Settling outcomes

Settlement moves everyone’s money at once. Yes balances become settleFraction of the quote token, No balances 1 - settleFraction, and the market is gone. The protocol checks form (outcome, names, a legal fraction), not correctness, which your stake backs.

Say you settle a standalone outcome at "0.66": 1,000 Yes pay 660 of the quote token, and 1,000 No pay 340.

Who may settle

• The deployer, directly or through an approved API wallet.
• A sub-deployer with the settleOutcome or settleQuestion grant (the latter covers settleQuestion2), for its deployer’s outcomes only.
• The protocol, for its own recurring markets (descriptions starting class:), from mark prices; settledOutcome.details records the fixing, for example price:76876.9.

One outcome: settleOutcome

{
  "type": "outcomeDeploy",
  "venue": "ab",
  "operation": {
    "settleOutcome": {
      "outcome": 7,
      "settleFraction": "1",
      "details": "",
      "nameAndDescription": ["template:abc", "expiry:20260801-0600|target:100|underlying:ABC"],
      "sideNames": ["template:Over", "template:Under"]
    }
  }
}

Field	Rule
outcome	the numeric outcome id
settleFraction	decimal string from 0 to 1, paid to the first side; the second side gets 1 - settleFraction
details	must be the empty string
nameAndDescription	must match the outcome exactly: copy both strings from outcomeMeta
sideNames	must match exactly: template:<Side> for standalone outcomes, Yes and No inside a question

A standalone outcome may settle to any fraction; a question outcome only to "0" or "1". Question outcomes can settle one at a time: any to 0, in any order, but to 1 only when it is the last active one, which settles the fallback to 0 and the question.

A whole question: settleQuestion2

{
  "type": "outcomeDeploy",
  "venue": "ab",
  "operation": {
    "settleQuestion2": {
      "question": 3,
      "outcomeSettlements": [
        { "outcome": 11, "settleFraction": "1", "details": "",
          "nameAndDescription": ["template:abc-outcome", "choice:A"], "sideNames": ["Yes", "No"] },
        { "outcome": 12, "settleFraction": "0", "details": "",
          "nameAndDescription": ["template:abc-outcome", "choice:B"], "sideNames": ["Yes", "No"] }
      ],
      "nameAndDescription": ["template:abc", "expiry:20260801-1830"]
    }
  }
}

outcomeSettlements must cover exactly the remaining active outcomes, one at "1" and the rest "0"; the fallback settles to 0 automatically. It replaces the discontinued settleQuestion.

The template sets the timing

The protocol has no settlement window; the template’s fields bind you:

• Price templates publish only time. binaryPrice and scalarPrice settle on the TWAP over the seconds before time, not a single mark, so the fixing exists only once that window closes.
• Sports templates publish a resolutionDeadline; scheduledStart is kickoff.
• Protocol recurring binaries interpolate linearly between the mark updates either side of the settlement time. Deployer templates settle as their text says.

Before resolution, anyone quoting, the deployer included, should arm a dead man’s switch (scheduleCancel) against informed traders.

Pruned, but still readable

Settled outcomes leave outcomeMeta, typically within about a minute, so anything listed there is unsettled. The record survives in settledOutcome:

{ "type": "settledOutcome", "outcome": 95 }

It returns the spec (name, description, side names, quoteToken), settleFraction and details, pruned or not (checked on 69 ids). For a question outcome it adds the parent’s description, the only later source of a price bucket’s bounds.

From the HyperEVM, precompile 0x814 answers outcomeStatus(uint32 outcome) with (uint8 status, uint64 settledValue, uint32 question) (precompiles):

status	Meaning
0	never existed
1	active
2	settled; settledValue available, 1e8 = 1.0
3	settled and pruned; settledValue no longer available

question is the maximum uint32 for a standalone outcome.

Recurring markets and the rollover

A recurring series lists a new market each cycle, often striking off the previous fixing. Build and sign cycle N+1 while N settles; submit it once N’s settlement has landed.

Resend the stored intent, never rebuild it: if the first submission landed, live state already holds the market being retried.

With no outcome id returned, a timeout, 5xx or 429 leaves N+1’s existence unknown. A retry that recomputes the strike from “the latest cycle” then reads N+1 itself: a second, wrongly struck market holding a daily and an active slot until settled. Any deployer deriving parameters from live state is exposed.

The defence:

1. Persist the intent and the signed request before submitting.
2. On an uncertain result, look in outcomeMeta by exact name and description.
3. If absent, resend the stored request unchanged: a nonce works once. If refused as a stale nonce, check outcomeMeta again, then re-sign the stored intent.
4. Never recompute in a retry; key cycles by scheduled time, not the newest outcome.

The numbers

Parameter	Value
settleFraction	decimal string, 0 to 1; question outcomes exactly 0 or 1
details	empty string
Protocol settlement window	none
Pruning from outcomeMeta	about 1 minute after settlement
settledValue scale	1e8 = 1.0
Precompile	0x814, outcomeStatus(uint32)
Active outcomes freed	1 per settled outcome

Getting the action right

• Copy names, never rebuild them: nameAndDescription and sideNames must match outcomeMeta byte for byte, and a rebuild can change sort order or format.
• Validate the side. Defaulting to side 0 on unparseable input settles markets backwards; treat it as an error.
• Fractions are strings without trailing zeros ("0.25", "1"); zeros change the signed bytes.
• Settlement fills: one per holder, direction Settlement, losing side at notional 0, never a builder code. Keep them out of trading volume.

No amend, no expiry

• Settlement is final: the docs describe no amend.
• An unsettled outcome never expires. It holds an active slot and blocks deactivation; the announced design made over a week unsettled slashable, unobserved on mainnet.

For what holders receive, see settlement; for the semantics you settle against, outcome templates and keywords.