> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.polymarket.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# FAQ

> Common questions about Polymarket Perps trading, pricing, margin, liquidation, fees, and integration

Common questions about Polymarket Perps.

## General

> **What is Polymarket Perps?**
>
> Polymarket Perps is a perpetual futures exchange offering continuous exposure to equities, indices, commodities, and other underlyings. Positions have no expiry. A funding rate keeps the contract price tethered to the underlying's spot price over time.

> **Which instruments can I trade?**
>
> Fetch the current product list, symbols, underlyings, reference feeds, and
> leverage settings from [`GET
>       /v1/info/instruments`](/perps/market-data#fetch-instruments).

> **Is the exchange on-chain or off-chain?**
>
> Hybrid. Order matching, margin, and funding run off-chain for low latency.
> Deposits and withdrawals settle on Polygon, and the exchange periodically
> posts state-root commitments on-chain so off-chain activity stays verifiable.

> **Does the perp trade 24/7, even when the underlying market is closed?**
>
> Yes. The order book, matching, funding, margin checks, and liquidations all
> run continuously. What changes outside of regular hours is the set of external
> feeds used to compute Index and Mark.

> **Do Polymarket Perps expire?**
>
> No. Perpetual futures have no expiration date. A Perps position stays open
> until you close it or it is force-closed by liquidation.

> **Are perps and perpetual futures the same thing?**
>
> Yes. "Perps" is trader shorthand for "perpetual futures." Both refer to the
> same derivative contract: a futures-style instrument with no expiry, anchored
> to the underlying's spot price through periodic funding.

> **How are Perps different from Polymarket prediction markets?**
>
> Polymarket's prediction markets settle Yes or No shares at \$1 or \$0 based on a discrete event outcome. Perps are continuous: there is no event resolution and no \$0/\$1 settlement. Instead you take a long or short position whose value moves with the underlying asset's price, subject to funding payments and margin requirements like any perpetual futures contract.

## Trading and Orders

> **What order types are supported?**
>
> Limit and market-style orders are supported with GTC, IOC, and FOK time-in-force values. GTC orders can be tagged post-only, which rejects the order if it would take liquidity. Closing orders can be tagged reduce-only, which prevents the order from increasing exposure. See [Configure Order Behavior](/perps/trading#configure-order-behavior) and [Close a Position](/perps/trading#close-a-position).

> **Why was my order rejected when my balance looks fine?**
>
> Pre-trade margin uses the worst-case position size from your existing exposure plus all resting orders on each side, not just the current position.
>
> ```text theme={null}
> WorstCaseSize = max(|Position + OpenBuys|, |Position - OpenSells|)
> ```
>
> If `Equity < IM_required` for that worst case, the order is rejected even though current equity is comfortable.

> **What is self-trade prevention?**
>
> Self-trade prevention is on by default for every order and runs in CancelMaker mode: when a taker would match against a resting order on the same account, the conflicting resting maker is canceled and the taker continues matching against other makers. It is not an API setting. There is no way to turn it off or change its mode. Accounts that Polymarket has grouped as one entity count as the same account for this check. See [Self-Trade Prevention](/perps/learn-about-trading/self-trade-prevention).

## Pricing, Mark, Index, and Funding

> **What's the difference between Mark Price, Index Price, and last trade price?**
>
> * Index Price is the protocol's estimate of the underlying's fair value, aggregated from external oracle feeds.
> * Mark Price is the price the system uses for margin, PnL, liquidation, and funding.
> * Last trade price is the price of the most recent fill on the local book. It is not used for margining.
>
> See [Prices](/perps/concepts#prices).

> **What happens to Mark when external feeds go down?**
>
> Each Mark candidate degrades gracefully to the Index. If the order book mid is
> missing, the candidate falls back to Index. If there are no recent trades or
> quotes, the candidate falls back to Index. If external mark feeds are
> unavailable, the candidate falls back to Index. In the worst case, all
> candidates converge to Index and Mark tracks Index directly.

