1-Minute Market Lifecycle

A deep dive into the exact phases of a DotMarket round, from the moment a prediction is placed to the final settlement.

The DotMarket engine operates on a continuous, uninterrupted loop of 1-minute phases. Understanding this lifecycle is critical for timing your predictions and understanding how the protocol interacts with the Pyth Oracle and the blockchain.

The Core Loop

DotMarket prediction markets operate in pairs. At any given moment, there are two active rounds in the system:

1. The Betting Round (Next Round): Open for predictions.
2. The Live Round (Current Round): Locked, and its outcome is currently being decided by the price action.

Each round lasts exactly 60 seconds. Because rounds overlap, there is a new settlement every 60 seconds.

Phase Breakdown

1. Betting Phase (60 Seconds)

When a round is in the Betting Phase, the market is completely open.

• User Action: You can predict UP or DOWN. You can place multiple predictions.
• Frontend: Displays a 60-second countdown timer synchronized to the blockchain's current timestamp.
• Smart Contract: Accepts funds, updates the UP/DOWN pool totals, and recalculates the dynamic payout multipliers on every single transaction.

2. Lock

At exactly the 60-second mark, the Betting Phase ends.

• Oracle Action: The protocol fetches the exact price of BTC/USD from the Pyth Oracle.
• Smart Contract Action: This price is permanently recorded on-chain as the Entry Price (or Lock Price) for the round. The smart contract completely rejects any further predictions for this round.

3. Live Phase (60 Seconds)

The round is now Live. Your prediction is locked in.

• User Action: Watch the live chart and the live PnL.
• Frontend: Compares the real-time Pyth price feed against your round's Entry Price to show whether you are currently winning or losing.
• Smart Contract: The contract is simply waiting. No state changes occur during this time.

4. Settlement

Once the 60-second Live Phase concludes, the round must be settled.

• Keeper Action: A decentralized Keeper bot monitors the blockchain. The moment the round ends, the Keeper triggers the executeSettlement function on the smart contract, passing along the newest Pyth Oracle price.
• Oracle Action: The Pyth price is verified on-chain to ensure it is fresh and cryptographically secure.
• Smart Contract Action: This new price is recorded as the Settlement Price.

5. Resolution & Payouts

The smart contract instantly compares the Settlement Price to the Entry Price.

• If Settlement > Entry: UP wins.
• If Settlement < Entry: DOWN wins.
• If Settlement == Entry: Tie (Refund).

The protocol automatically calculates the final payouts based on the pool sizes and unlocks the funds for the winners to claim.

Technical Diagram

For developers, here is how the architecture synchronizes during the lifecycle transition:

// A simplified conceptual representation of the Keeper bot
async function monitorLifecycle() {
  const currentTimestamp = Date.now() / 1000;
  
  if (currentTimestamp >= liveRound.lockTimestamp + 60) {
    // 1. Fetch fresh price from Pyth
    const pythPrice = await fetchPythPriceUpdate();
    
    // 2. Submit transaction to settle the Live Round
    await contract.executeSettlement(pythPrice);
    
    console.log("Round settled successfully!");
  }
}