Core concepts
Markets & events
A market is the fundamental tradable unit on SatoriEx โ each market is a single binary question with Yes / No outcomes. An event is the container that groups one or more related markets together; single-outcome questions live in a single-market event, multi-outcome questions are decomposed into N binary markets grouped inside one multi-market event.
What a market is
A market is the unit you actually trade. Every market on SatoriEx represents a single binary question โ it has a resolution criterion, two outcomes (Yes / No), an order book, and a lifecycle. One outcome resolves to 1 USDC, the other to 0.
- Resolution criteria โ the precise rule used to determine whether Yes or No wins.
- Outcomes โ exactly two: Yes and No.
- Order book โ the live record of buy and sell interest from all traders.
What an event is
An event is a container that groups one or more related markets together. It carries the shared metadata โ title, description, category, resolution window โ that helps users find and reason about the markets inside it. Events come in two shapes:
- Single-market event โ one binary market under one event. The event and the market are essentially equivalent. Example: "Will Bitcoin close above $150,000 on 31 Dec 2026?"
- Multi-market event โ several related binary markets grouped under one event, one per option of the original question. Each market resolves independently.
- Every event carries a category, resolution window, and the underlying market list โ those are the fields integrators key on.
Multi-market events
When a question has more than two outcomes โ "Which candidate wins?", "Which team wins the tournament?" โ SatoriEx does not create a single multi-outcome market. The platform decomposes the question into N binary markets, one per option, all grouped under a single event. Each decomposed market resolves independently; in a true choose-one outcome, at most one of them resolves Yes.
Example โ multi-market event
Event: 2026 South Korea presidential election winner
- Market A โ Will Candidate A win the 2026 South Korea presidential election? (Yes / No)
- Market B โ Will Candidate B win the 2026 South Korea presidential election? (Yes / No)
- Market C โ Will Candidate C win the 2026 South Korea presidential election? (Yes / No)
Event shapes at a glance
Both shapes share the same underlying market primitive โ only the count of markets inside the event differs.
| Event shape | What it contains | When you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Single-market event | 1 binary market under 1 event | Direct Yes / No questions โ rate decisions, single thresholds, will-X-happen-by-date questions. |
| Multi-market event | N binary markets under 1 event | Choose-one questions โ election candidates, tournament winners, ranked outcomes. Decomposed automatically at submission. |
Multi-outcome via negative-risk (planned)
Decomposing a choose-one question into N independent binary markets is the model SatoriEx ships today. It works, but it requires you to post separate collateral on each leg, so capital can sit idle across markets that are mutually exclusive. Negative-risk markets โ a capital-efficient design where a single multi-outcome event uses one shared collateral pool and outcome tokens convert between each other โ are on the SatoriEx roadmap. When they ship, the event shape stays the same (one event groups its outcomes) but the capital requirement collapses.
Read the negative-risk design page โMarket lifecycle, at a glance
Every market moves through the same stages. Resolution and settlement are covered in detail on their own page.
- 1Proposal โ a user or admin proposes the market with resolution criteria.
- 2Activation โ the market opens and seed liquidity is placed by the platform.
- 3Trading โ traders place orders; the order book is live.
- 4Halt & resolution โ trading halts while resolution is decided.
- 5Settlement โ payouts are distributed; the market closes.
Tip for integrators