Where is each term actually used on Desipoly?

Most terms are defined inline on the relevant guide page. 'LMSR' and 'FPMM' are covered in LMSR and AMM explained; 'UMA' and 'dispute' in how markets resolve; 'USDC' and 'gas' in USDC and crypto settlement.

Do I need to understand every term to trade?

No. YES, NO, resolution, and USDC are enough for most use. Deeper terms (LMSR, CTF, DVM) matter if you want to understand the protocol under the hood.

Is there a term missing?

Email hello@desipoly.com and we'll add it. The glossary is a living document.

Guides · Reference

Glossary

Definitions for every term used across Desipoly. If a term is missing, email [email protected].

YES share: A tradable token representing a claim on $1 USDC if the market resolves YES, and $0 otherwise.
NO share: The mirror of a YES share: pays $1 USDC if the market resolves NO, $0 otherwise. YES + NO ≈ $1.
Resolution: The process of settling a market's outcome based on the named public source. See how markets resolve.
Resolution source: A specific public URL cited by the market: eciresults.nic.in, rbi.org.in, iplt20.com, sacnilk.com, nseindia.com, etc.
Resolution criteria: The precise, written condition that defines YES. Ambiguity-free language; no subjective wording.
LMSR: Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule — Robin Hanson's 2002 pricing algorithm for prediction markets. Provides continuous liquidity with a bounded subsidy.
FPMM: Fixed-Product Market Maker. Smart contract holding YES and NO tokens with Y × N = k. Desipoly's launch AMM.
AMM: Automated Market Maker. A smart contract that always quotes a price based on on-chain reserves and a formula.
CLOB: Central Limit Order Book — traditional matching engine for buy and sell orders. Desipoly's v1 roadmap.
CTF: Gnosis Conditional Token Framework. The ERC-1155-based primitive Desipoly uses to mint YES/NO tokens tied to a resolved condition.
UMA: UMA Protocol — provider of the Optimistic Oracle v3 used by Desipoly as a dispute backstop.
Oracle: A mechanism that brings off-chain data (like an election result) on-chain in a verifiable way.
Optimistic oracle: An oracle design that assumes proposed answers are correct unless challenged within a dispute window. Fast when uncontroversial, trustless when it matters.
Dispute: A challenge to a proposed market resolution. Escalated to UMA's DVM for token-holder vote. Both proposer and disputer post bonds.
DVM: UMA's Data Verification Mechanism — the voting process where UMA token holders decide disputed questions.
Bond: Collateral posted by the proposer or disputer during resolution. Forfeited to the counterparty if the poster was wrong.
Liquidity: The amount of collateral available for trading in a market. More liquidity means less price impact per trade.
Depth: The distribution of liquidity across prices. Deep markets have substantial liquidity at a wide range of prices.
Spread: The gap between the highest buy price (bid) and the lowest sell price (ask). Tight spreads signal liquid markets.
Slippage: The difference between the quoted price and the price actually filled on a trade, especially on larger orders.
Settlement: The on-chain transfer of USDC to winning shareholders after a market resolves.
Redemption: The act of burning winning shares in exchange for the $1 USDC each share is worth.
USDC: USD Coin, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle. The unit of account on Desipoly.
Stablecoin: A crypto asset whose value is pegged to a reference (usually the US dollar). USDC, USDT, DAI.
Polygon: Polygon PoS — an Ethereum-compatible Layer-1 with low gas and deep USDC liquidity. Desipoly's primary chain at launch.
Base: Coinbase's Ethereum Layer-2. Planned secondary chain for Desipoly in Phase 2.
Gas: The fee paid in native tokens (MATIC on Polygon) to execute an on-chain transaction.
MATIC: Polygon's native gas token.
Wallet: A software application that holds your private keys and signs transactions. MetaMask, Rainbow, Coinbase Wallet.
Self-custody: You, not a third party, control your private keys and therefore your funds.
SIWE: Sign-In With Ethereum. A standard for proving wallet ownership via signed message (no gas, no tx).
Testnet: A public blockchain used for testing. Mumbai (Polygon) and Sepolia (Ethereum). Tokens have no real value.
Mainnet: The production blockchain where real assets move. Polygon PoS is Desipoly's launch mainnet.
Multisig: A wallet or contract that requires multiple signatures to approve a transaction. Used for Desipoly treasury and admin functions.
Impermanent loss: The loss a liquidity provider experiences when prices move significantly from their initial ratio.
Arbitrage: Exploiting a price discrepancy — e.g., YES and NO summing to less than $1 — to lock in a risk-free profit.
Market depth chart: Visualization of liquidity at each price level. Tells you how much you can trade before moving price N cents.
MPC: Monetary Policy Committee — RBI's rate-setting body. Six meetings per year.
Repo rate: The rate at which RBI lends to scheduled commercial banks. The primary lever of Indian monetary policy.
GMP: Grey Market Premium — unofficial OTC indication of an IPO's likely listing-day pop.
DRHP: Draft Red Herring Prospectus — the document a company files with SEBI before its IPO.
Orange Cap: The IPL award for highest run-scorer in a season.
Purple Cap: The IPL award for highest wicket-taker in a season.

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