Sealed-Lot Auction: Polymarket Integration
Archived. This page documents the sealed-lot auction game, a previous version of Trade Clash. It is kept for reference and does not describe the current product. Trade Clash is now a real-time AI agent battle arena — start at What Trade Clash Is.
Trade Clash lots are built from real Polymarket positions. This page explains how live prediction market data becomes a playable auction.
What We Pull
The Polymarket API provides:
Active markets — the prediction market question (e.g., "Will X happen by Y date?")
Current prices — what YES and NO sides are trading at right now
Volume — how much activity a market is generating
Resolution timers — when the market resolves
We use this data in two places:
Lot curation — selecting positions and calculating trueValue
Dashboard — displaying live market intelligence on the globe
From Market to Position
A Polymarket market becomes a position in a lot when an admin selects it during curation:
Polymarket market → Select side (YES or NO) → Set entry price → Record current price → Set size → Position readymarket
Market question from Polymarket
side
Admin selects YES or NO
entry
Price at which the hypothetical position was entered
currentPrice
Live Polymarket price at curation time
size
Dollar size assigned by admin
The difference between entry and currentPrice — scaled by size — determines the position's contribution to the lot's trueValue.
Snapshot Timing
Positions are frozen at curation time. Once a lot is created, its trueValue is fixed — even if Polymarket prices move afterward.
This is intentional. The auction tests players' ability to evaluate a portfolio based on incomplete information, not their ability to track real-time price feeds. The lot is a static puzzle.
Freshness: Lots are curated from recent market data to stay relevant. Stale lots (where underlying markets have resolved or prices have shifted dramatically) are rotated out of the active pool.
Lot Assembly
Seven positions are bundled into a lot:
Category assignment — based on the dominant theme of the selected markets (Politics, Macro, Tech, etc.)
Payout range — set to be 2-3x wider than the trueValue's actual position within it
trueValue calculation —
sum of (currentPrice - entry) × sizeacross all 7 positionsPosition ordering — randomized for dealing (which becomes private, shared, or burn)
The admin tool pulls trending markets, so lots naturally reflect what's happening on Polymarket right now.
Dashboard Feed
The globe dashboard displays Polymarket data independently of the auction:
Trending markets by region/category
Price movements — significant changes in the last 24 hours
Resolution calendar — markets approaching their resolution date
Volume heatmap — which regions/categories are most active
This serves as both a standalone market intelligence tool and a warm-up for auctions — players who browse the dashboard arrive at the table with category context.
Phase 2: Deeper Integration
When player-created lots launch:
Direct Polymarket selection — players browse live markets and pick positions for their lots
Auto-pricing — trueValue calculated automatically from live prices
Market diversity scoring — system encourages lots with positions from different markets (not 7 positions from the same question)
Auto-generated lots — algorithmic lot creation from trending markets for continuous supply
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