Glossary

Every term we use across the site. Linked from inline copy whenever first used. Copy any anchor — they are stable.

Markets

YES / NO: Two sides of a binary prediction market. YES wins if the event happens, NO wins if it doesn't. Prices sum to roughly $1 (or 100¢).
Implied probability: A YES price of $0.62 implies the market thinks there is a 62% chance the event will happen. We render market prices as probabilities throughout the site.
Settlement: When a market resolves to YES or NO based on the real-world outcome. After settlement the winning side pays $1 per contract; the losing side pays $0. See Resolution criteria →
Resolution criteria: The exact rule a market uses to determine YES vs NO. Always read this before trading. Small differences between Kalshi and Polymarket can change which side is correct.
Slippage: The gap between the price you see on screen and the price you actually fill at. Our simulator applies 1–2% slippage on every fill to match real-world conditions.
Orderbook: The list of resting bids and asks at every price level. Polymarket exposes the orderbook directly; Kalshi exposes best bid/ask.

Profit target: The equity threshold you must reach to pass a challenge. Always 20% above your starting bankroll. Same on every tier. See The Rules →
Drawdown: Any decline in equity. We track two: 8% daily drawdown (from start-of-day equity) and 20% total drawdown (from your high water mark). Breach either and the challenge ends.
High water mark: The highest equity you have reached during the challenge. Total drawdown is measured from this number, so it ratchets up as you make money and never goes back down.
Active day: A trading day on which you placed at least one trade. Standard requires 12 active days minimum, Express requires 5, Blitz requires none.
Daily reset: 00:00 UTC. The daily drawdown limit resets at this moment. Plan position sizing accordingly if you trade across the boundary.

Funded account: A real-money trading account we provision after you pass a challenge. Same drawdown rules as the challenge, except now the P&L is real and you keep your share of every dollar of profit, no ceiling.
Profit split: Your share of net profits in a funded account. Default 70%; bumps to 80% with the Higher Profit Split add-on.
Monthly payout: The default cadence for cashing out funded-account profits. Bi-weekly Payouts add-on switches to every two weeks.
Add-on: Optional tier-priced upgrades you can stack onto a challenge: bigger drawdown room, lower profit target, free retry, double bankroll, higher profit split, or bi-weekly payouts. Priced as a percentage of the base tier fee. See add-ons →

Kalshi: A CFTC-regulated US-based prediction market exchange. We pull live YES/NO prices from Kalshi for politics, economics, and weather markets. See Polymarket →
Polymarket: A non-US blockchain-based prediction market built on a CLOB (central limit order book). We pull live YES/NO prices from Polymarket for sports, crypto, and entertainment markets.
Simulation engine: The internal system that prices, fills, and settles your trades during the challenge. Real prices, simulated execution. No order is sent to Kalshi or Polymarket during the challenge.
Paper trading: Trading with simulated money against real prices. The challenge is structured paper trading with rules, a profit target, and drawdown limits.
Sharp Rank: Our public ranking of trader skill, computed from realized P&L per trade adjusted for entry quality and conviction. Used on the leaderboard and Hall of Fame. See Sharp Rank page →