Orders are the fundamental building blocks of trading on Polymarket. The CLOB supports multiple order types with different execution behaviors and a comprehensive order lifecycle from creation to settlement.
Order Types The Polymarket CLOB supports four order types, each with distinct execution characteristics:
enum OrderType { GTC = "GTC" , // Good Till Canceled FOK = "FOK" , // Fill or Kill GTD = "GTD" , // Good Till Date FAK = "FAK" , // Fill and Kill }
Good Till Canceled (GTC) GTC orders remain in the order book until fully filled or manually canceled.
GTC is the most common order type for limit orders. Use this when you want to provide liquidity at a specific price point.
import { Side , OrderType } from "@polymarket/clob-client" ; const order = await client . createAndPostOrder ( { tokenID: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" , price: 0.65 , size: 100 , side: Side . BUY , }, { tickSize: "0.01" }, OrderType . GTC // Order stays active until canceled );
Use cases:
Providing liquidity as a market maker
Setting limit orders at desired price points
Long-term trading strategies
Good Till Date (GTD) GTD orders remain active until a specified expiration time or until filled/canceled.
// Create order that expires in 1 hour const oneHour = Math . floor ( Date . now () / 1000 ) + 3600 + 10 ; // +10s buffer const order = await client . createAndPostOrder ( { tokenID: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" , price: 0.65 , size: 100 , side: Side . BUY , expiration: oneHour , // Unix timestamp }, { tickSize: "0.01" }, OrderType . GTD );
Add a 10-second buffer to your expiration timestamp. The CLOB has a 10-second security threshold and will reject orders expiring sooner.
Use cases:
Time-sensitive trading opportunities
Managing risk with automatic expiration
Event-driven trading strategies
Fill or Kill (FOK) FOK orders must be filled entirely and immediately, or they are canceled. Partial fills are not allowed.
// Market order using FOK const order = await client . createAndPostMarketOrder ( { tokenID: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" , amount: 100 , // $100 USDC for BUY orders side: Side . BUY , orderType: OrderType . FOK , }, { tickSize: "0.01" }, OrderType . FOK );
Use cases:
Market orders requiring full execution
All-or-nothing trading strategies
Avoiding partial fills and slippage
Fill and Kill (FAK) FAK orders are filled as much as possible immediately, and any unfilled portion is canceled.
const order = await client . createAndPostMarketOrder ( { tokenID: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" , amount: 100 , side: Side . BUY , orderType: OrderType . FAK , // Accepts partial fills }, { tickSize: "0.01" }, OrderType . FAK );
Use cases:
Market orders where partial fills are acceptable
Maximizing immediate execution
Reducing slippage risk
Order Structure User-Facing Order When creating orders, you use the simplified UserOrder interface:
interface UserOrder { tokenID : string ; // Conditional token ID price : number ; // Price (0.01 to 0.99) size : number ; // Number of shares side : Side ; // BUY or SELL feeRateBps ?: number ; // Fee in basis points (optional) nonce ?: number ; // For onchain cancellations (optional) expiration ?: number ; // Unix timestamp (optional) taker ?: string ; // Taker address, "0x0..." for public (optional) }
Signed Order Structure The CLOB uses EIP-712 signed orders internally:
interface SignedOrder { salt : string ; // Unique salt for entropy maker : string ; // Address providing liquidity signer : string ; // Address that signed the order taker : string ; // Address that can take ("0x0" = anyone) tokenId : string ; // Conditional token ID makerAmount : string ; // Amount maker provides (wei) takerAmount : string ; // Amount taker provides (wei) expiration : string ; // Expiration timestamp ("0" = never) nonce : string ; // Onchain cancellation nonce feeRateBps : string ; // Fee rate in basis points side : Side ; // BUY or SELL signatureType : SignatureType ; // Wallet type signature : string ; // EIP-712 signature }
Order Lifecycle
Creation
Create an order using the SDK. The order is signed with your private key using EIP-712. const order = await client . createOrder ({ tokenID: "123..." , price: 0.65 , size: 100 , side: Side . BUY , });
Submission
Post the signed order to the CLOB server. const response = await client . postOrder ( order , OrderType . GTC ); console . log ( response . orderID ); // Track your order
Validation
The CLOB validates:
Signature authenticity
Price within tick size constraints
Sufficient balance and allowances
Order parameters (expiration, nonce, etc.)
