Glossary

Every term you’ll meet on Kairos, alphabetically. Each entry gives a plain-language definition first, then any Kairos-specific detail, then a link to the page where the term does real work.

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A

Ask — The price a seller is willing to accept. The lowest ask on the book is the cheapest price you can buy at right now. Also called the “offer.” See The Order Book.

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B

Basis Point (bps) — One hundredth of a percent. 50 bps is 0.50%. Kairos platform fee rates are quoted in bps. See Fees. Best Bid / Best Ask — The highest bid and lowest ask currently on the order book. Together they define the current market price. See The Order Book. Bid — The price a buyer is willing to pay. The highest bid on the book is the most you can sell for right now. See The Order Book. Buying Up — What a large buy order does when it walks up through multiple ask price levels, filling at progressively higher prices. See Execution & Slippage.

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C

Condition ID — Polymarket’s 0x… identifier for a market. Distinct from a token id, which identifies one outcome within that market. See Order Types.

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D

Depth — The total quantity of shares available at each price level on the order book. More depth means you can trade larger amounts without moving the price. See The Order Book.

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F

FAK (Fill and Kill) — A time-in-force that fills whatever it can immediately and cancels the rest. Same meaning as IOC; exchanges differ on which name they use. See Time-in-Force. Fee Tier — The maker and taker rates, in basis points, that Kairos applies to your fills. See Fees. Fill — A match between your order and someone else’s. “Your order filled at $0.55” means you got your shares at that price. See Execution & Slippage. FOK (Fill or Kill) — A time-in-force that requires the entire order to fill instantly or be cancelled completely. No partial fills. See Time-in-Force.

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G

Gas Sponsorship — Kairos covering the network gas for supported on-chain transactions. Availability is determined by the wallet and chain integration, not by a user’s fee tier. GTC (Good Till Cancelled) — A time-in-force that keeps your order on the book until it fills or you cancel it manually. The Kairos default. See Time-in-Force. GTD (Good Till Date) — A time-in-force that keeps your order on the book until an expiry, then cancels automatically if unfilled. On Kairos you set it as expiration_minutes — minutes from now, 1 to 43,200 — not as a date. See Time-in-Force.

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I

IOC (Immediate or Cancel) — A time-in-force that fills whatever it can instantly, then cancels the rest. Does not rest on the book. Same meaning as FAK. See Time-in-Force.

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L

Limit Order — An order to buy or sell at a specific price or better. May not fill immediately, but gives you price control. See Order Types. Liquidity — How easy it is to trade without significantly moving the price. High liquidity means tight spreads and deep order books. See The Order Book. Long — Holding shares. “Long Yes” means you hold Yes shares and profit if the event happens. See Positions & PnL.

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M

Maker — A trader who adds liquidity by placing an order that rests on the book. Usually pays lower fees — but not always: Kalshi’s non-standard series charge the maker the higher rate. See Fees. Market Order — An order to buy or sell immediately at the best available price. Fast, but you give up price control. On Kairos a market order still requires a price, which acts as the limit it may cross to. See Order Types.

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N

No Shares — Shares that pay out $1.00 if the event does NOT happen, and$0.00 if it does. See What Are Prediction Markets?. Notional — The dollar value of a fill: quantity × price. Platform fees are charged as a percentage of notional. See Fees.

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O

Order Book — The live list of all open buy (bid) and sell (ask) orders for a market, organized by price. See The Order Book. Outcome — One tradeable side of a market. On Kairos you name it with the exact label from market metadata, or with its token_id — never with a side alias like yes/no. See Order Types.

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P

Partial Fill — When only some of your order gets filled. Common with IOC orders, or when there isn’t enough depth at your price. See Execution & Slippage. PnL (Profit and Loss) — How much money you’ve made or lost. Unrealized PnL is on open positions; realized PnL is from closed trades. See Positions & PnL. Position — The shares you currently hold in a market. See Positions & PnL. Post-Only — An order flag that refuses to cross the spread, so the order either rests as a maker or is rejected. Requires a resting time-in-force (GTC or GTD). See Order Types. Price Impact — How much your own trade moves the market price. Larger orders have more impact. See Execution & Slippage.

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R

Realized PnL — Profit or loss from trades you’ve already closed. This is locked in. See Positions & PnL. Resolution — When a prediction market’s question is answered and shares settle to $1.00 or$0.00. See Positions & PnL. Resting Order — A limit order sitting on the order book waiting to be filled. It provides liquidity. See Order Types. Retry — Kairos automatically re-sending an order after a temporary failure such as a network blip or a busy exchange. Retries are capped by the order’s max_retries (0–20) and, where the failure is a liquidity miss, re-priced only within the max_slippage_cents band you authorised. See Execution & Slippage.

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S

Selling Down — What a large sell order does when it walks down through multiple bid price levels, filling at progressively lower prices. See Execution & Slippage. Settlement — The process of converting shares to cash after a market resolves. Yes shares become $1.00 or$0.00; No shares the opposite. See Positions & PnL. Slippage — The difference between the price you expected and the price you actually got. Happens with large orders or thin markets. See Execution & Slippage. Spread — The difference between the best bid and best ask. A tight spread means an active, liquid market; a wide spread means less activity. See The Order Book. Synthetic Book — A live order book for a weighted package of outcomes, S = w1*A + w2*B + …, built by combining the source books. See Synthetic Books.

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T

Taker — A trader who removes liquidity by filling against resting orders. Usually pays the higher fee; on Polymarket and Predict.fun the taker is the only side charged an exchange fee. See Fees. Time-in-Force — Instructions telling the exchange how long to keep your order active. Kairos accepts GTC, GTD, FOK, FAK, and IOC. See Time-in-Force. Token ID — The per-outcome identifier for a market’s tradeable side. An alternative to outcome when submitting an order. See Order Types.

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U

Unrealized PnL — Paper profit or loss on shares you still hold, based on the current market price. Changes as prices move. See Positions & PnL.

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Y

Yes Shares — Shares that pay out $1.00 if the event happens, and$0.00 if it doesn’t. See What Are Prediction Markets?.