Asset Master

Every instrument on the Polymarket Exchange follows a hierarchical structure that organizes markets from broad categories down to specific tradable outcomes.

Ontology Overview

The structure is: Category → Subcategory → Series → Event → Product → Instrument(s)

Category, Subcategory, Series classify events (e.g., Sports → Soccer → MLS)
Events represent real-world occurrences (games, elections, price movements)
Products are templates that define different ways to trade those events
Instruments are the specific tradable outcomes

A single event can have multiple products applied to it, creating different groups of instruments. Example:

Event: mls-atl-clt-2026-03-22 (Atlanta United vs Charlotte FC)
Products applied: ATC (3-way outcome), ASC (spreads), TSC (totals)
Each product creates its own set of instruments for the same underlying event

Complete Example

Here’s a real CBB moneyline instrument showing the complete structure with all metadata:

{
  "id": "aec-cbb-char-hamp-2026-02-26",
  "product_id": "aec-cbb-char-hamp-2026-02-26",
  "description": "Who will win the college basketball event, scheduled for 2026-02-26, Charleston or Hampton?",
  "price_scale": 100,
  "attributes": {
    "tick_size": 0.01,
    "minimum_trade_qty": 1,
    "start_date": "2026-02-05",
    "expiration_date": "2026-03-12",
    "expiration_time": "12:00:00",
    "last_trade_date": "2026-03-12",
    "last_trade_time": "12:00:00",
    "price_limit": {
      "low": 1,
      "high": 99,
      "low_set": true,
      "high_set": true
    },
    "base_currency": "USD",
    "multiplier": 1,
    "clearing_house": "QCC",
    "cfi_code": "OMXXXX",
    "settlement_price_logic": "SETTLEMENT_PRICE_LOGIC_EVENT",
    "trade_day_roll_schedule": {
      "days_of_week": ["MONDAY", "TUESDAY", "WEDNESDAY", "THURSDAY", "FRIDAY", "SATURDAY", "SUNDAY"],
      "time_of_day": "17:00:00"
    }
  },
  "metadata": {
    "cftc_instrument_id": "aec-cbb-char-hamp-2026-02-26",
    "clearing_sym": "AEC-NCAA",
    "event_category": "SPR",
    "event_subcategory": "ncaa",
    "event_series": "cbb",
    "event_id": "cbb-char-hamp-2026-02-26",
    "event_start_time": "2026-02-26 16:00:00+00",
    "instrument_product": "aec",
    "instrument_product_series": "aec-cbb",
    "product_id": "aec-cbb-char-hamp-2026-02-26",
    "instrument_rules": "Who will win the upcoming college basketball event, scheduled for February 26 at 11:00AM ET, Charleston or Hampton? In the case of a tie or draw, the Exchange may, in its sole discretion, settle the instrument as it deems fair and appropriate (e.g., at last-traded prices, $0.50 per instrument, or other fair and equitable valuations). If the event is postponed, delayed, or rescheduled, the settlement date will be amended to the rescheduled date. If the rescheduled date is not within two weeks of the originally scheduled date, the Exchange may, in its sole discretion, settle the instrument as it deems fair and appropriate. Should the event be rescheduled to an earlier date than originally scheduled, the settlement date will be the rescheduled date. If the event is canceled, the Exchange may, in its sole discretion, settle the instrument as it deems fair and appropriate. If the event concludes early, or is shortened or truncated, the outcome shall be the declared official result. In the case of a withdrawal, walkover, forfeit, no-contest, or the removal of a participant in the event, the Exchange may, in its sole discretion, settle the instrument as it deems fair and appropriate.",
    "participant_type": "team",
    "long_participant_id": "cbb-char",
    "long_participant_name": "Charleston",
    "short_participant_id": "cbb-hamp",
    "short_participant_name": "Hampton",
    "outcome_type": "moneyline",
    "outcome_strike": "char",
    "event_external_id_sportsdataio": "60068117",
    "event_external_id_sportradar": "5c486835-c9a3-423a-b47a-c3fc48fda799"
  },
  "event_attributes": {
    "position_accountability_value": 50000,
    "payout_value": 100,
    "question": "CBB 2026 Moneyline Game - Charleston vs Hampton 2026-02-26",
    "event_display_name": "Charleston vs. Hampton 2026-02-26",
    "event_id": "aec-cbb-char-hamp-2026-02-26",
    "strike_value": "0.0",
    "evaluation_type": "==",
    "strike_unit": "decimal",
    "calculation_method": "CALCULATION_METHOD_VALUE",
    "time_specifier": "2026-02-26"
  }
}

This example shows how all levels (Category → Subcategory → Series → Event → Product → Instrument → Participants → Outcome) come together in a single tradable instrument.