> **How is funding calculated and when does it settle?**
>
> A premium index is sampled every 5 seconds by walking the book for 1,000
> quote-asset notional on each side. Samples are averaged over a 1-hour charge
> window, run through an 8-hour formula with a fixed interest leg and clamp,
> divided by 8, and capped at +/-4% per hour. Settlement happens once per
> window. Longs pay shorts when the rate is positive, and shorts pay longs when
> negative. The protocol takes no cut.

> **Can I see funding pressure between settlements?**
>
> Yes. A rolling 5-second premium sample and its implied 8-hour rate are published continuously through public market data. You can also read funding history with [`GET /v1/info/funding`](/perps/market-data#list-funding-history).

## Margin and Leverage

> **What's the difference between cross and isolated margin?**
>
> * Isolated margin funds each position with a dedicated margin allocation. Liquidation only closes the affected position.
> * Cross margin shares account collateral across all cross positions. Unrealized PnL on one position can offset margin on another, but a liquidation evaluates and can unwind the whole cross account.
>
> The web app opens new positions in isolated mode by default. Cross is opt-in through the API using leverage configuration, and only for instruments that allow it: some markets are isolated-only and reject cross margin. Instrument data shows which margin modes each market supports. See [Update Leverage](/perps/trading#update-leverage) and [Fetch Instruments](/perps/market-data#fetch-instruments).

> **What is the maximum leverage?**
>
> For crypto, SP500, Oil, Gold and Silver we offer up to 20x leverage, RWA in
> general up to 10x leverage.

> **What are leverage tiers and why does my margin go up as my position grows?**
>
> Tiers cap the maximum leverage available as position notional grows. Building
> a larger position requires lowering your leverage setting, which raises the
> initial margin rate on your entire position — the cap is not applied bracket
> by bracket. Tiers affect initial margin only; the maintenance margin rate is
> flat per market. Fetch live tier values from [`GET
>       /v1/info/instruments`](/perps/market-data#fetch-instruments).

> **How is maintenance margin set?**
>
> The maintenance margin rate is flat per market: `MMR = 0.5 / max_leverage`,
> independent of position size and of your leverage setting — for example, 2.5%
> on a 20x market. It equals half the initial margin rate at maximum leverage,
> so a max-leverage position is liquidated only after losing roughly half of its
> posted margin; at lower leverage the buffer between entry margin and
> liquidation is larger.

> **What happens between margin call and liquidation?**
>
> Three states are evaluated continuously.
>
> | State | Condition | Behavior |
> | - | - | - |
> | Healthy | `Equity >= IM` | Normal trading |
> | Margin call | `MM <= Equity < IM` | Reduce-only: close exposure or deposit collateral |
> | Liquidation | `Equity < MM` | System closes the position |
>
> A deposit during margin call instantly increases equity and can restore healthy status.

> **Can I withdraw collateral while I have an open position?**
>
> Yes, but withdrawals must leave the greater of existing collateral
> reservations and 10% of total open-position notional at Mark Price. Orders
> awaiting risk checks also reserve margin. A \$100 position at 20x needs \$5
> initial margin but a \$10 withdrawal reserve, excluding fees and other
> obligations. See [Withdrawal Margin Requirements](/perps/learn-about-trading/margin#withdrawal-margin-requirements)
> for the formula and example.

## Liquidation

> **When am I liquidated?**
>
> Liquidation occurs when account equity falls below maintenance margin. Cross and isolated positions are checked independently: each isolated position has its own equity and maintenance margin, while cross uses the account's combined equity and combined maintenance margin. See [Margin and Liquidation](/perps/concepts#margin-and-liquidation).

> **Why does my liquidation price move when I haven't changed anything?**
>
> For cross positions, the liquidation price depends on available balance:
> everything in the cross account that is not this position's own equity. Mark
> moves on other cross positions, size changes, or collateral changes can all
> shift the liquidation price for every cross position simultaneously.

> **What happens during liquidation?**
>
> The affected scope is flagged and new orders on it are blocked. Cross blocks
> the whole account. Isolated blocks just that instrument. The system closes
> positions with reduce-only IOC orders, rate-limited per account, re-evaluating
> margin between fills. Cross liquidation closes one position at a time across
> cycles. If equity recovers above the recovery initial margin, the flag clears.

