Create and fund your account
- Go to polymarket.com and sign up with email or Google. Polymarket auto-provisions a Polygon smart wallet — you don't need MetaMask.
- Fund it. The easiest path is debit card / Apple Pay (available in most non-US regions). Advanced users can bridge USDC to Polygon directly.
- Complete light KYC if prompted. Deposits typically clear in under a minute.
New to prediction markets entirely? Read What is a prediction market first — it'll take five minutes and save you a bad trade.
Pick a market and read the order book
Browse by category (Politics, Crypto, Sports, etc.). Open a market and you'll see two prices: YES and NO. They add up to roughly $1.
- Volume tells you how liquid the market is. Under $100K lifetime volume and the spread will eat you alive.
- Resolution date matters more than most beginners think — a YES contract with 6 months to run is exposed to a lot of unrelated news.
- The resolution source (bottom of the market page) tells you exactly what has to happen for YES to pay out. Read it before you click.
Place your first order
Two order types matter:
- Market order. Fills instantly at the best available price. Fast, but you pay the spread.
- Limit order. Fills only at your price or better. Slower, but you can capture the spread instead of paying it — this is how pros trade.
Rookie rule: never risk more than 1–2% of your bankroll on a single market. Prediction markets are binary — you can be right on average and still hit five losers in a row.
Sell early — you don't have to hold to resolution
This is the feature most beginners miss. If you bought YES at 30¢ and it's now trading at 60¢, you can sell and lock in the profit today. You don't have to wait for the event to happen.
This changes how you trade: you're not just betting on outcomes, you're betting on probability shifts. Buy before the news moves the price; sell after.