API · Build

Polymarket runs 5- and 15-minute crypto up/down markets — "Bitcoin Up or Down, 4:30-4:35PM ET" — that open and resolve every few minutes, hundreds a day. They're the most popular target for API bots because they're frequent, liquid, and purely mechanical. This page is the API mechanics: how to find them, read them, and wire a (paper-first) bot — not a magic edge. Most short-timeframe bots lose to latency and fees; we say so up front.

Honest take. These markets resolve on a tiny price move over minutes. Your signal has to beat the book's already-priced view AND cover the taker fee AND arrive before the move is gone. That's hard. Build it in paper mode, measure your real fill latency, and assume you're the slow money until your data says otherwise.

Find the live 5-minute markets (Gamma)

They follow a predictable slug pattern — btc-updown-5m-<unix-window-start> — and surface in search and the Gamma feed. Pull the active ones, newest first:

curl -s "https://gamma-api.polymarket.com/public-search?q=bitcoin%20up%20or%20down&limit_per_type=10"

Each market gives you its conditionId and the two clobTokenIds (Up = index 0, Down = index 1 — read the outcomes array to be sure). Those token IDs are what you trade.

The bot loop

Every short-TF crypto bot is the same shape — only the signal differs:

  1. Read the underlying — BTC price/velocity from an exchange feed (Binance, Coinbase) or Polymarket's RTDS (crypto_prices / crypto_prices_chainlink).
  2. Read the market — the CLOB order book for the Up/Down token; compute mid and the cost to take size.
  3. Decide — your signal says "Up cheap vs my estimate." Gate on time-to-expiry (don't enter in the last seconds) and on the spread (skip when illiquid).
  4. Execute — a FOK/FAK order to take immediately, or a resting GTC to be the maker (and earn rebates).
  5. Exit — take-profit, stop-loss, or just hold to resolution (it's binary; it settles 1 or 0).

Estimate your entry before you trade it

Walk the live book to see what your size actually costs (this is paper — places no order):

Why fees & latency dominate

  • Fees: takers pay on-chain at match; makers pay 0. On a market that moves a cent or two, the taker fee can eat the whole edge — prefer maker orders or a real mispricing.
  • Latency: by the time your HTTP order signs and lands, the move may be priced in. Measure your event→fill time honestly (it's often 0.5-1.5s on Python). Rust is faster; for deposit wallets it's the only working client today.

Paper first — always

Simulate fills against the live book before risking a cent. The read-only MCP has a paper_quote tool, and the paper-trading engine chapter shows a realistic fill simulator. Prove a positive expectancy on paper across hundreds of windows before you ever flip to live.

Next: The 5-minute crypto bot chapter (strategy) · CLOB API · WebSocket & RTDS.

Educational only. Automated trading risks real money; most short-timeframe bots lose. Not financial advice.

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