Partner Glossary

This glossary defines the terms used across the Partner Integration docs. For market-structure and trading terms (instruments, order book, fills, settlement), see the main Glossary.

People and organizations

Term	Definition
Partner	An Introducing Broker (IB) or Independent Software Vendor (ISV) integrating with Polymarket US to provide a trading experience to retail traders.
Retail Participant	The canonical term in these docs for an end user you onboard — a retail trader who trades through your platform. You act on their behalf.
Customer	Used in the FCM context (a Futures Commission Merchant’s customer). It is acceptable to use “customer” informally for a Retail Participant, but because it has a specific meaning for FCMs, prefer Retail Participant in partner integrations to avoid ambiguity.

“Participant” appears in two unrelated senses across Polymarket docs. In these partner docs it always means a trading identity (a person you onboard — a Retail Participant). The main glossary separately uses “participant” in a market-structure sense (an outcome side of an instrument). The two meanings are unrelated; this section always means the trading identity.

Platform and entities

Term	Definition
DCM (Designated Contract Market)	The regulated matching function: maintains the order book, matches orders, and publishes market data.
DCO (Derivatives Clearing Organization)	The regulated clearing function: holds collateral, clears trades, and settles contracts.
Polymarket US	The platform as a whole. Throughout these docs it is represented as a single actor, regardless of whether a call is served by the matching or clearing function.
Firm	Your IB/ISV organization — the top-level permissions container you authenticate as. You act on behalf of the Retail Participants beneath your Firm.
Participant	A Retail Participant’s trading identity at the DCM, used to scope order entry and account queries. Referenced by an ID such as `firms/your-firm/users/their-id`.
Clearing Member	A funds- and position-holding identity at the DCO. Each Retail Participant has a Clearing Member account.
Account	The trading account holding a Retail Participant’s balances and positions. Provisioned automatically alongside the Retail Participant on KYC approval.

Onboarding and identity

Term	Definition
KYC (Know Your Customer)	Identity verification. You collect the required information from a Retail Participant and submit it; Polymarket US (the DCM) performs the verification and makes the decision. On approval, the Participant and Account are provisioned automatically.
Auto-provisioning	The automatic creation of a Retail Participant’s trading identity and Account when their KYC is approved — there is no separate “create user/account” call.
Access token	The short-lived bearer token you obtain via Private Key JWT and send on each API request.
`x-participant-id`	The request header identifying which Retail Participant an account-scoped action is for.

Funding

Term	Definition
On-Demand Funding	The partner funding model: a participant’s account is funded from the partner funding account at order time, in the same call that places the order. See On-Demand Funding.
Partner funding account	The aggregate account at Polymarket US, held by your funding entity, that pooled participant funds are drawn from at order time and swept back to after settlement.
Funding entity	The separate legal entity in your corporate structure that custodies participant cash off-platform and holds the partner funding account. Your firm itself never holds funds.
Prefund	The amount transferred into a participant’s account before order submission: `collateral + exchange fee reserve + vendor fee`. Reversed automatically if the order never reaches the book.
Collateral	The funds required to back an order or position. Funded orders reserve the worst case: `quantity × price` for buys, `quantity × (1 − price)` for sells.
Vendor fee	A static USD amount you supply per funded order, per your agreement with the participant. Prefunded with the order and collected via the settlement sweep.
Sweep	A transfer of settled or excess funds from a participant’s account back to the partner funding account, initiated by you based on balance-ledger events.
Compensating reversal	The automatic return of the full prefund to the partner funding account when a funded order does not durably reach the book.

Main Glossary

Market structure, trading, and execution terms.

Platform Model

How these entities relate in practice.

Start Here

Partner Types & Eligibility

Get Connected

Onboard Participants

Funding

Monitor & Reconcile

People and organizations

Platform and entities

Onboarding and identity

Funding

Main Glossary

Platform Model

​People and organizations

​Platform and entities

​Onboarding and identity

​Funding

​Related references

Main Glossary

Platform Model

People and organizations

Platform and entities

Onboarding and identity

Funding

Related references