How to Trade Event Contracts and Settlement Logic

Publicat la 8 apr. 2026Actualizat la 8 apr. 20265 min citire

How to Trade Event Contracts

Buying

Users select a direction (Up or Down) on the order book, enter a price and amount, and place the order.

  • Buy Up: determine the event will occur; purchase Up shares at the current price.

  • Buy Down: determine the event will not occur; purchase Down shares at the current price.

An equivalent amount of USDT is treated as margin upon purchase (see Margin section).

Selling (Early Close)

Before settlement, users can sell their shares on the order book at any time to lock in profits or stop losses.

  • If the price moves favorably, sell early to lock in gains.

  • If the price moves unfavorably, sell early to limit losses.

Example (BTC price event, early close): A user buys 100 Up shares at 0.40 USDT, spending 40.00 USDT . The event probability rises and the Up share price increases to 0.72 USDT. The user sells all shares:

  • Realized PnL ≈ (0.72 − 0.40) × 100 ≈ +32.00 USDT

Note: Actual amount received is net of fees.

Holding to Expiry

If not closed early, the contract is automatically settled at expiry:

  • Correct judgment: Each share is redeemed for $1 USDT, minus a settlement fee.

  • Incorrect judgment: Shares become worthless; no settlement fee is charged.

Example (BTC price event, held to settlement): A user buys 100 Up shares at 0.40 USDT. At expiry, the settlement price exceeds the target price and Up wins:

Settlement proceeds = 100 × 1.00 ≈ 100.00 USDT

If Down wins instead, the shares become worthless

Winner's settlement fee will be charged.

How Settlement Works

Every event has explicit rules defining the scope of the question, the underlying asset, the index source, settlement time, and more. Please refer to the specific event's rule description for details.

  • Result source: The authority used to determine the outcome (e.g., a specific index on a specific platform, along with its calculation methodology).

  • Deadline: The time at which the market can be settled.

  • Edge cases: How ambiguous or special scenarios are handled.

Settlement process:

  1. Settlement is triggered; trading is halted from this point.

  2. The outcome is determined based on the designated result source.

  3. A review is assessed to determine if a dispute is needed; if so, the dispute process is followed, which may delay settlement.

  4. Settlement processing is completed.

After an event contract expires, the platform automatically completes settlement — no manual action is required from users.Settlement flow overview:

  1. Contract expires; the system automatically collects OKX index price data within a specified time window.

  2. The average index price within the time window is calculated as the settlement price.

  3. The settlement price is compared to the event contract's target price to determine the winning direction.

  4. Winning share holders' accounts are automatically credited 1.00 USDT per share (minus settlement fee).

  5. Losing shares are zeroed out.

  6. The contract is automatically delisted.

Settlement PnL is automatically applied to the account and all positions are closed upon completion.Example: A user holds 500 Up shares for the event "Will BTC be above 85,000 USDT before 16:00?" At 16:00, the OKG index price = 85,312 USDT (above 85,000 USDT):

  • Settlement result: Up wins

  • Auto-credited to account (before fee deduction): 500 × 1.00 = 500.00 USDT

Settlement Rules:

1. Settlement Price Calculation

The settlement price is determined by the arithmetic mean of OKX index prices within a specified time window immediately before event expiration.(For BTC events: https://www.okx.com/markets/index/btc-usdt )(For ETH events: https://www.okx.com/markets/index/eth-usdt )

Item

Description

Time Window

1 minute before expiration (e.g., if the event expires at 18:30 UTC+8, the pricing window is 18:29:00–18:29:59 UTC+8)

Data Points

1 index price per second; 60 data points in total

Settlement Price

Arithmetic average of all index prices within the window

e.g.: If it expires at 11:45, it uses the opening price of the 1-second candlestick from 11:44:00 to 11:44:59.An arithmetic average across multiple data points — rather than a single price at one moment — is used to mitigate the impact of short-term price manipulation on the settlement outcome.

2. Settlement Conditions & Review Triggers

Scenario

Condition

Handling

Normal Settlement

Index price data points ≥ 50% of required total

Settlement price = average of index prices

Dispute Triggers

Index price data points < 50%

Settlement is paused and dispute is triggered

3. Outcome Determination & Settlement

Once the settlement price is determined, it is compared against the strike price:

  • Settlement Price ≥ Strike Price → Event outcome is Up

  • Settlement Price < Strike Price → Event outcome is Down

Upon settlement, profit and loss are credited to the user's account and the position is closed. No additional fees are charged for settlement.

4. Dispute Mechanism

When settlement price data is abnormal or a risk control rule is triggered, OKX may initiate a dispute review:

  • Trigger: Automatic (risk control rule triggered) or manual (anomaly detected / user complaint).

  • Process: A multi-round independent review is conducted to confirm the final settlement price.

  • Outcome: Original price confirmed → settle at original price; price error identified → re-settle at corrected price.

  • During Dispute: Settlement is suspended until the review is completed.

5. Risk Disclosure

  • The settlement price is based on a time-window average and may differ from the price at any single moment.

  • OKX reserves the right to suspend settlemen