also ignored (referral fees have been removed). The seed liquidity is ring-fenced in seed_vault and becomes the creator's own recoverable position; it is never usable as AMM counterparty capital.

2. Trade

While TRADING, collateral enters and complete sets are minted; the AMM prices shares. See AMM & Pricing Math and Fees. A closing-only window opens closing_only_window_ms before ends_at: opening new positions is disallowed; only position-reducing (close-out) trades are permitted.

3. Resolve

A registered oracle resolve_market (or resolve_market_price for price-backed markets) proposes a winning outcome. This requires now >= ends_at + min_resolution_delay_ms, and the resolver must not be the market creator (self-deal prevention). The market moves to STATUS_RESOLVING and a dispute window (dispute_window_ms) opens.

4. Dispute (optional)

Anyone (except the oracle and the creator) may raise_dispute by posting a bond of at least bond_for_collateral(collateral, dispute_bond_bps). Every dispute re-extends the window. The window cannot be re-extended indefinitely: at most MAX_DISPUTES = 10 disputes per market (DoS protection).

5. Finalize

After the window closes (now > dispute_deadline), finalize_resolution locks the winning outcome and settles bonds. If disputes exist, only the protocol admin may finalize (escalation), and the chosen outcome is constrained (see Disputes). The market moves to STATUS_RESOLVED.

6. Redeem

Only winning shares are redeemable. Non-winning shares are worthless. Redemption is parimutuel pro-rata: winners split the win_refund_pool (trader-staked collateral remaining after the creator's seed is refunded) pro-rata by winning-share weight: payout = floor(your_shares × win_refund_pool / total_winning_shares). Each user's winning balance is zeroed after redemption (double-redeem protection). On a Push (price-market tie), both Up and Down holders are refunded pro-rata from push_refund_pool.

7. Abandoned-market recovery (fallback)

If a market is never resolved (oracle goes silent, stuck in TRADING / RESOLVING / DISPUTED), any caller may recover the creator's full seed after ends_at + 30 days via reclaim_abandoned_seed. The market is marked STATUS_ABANDONED, the seed is refunded (idempotent via seed_refunded), and any residual trader collateral is swept to the treasury. In every case — normal close, Push, or abandoned — the creator's seed comes back 100%.

Timeline diagram

create ────────────────── ends_at ── min_resolution_delay ── propose ──┐
   │                                                              │     │ dispute window
   │  TRADING (closing-only near end)                             │     │ (re-extends per
   │                                                              │     │  dispute, max 10)
   └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘     │
                                                              RESOLVING ◄┘
                                                                  │
                                                          window closed
                                                                  │
                                                              RESOLVED ──► redeem 1:1

closing_only_at

closing_only_at = ends_at - closing_only_window_ms (or ends_at if the window exceeds the market's lifetime). After this timestamp:

• buy_shares is allowed only if it does not increase the caller's net exposure to that outcome (a true close-out).
• sell_shares is always allowed (it is inherently position-reducing).
• Close-out trades receive a maker-rebate-discounted protocol fee: the effective protocol fee is protocol_fee_bps × (10000 − maker_rebate_bps) / 10000. With the default maker_rebate_bps = 2500 (25%), the effective fee is 0.5625% (56.25 bps) on close-outs.

This protects late entrants from oracle/resolution risk right before settlement.