> Understanding how orders flow from creation to settlement
Every trade on Polymarket follows a specific lifecycle. Orders are created offchain, matched by an operator, and settled onchain through smart contracts. This hybrid approach combines the speed of centralized matching with the security of blockchain settlement.
All orders on Polymarket are **limit orders**. A limit order specifies the price you're willing to pay (or accept) and the quantity you want to trade.
<Note>
"Market orders" are simply limit orders with a price set to execute
immediately against the best available resting orders.
</Note>
Orders are **EIP712-signed messages**. When you place an order, you sign a structured message with your private key. This signature authorizes the Exchange contract to execute the trade on your behalf—without ever taking custody of your funds.
| **GTC** | Good Till Cancelled — rests on book until filled or cancelled | Standard limit orders |
| **GTD** | Good Till Date — auto-expires at specified time | Time-limited orders |
| **FOK** | Fill Or Kill — fill entirely or cancel immediately | All-or-nothing execution |
| **FAK** | Fill And Kill — fill what's available, cancel the rest | Partial fills acceptable |
### Post-Only Orders
Post-only orders will only rest on the book. If a post-only order would match immediately (cross the spread), it's rejected instead of executed. This guarantees you're always the maker, never the taker.
**If the order is marketable** (your buy price ≥ lowest ask, or your sell price ≤ highest bid), it matches against resting orders. Some markets apply a short taker delay before matching:
* **Taker delay:** used on selected crypto and finance up/down markets. The order is held for 250 ms, then validation runs again and the order is matched or placed on the book. The API waits for this hold and returns the final order result. To check a specific market, call the public CLOB endpoint `GET https://clob.polymarket.com/clob-markets/{condition_id}` or SDK method `getClobMarketInfo(conditionID)` and look for `itode: true`.
* **Sports/game delay:** enabled on configured sports markets around live game conditions. The order waits for the market's configured delay window before matching.
During either delay, the order is pending and cannot be canceled. If the market, balance, allowance, or risk checks fail when the delay expires, the order is rejected instead of matching.
