Event contract

What an event contract is

An event contract is the unit a prediction market trades. It names an event with a clear yes-or-no outcome, such as whether a team wins, whether a total goes over a number, or whether a rate changes, and it pays a fixed amount, usually one dollar, if the answer is yes. The matching no contract pays if the answer is no. Before the event resolves, contracts trade between users at prices between zero and one dollar, and that price is the market's estimate of the probability.

Because the payout is fixed, the price does the work that odds do at a sportsbook, but it is set by buyers and sellers rather than by an operator. Holders can sell before settlement, so a contract can gain or lose value as news arrives even though its final value will only ever be one dollar or zero.

An example

A hypothetical contract asks whether a game goes to overtime. It trades at 8 cents before kickoff. With two minutes left and the score tied, it jumps to 45 cents. A holder who bought early can sell at 45 and lock in the gain, or hold and receive one dollar if overtime happens and nothing if it does not.

How Speed Survivor is different

A Speed Survivor live question looks like an event contract on the surface, a yes-or-no about what happens next, but nothing about it is bought or sold. There is no price, no position to exit, and no counterparty. Every entrant in the contest gets the same question at the same moment, a correct answer earns base points plus a speed bonus, and the entrants still standing at the end split a prize pool funded by the entries. What you are competing against is the rest of the field, not a market price. See the Polymarket comparison for more, and how it works for a full game.