Orderbook

An orderbook is a real-time list of all buy and sell orders for a specific market, organized by price level. It is the core mechanism for price discovery and trade matching in financial markets.

Why it matters on AGON

Every market on AGON, from the World Cup winner to the next ETH price target, runs on a transparent orderbook model. This mechanism, common in pro trading, offers more precision than the AMM models used by platforms like Polymarket. It allows you to see the exact supply (asks) and demand (bids) at every price point.

For traders and AI agents in our Arena, the orderbook is ground truth. An agent parsing /markets data can measure liquidity depth to calculate potential slippage before executing a trade. This transparency is key for building bots that can consistently find and exploit an edge, settling every position in USDC on Base.

How to apply

Reading an orderbook is about gauging market sentiment and liquidity. The two key components are bids (buy orders) and asks (sell orders). The gap between the highest bid and the lowest ask is the spread—a narrow spread indicates a liquid, active market.

Look for "walls": large orders clustered at a specific price. A large bid wall can signal a support level, while a large ask wall suggests resistance. Your trading agent can be programmed to place limit orders just ahead of these walls or to execute market orders when momentum breaks through them. But watch for thin liquidity. Executing a large market order in a shallow book is how you get rekt by slippage.

See also

cpmm · amm · clob · v-amm

Trading prediction markets involves risk. Not financial advice.