> **What is the insurance fund and when does it step in?**
>
> When equity falls below two-thirds of maintenance margin, order-book
> liquidation is unlikely to recover value, so the system absorbs the position
> directly into the insurance-fund account along with its margin. For cross
> backstop, the system absorbs all cross positions plus quote balance.

> **Are there extra fees on liquidation fills?**
>
> Yes. While flagged, every fill pays an additional liquidation fee rate on top of the maker or taker rate.
>
> ```text theme={null}
> FillFee = Notional * (MakerOrTakerRate + LiquidationFeeRate)
> ```
>
> Fetch the live rate per instrument from [`GET /v1/info/instruments`](/perps/market-data#fetch-instruments).

## Fees

> **What are the current maker and taker fees?**
>
> Fees are tiered by trailing 30-day trading volume. New accounts start at the \$0 tier and move up as their volume crosses each threshold. Fee tiers are re-evaluated every UTC day.
>
> | 30-Day Volume ≥ | Taker | Maker |
> | - | - | - |
> | \$0 | 0.0400% | 0.0125% |
> | \$1M | 0.0370% | 0.0100% |
> | \$5M | 0.0350% | 0.0080% |
> | \$25M | 0.0300% | 0.0050% |
> | \$100M | 0.0270% | 0.0020% |
> | \$500M | 0.0250% | 0.0000% |
> | \$1B | 0.0200% | -0.0050% |
>
> Fees are calculated per fill as `abs(Price * Quantity) * Rate`, denominated in the instrument's quote asset (pUSD). Only the top tier earns a maker rebate; lower tiers pay a positive maker fee. See [Fees](/perps/learn-about-trading/fees) and [Trading Fees](/perps/trading#trading-fees).

## API and Integration

> **What's the difference between my main wallet and the proxy?**
>
> Your main wallet signs the one-time create-proxy request and never trades directly. The returned proxy address and secret are what you use day to day: the proxy private key signs trade requests, and the `(proxy, secret)` pair authenticates private REST and WebSocket reads. This isolates the trading key from the wallet that holds funds. See [Set Up Authentication](/perps/authenticated-sessions#set-up-authentication).

> **What address identifies my Perps account?**
>
> Your account is keyed by your EOA base address, the externally-owned account
> that signs `createProxy`, not a Safe smart-contract wallet address. Even if
> you use a Safe wallet elsewhere on Polymarket, your Perps balances, positions,
> and history are all tracked against the underlying EOA. Use that EOA when
> looking up your account or referencing it in support requests.

> **How do I avoid clock-skew rejections?**
>
> Each signed request must include a fresh `ts` request timestamp in
> milliseconds and `salt`. Reused or stale values are rejected. Sync against
> `GET /v1/info/time` and do not sign requests far in the past or future. The
> optional `expa` field caps the validity window.

> **How do deposits and withdrawals work?**
>
> Deposits and withdrawals are the only operations that move assets in or out of
> the exchange. Both settle on Polygon. Deposits credit equity as soon as the
> engine sees them. Withdrawals are signed off-chain and must satisfy the
> [withdrawal margin
> requirements](/perps/learn-about-trading/margin#withdrawal-margin-requirements),
> including the 10% notional floor. See [Fund Your
> Account](/perps/fund-your-account).

> **Are there geographic restrictions on order placement?**
>
> Yes. Order placement is not permitted from the United States, Canada, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Crimea, Donetsk, or Luhansk. Builders are responsible for verifying user location before submitting orders.

## Sessions

> **What do market sessions actually change?**
>
> Sessions affect which set of external feeds is used to compute Index Price and Mark Price. They do not change funding, margin, leverage tiers, order matching, or liquidation triggers. Those run identically around the clock.

> **What's the difference between Disrupted and Halted?**
>
> * Disrupted means external feeds are unavailable or failing sanity checks. The system falls back to whatever feed set is still healthy.
> * Halted means the underlying itself has a trading halt or corporate-action freeze.
>
> Both are categorizations of feed-source health and only affect Index and Mark sourcing. The perp continues to match orders.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.