Event

Events represent specific real-world occurrences (games, elections, price movements). Each event is classified by category, subcategory, and series, and can have multiple products applied to create different groups of instruments. Event ID Format: {series}-{descriptors}-{date/time} Where descriptors vary by event type:

Sports: mls-atl-clt-2026-03-22
Politics: uspres-2028-11-05
Crypto: btc-updown-15m-2026-09-21-0015z (one 15-minute window), btc-above-day-2026-09-21 (one daily ladder)
Gold and silver: gold-updown-15m-2026-10-22-1630z (one 15-minute window), silver-updown-1d-2026-10-22-2215z (one daily window)
Culture: oscars-2027-03-28

Metadata Fields:

event_id - Unique event identifier (e.g., nfl-hou-mia-2025-12-16)
event_start_time - Event start timestamp (UTC)
event_category - Category code (e.g., SPR, POL, CRY, FIN)
event_subcategory - Subcategory code (e.g., football, soccer, BTC, COMMODITY, uspres)

Example: Event mls-atl-clt-2026-03-22 with multiple products applied:

ATC → 3 instruments (atl, draw, clt)
ASC → multiple instruments (various spreads)
TSC → multiple instruments (various totals)

Classification Reference

Categories:

SPR - Sports
POL - Politics
CRY - Crypto
CUL - Culture
FIN - Finance
MAC - Macro
CLI - Climate
GEO - Geopolitics
TECH - Technology
MEN - Mentions

Subcategories by Category:

SPR: soccer, football, basketball, baseball, combat, tennis, icehockey, ncaa, cricket, esports, golf, motorsport, olympics, rugby
POL: uspres, ushse, usstate, ussen, intlpol, legislate, cabinet, fedagency, uscrt
CRY: the asset symbol, e.g. BTC
CUL: movies, music, tv, video, awd, people, entertain
FIN: indices, forex, treasuries, bankruptcy, corpaction, earnings, ipo, commod, COMMODITY. COMMODITY (upper case) is the code gold and silver spot price contracts use; commod is the older code for other commodity markets
CLI: weather, climate, geological, health, space
GEO: namer, eur, apac, mena, latam, ssa, conflict, unitednat
MAC: growth, inflation, monetary, employment, fiscal
TECH: ai, autonom, mobile, platforms, social, compute, cybersec, industry, wear
MEN: statement, pressconf, earncall

Series by Subcategory:

soccer: epl, laliga, seriea, bund, ligue1, ucl, uel, facup, cara, wcup
football: nfl
basketball: nba
baseball: mlb
ncaa: cfb, cbb
BTC: btc-updown-15m, btc-updown-1h, btc-strike-hourly, btc-strike-daily, btc-strike-weekly, btc-range-hourly, btc-range-daily, btc-range-weekly, btc-hit-monthly (hand-listed Bitcoin markets use btc)
COMMODITY: gold-updown-15m, gold-updown-1h, gold-updown-1d, silver-updown-15m, silver-updown-1h, silver-updown-1d
uspres: usp, prm, pres

Product

Products are templates that define types of tradable outcomes. The same product can be applied to events across different series — products define how you trade an event, not what event you’re trading. Metadata Fields:

instrument_product - Product code (e.g., aec, asc, atc, tsc)
instrument_product_series - Combined product and series (e.g., aec-nfl, atc-mls). This is the canonical field for identifying the series of an instrument. Use this field for filtering by series rather than event_series

Market Structures:

Single (Binary) - One instrument representing yes and no outcomes
Group (Exclusive) - Multiple instruments, where only one outcome can be true
Group (Directional) - Multiple instruments, where multiple can be true, and the outcomes sit in directional relation
Group (Independent) - Multiple instruments, where multiple can be true, but the outcomes do not sit in directional relation