Matching
The order is matched against existing orders in the book:
Immediate match : Order executes against existing liquidityPartial match : Partially filled, remainder enters book (GTC/GTD only)No match : Order enters the book (GTC/GTD) or is canceled (FOK/FAK)
Settlement
Matched orders settle on-chain:
Token transfers execute via the CTF Exchange contract
Fees are deducted from proceeds
Balances update automatically
Completion
Orders complete when:
Fully filled
Manually canceled
Automatically expired (GTD)
Rejected (FOK/FAK with no match)
Post-Only Orders Post-only orders ensure your order is added to the book without immediately matching against existing orders. This guarantees you receive maker fees rather than paying taker fees.
const order = await client . createOrder ({ tokenID: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" , price: 0.65 , size: 100 , side: Side . BUY , }); // Post-only is the 4th parameter (only for GTC/GTD) await client . postOrder ( order , OrderType . GTC , false , // deferExec true // postOnly - ensures no immediate matching );
Post-only orders are only supported for GTC and GTD order types. They’re rejected if they would immediately match existing orders.
Order Parameters Price and Tick Size Prices must conform to the market’s tick size:
// Get market's tick size const tickSize = await client . getTickSize ( tokenID ); // Returns: "0.01", "0.001", "0.0001", or "0.1" // Valid prices for tickSize "0.01": 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, ..., 0.99 // Valid prices for tickSize "0.001": 0.001, 0.002, 0.003, ..., 0.999
Fees Fees are specified in basis points (1 bps = 0.01%):
// Get market's fee rate const feeRateBps = await client . getFeeRateBps ( tokenID ); // Example: 100 = 1.00% fee // Fees are automatically applied by the SDK const order = await client . createOrder ({ tokenID , price: 0.65 , size: 100 , side: Side . BUY , // feeRateBps is auto-populated if not specified });
Nonce Nonces enable onchain order cancellation:
const order = await client . createOrder ({ tokenID , price: 0.65 , size: 100 , side: Side . BUY , nonce: 12345 , // Custom nonce for onchain cancellation });
Creating Orders Limit Orders (GTC/GTD) // Single step: create and post const response = await client . createAndPostOrder ( { tokenID: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" , price: 0.65 , size: 100 , side: Side . BUY , }, { tickSize: "0.01" , negRisk: false }, OrderType . GTC ); // Or separate steps const order = await client . createOrder ( { tokenID: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" , price: 0.65 , size: 100 , side: Side . BUY , }, { tickSize: "0.01" } ); const response = await client . postOrder ( order , OrderType . GTC );
Market Orders (FOK/FAK) // BUY order: amount is in USDC const buyOrder = await client . createAndPostMarketOrder ( { tokenID: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" , amount: 100 , // Spend $100 USDC side: Side . BUY , orderType: OrderType . FOK , }, { tickSize: "0.01" }, OrderType . FOK ); // SELL order: amount is in shares const sellOrder = await client . createAndPostMarketOrder ( { tokenID: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" , amount: 100 , // Sell 100 shares side: Side . SELL , orderType: OrderType . FAK , }, { tickSize: "0.01" }, OrderType . FAK );
For BUY orders, amount is denominated in USDC. For SELL orders, amount is denominated in shares.
Managing Orders Query Open Orders // Get all open orders const openOrders = await client . getOpenOrders (); // Filter by market const marketOrders = await client . getOpenOrders ({ market: "0x1234..." // condition ID }); // Filter by token const tokenOrders = await client . getOpenOrders ({ asset_id: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" }); // Get specific order const order = await client . getOrder ( "order-id-123" );
Cancel Orders // Cancel single order await client . cancelOrder ({ orderID: "order-id-123" }); // Cancel multiple orders await client . cancelOrders ([ "order-id-1" , "order-id-2" , "order-id-3" ]); // Cancel all orders await client . cancelAll (); // Cancel all orders for a market await client . cancelMarketOrders ({ market: "0x1234..." // condition ID }); // Cancel all orders for a token await client . cancelMarketOrders ({ asset_id: "71321045679252212594626385532706912750332728571942532289631379312455583992563" });
Batch Operations Posting Multiple Orders import { OrderType , Side } from "@polymarket/clob-client" ; // Create orders const order1 = await client . createOrder ({ tokenID: "123..." , price: 0.60 , size: 100 , side: Side . BUY , }); const order2 = await client . createOrder ({ tokenID: "456..." , price: 0.70 , size: 50 , side: Side . SELL , }); // Post as batch const responses = await client . postOrders ( [ { order: order1 , orderType: OrderType . GTC , postOnly: false }, { order: order2 , orderType: OrderType . GTC , postOnly: true }, ], false , // deferExec false // defaultPostOnly );
Order Response When posting an order, you receive:
interface OrderResponse { success : boolean ; errorMsg : string ; orderID : string ; // Track this ID transactionsHashes : string []; // Onchain tx hashes status : string ; // Order status takingAmount : string ; // Amount taken makingAmount : string ; // Amount made }
Trading Learn about the complete trading workflow
Markets Understand market structure and token IDs
Authentication Set up API credentials for order submission
Order Reference Complete API reference for order methods
