Polymarket enables participants to buy and sell shares that represent the probability of specific outcomes, with prices ranging between zero and one dollar to reflect market expectations. Trades occur in a peer-to-peer order book where users transact directly with one another rather than with a central counterparty. Polymarket uses USDC.e as collateral and represents positions as conditional tokens that are settled through smart contracts on the Polygon blockchain. Event outcomes are resolved through a decentralized oracle process that verifies results before distributing payouts to holders of winning shares. The platform uses a non-custodial model where participants maintain control of their assets through personal wallets while all transactions and positions remain publicly verifiable on-chain.