Example Products

Product	Code	Type	Example	Description
Athletic Event	AEC	Single (Binary)	`aec-nfl-buf-nyj-2025-01-15`	Moneyline: Will team A win?
Athletic Tie	ATC	Group (Exclusive)	`atc-mls-atl-clt-2026-03-22-draw`	3-way: Team A, Draw, or Team B wins
Athletic Spread	ASC	Group (Directional)	`asc-nfl-hou-mia-2025-12-16-pos-4pt5`	Will team A win by more than X points?
Total Score	TSC	Group (Directional)	`tsc-nfl-ne-den-2026-01-25-47-5`	Will combined score be over X?
Title Event	TEC	Group (Exclusive)	`tec-ggb-bmpd-2026-01-11`	Will participant win title?
Title Award	TAC	Group (Exclusive)	`tac-ggb-bmpd-2026-01-11-sinners`	Which nominee will win award?
Election Winner	EWC	Group (Exclusive)	`ewc-usp-pres-2028-11-07`	Which candidate will win election?
Crypto Price	CPC	Single (Binary); Group (Exclusive) for price ranges	`cpc-btc-above-day-2026-09-21-74000`	Reference-index markets: Up/Down, Above/Below, Price Range, One-Touch. See Crypto Schema
Gold Spot Price	CPAUSP	Single (Binary)	`cpausp-gold-updown-15m-2026-10-22-1630z`	Gold Up/Down windows on the Chainlink XAU/USD spot stream. Clearing symbol `CPAUSP-COMMODITY`. See Metals Schema
Silver Spot Price	CPAGSP	Single (Binary)	`cpagsp-silver-updown-15m-2026-10-22-1630z`	Silver Up/Down windows on the Chainlink XAG/USD spot stream. Clearing symbol `CPAGSP-COMMODITY`. See Metals Schema

Product Reusability

The same product can create instruments across different series: ATC (Athletic Tie Contract) - 3-way match outcome:

atc-mls-atl-clt-2026-03-22-draw (MLS)
atc-epl-liv-mci-2026-01-15-draw (EPL)
atc-ucl-bar-psg-2026-04-20-draw (UCL)

ASC (Athletic Spread Contract) - Point spreads:

asc-nfl-hou-mia-2025-12-16-pos-4pt5
asc-nba-bos-lal-2026-01-20-pos-6pt5
asc-cbb-duke-unc-2026-02-15-pos-3pt5

Instrument

Instruments are specific tradable outcomes created by applying a Product to an Event. Each instrument has a globally unique ID that combines the product code, event details, and specific outcome/strike. Instrument ID Format: {product_code}-{event_id}-{strike/outcome} Metadata Fields:

instrument_rules - Resolution rules specific to this instrument

Examples:

aec-nfl-buf-nyj-2025-01-15 - Moneyline (no additional outcome specified)
atc-mls-atl-clt-2026-03-22-draw - 3-way outcome: draw
asc-nfl-hou-mia-2025-12-16-pos-4pt5 - Spread: 4.5 points
tsc-nfl-ne-den-2026-01-25-47-5 - Total: 47.5 points

Participants and Outcome

Each instrument has participants representing the possible outcomes. The long participant represents the “Yes” outcome that traders buy and sell. This is surfaced in instrument metadata:

participant_type - Type of participant (team, player, nominee, candidate, etc.)
long_participant_id - Globally unique ID for the long side (e.g., cbb-akron, nfl-buf)
long_participant_name - Full display name for the long side (e.g., “Akron”, “Buffalo Bills”)
short_participant_id - Globally unique ID for the opposing outcome (e.g., cbb-murst, nfl-nyj)
short_participant_name - Full display name for the opposing outcome (e.g., “Murray State”, “New York Jets”)

Instruments are traded by buying and selling the long participant (the “Yes” outcome). For example, in an NFL moneyline contract like nfl-hou-mia-2025-12-16, traders buy and sell HOU. Buying HOU means taking a long position on Houston winning, while selling HOU creates a synthetic long position on Miami. There is no direct way to trade the short participant - all positions on the opposing outcome are achieved synthetically by selling the long participant. When you sell (short) an instrument, the cash flows differ from buying. Selling 10 contracts at $0.60 means you receive $6 from the buyer, but a margin requirement equal to the maximum payout ($10 in this case) is imposed on your account. Therefore, you need $4 in available funds to enter this short position ($10 margin requirement minus $6 received). This margin requirement ensures you can cover the full payout if the outcome occurs.

Data Guide

Getting Started

Data Structures

Reporting

Ontology Overview

Complete Example

Event

Classification Reference

Product

Example Products

Product Reusability

Instrument

Participants and Outcome

​Ontology Overview

​Complete Example

​Event

​Classification Reference

​Product

​Example Products

​Product Reusability

​Instrument

​Participants and Outcome

Ontology Overview

Complete Example

Event

Classification Reference

Product

Example Products

Product Reusability

Instrument

Participants and Outcome