PolymarketDocumentation/docs/developers/market-makers/setup.md

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.polymarket.com/llms.txt Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Getting Started

One-time setup for market making on Polymarket

Before you can start market making, you need to complete these one-time setup steps — deposit USDC.e to Polygon, deploy a wallet, approve tokens for trading, and generate API credentials.

Market makers need USDC.e on Polygon to fund their trading operations.

| Method                  | Best For                             | Documentation                                        |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| Bridge API              | Automated deposits from other chains | [Bridge Deposit](/trading/bridge/deposit)            |
| Direct Polygon transfer | Already have USDC.e on Polygon       | N/A                                                  |
| Cross-chain bridge      | Large deposits from Ethereum         | [Supported Assets](/trading/bridge/supported-assets) |

### Using the Bridge API

```typescript  theme={null}
// Get deposit addresses for your Polymarket wallet
const deposit = await fetch("https://bridge.polymarket.com/deposit", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    address: "YOUR_POLYMARKET_WALLET_ADDRESS",
  }),
});

// Returns deposit addresses for EVM, SVM, and BTC networks
const addresses = await deposit.json();
// Send USDC to the appropriate address for your source chain
```

### EOA (Externally Owned Account)

Standard Ethereum wallet. You pay for all onchain transactions (approvals, splits, merges, trade execution).

### Safe Wallet (Recommended)

Gnosis Safe-based wallet deployed via Polymarket's relayer. Benefits:

* **Gasless transactions** — Polymarket pays gas fees for onchain operations
* **Contract wallet** — Enables advanced features like batched transactions

Deploy a Safe wallet using the Relayer Client:

<CodeGroup>
  ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
  import { RelayClient, RelayerTxType } from "@polymarket/builder-relayer-client";

  const client = new RelayClient(
    "https://relayer-v2.polymarket.com/",
    137, // Polygon mainnet
    signer,
    builderConfig,
    RelayerTxType.SAFE,
  );

  // Deploy the Safe wallet
  const response = await client.deploy();
  const result = await response.wait();
  console.log("Safe Address:", result?.proxyAddress);
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  from py_builder_relayer_client.client import RelayClient

  # client initialized with builder_config

  # Deploy the Safe wallet
  response = client.deploy()
  result = response.wait()
  print("Safe Address:", result.get("proxyAddress"))
  ```
</CodeGroup>

<Info>
  See [Gasless Transactions](/trading/gasless) for full Relayer Client setup
  including local and remote signing configurations.
</Info>

Before trading, you must approve the exchange contracts to spend your tokens.

### Required Approvals

| Token                | Spender               | Purpose                          |
| -------------------- | --------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| USDC.e               | CTF Contract          | Split USDC.e into outcome tokens |
| CTF (outcome tokens) | CTF Exchange          | Trade outcome tokens             |
| CTF (outcome tokens) | Neg Risk CTF Exchange | Trade neg-risk market tokens     |

### Contract Addresses (Polygon Mainnet)

```typescript  theme={null}
const ADDRESSES = {
  USDCe: "0x2791Bca1f2de4661ED88A30C99A7a9449Aa84174",
  CTF: "0x4D97DCd97eC945f40cF65F87097ACe5EA0476045",
  CTF_EXCHANGE: "0x4bFb41d5B3570DeFd03C39a9A4D8dE6Bd8B8982E",
  NEG_RISK_CTF_EXCHANGE: "0xC5d563A36AE78145C45a50134d48A1215220f80a",
  NEG_RISK_ADAPTER: "0xd91E80cF2E7be2e162c6513ceD06f1dD0dA35296",
};
```

### Approve via Relayer Client

<CodeGroup>
  ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
  import { ethers } from "ethers";
  import { Interface } from "ethers/lib/utils";

  const erc20Interface = new Interface([
    "function approve(address spender, uint256 amount) returns (bool)",
  ]);

  // Approve USDCe for CTF contract
  const approveTx = {
    to: ADDRESSES.USDCe,
    data: erc20Interface.encodeFunctionData("approve", [
      ADDRESSES.CTF,
      ethers.constants.MaxUint256,
    ]),
    value: "0",
  };

  const response = await client.execute([approveTx], "Approve USDCe for CTF");
  await response.wait();
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  from web3 import Web3

  USDC = "0x2791Bca1f2de4661ED88A30C99A7a9449Aa84174"
  CTF = "0x4D97DCd97eC945f40cF65F87097ACe5EA0476045"
  MAX_UINT256 = 2**256 - 1

  approve_tx = {
      "to": USDC,
      "data": Web3().eth.contract(
          address=USDC,
          abi=[{
              "name": "approve",
              "type": "function",
              "inputs": [
                  {"name": "spender", "type": "address"},
                  {"name": "amount", "type": "uint256"}
              ],
              "outputs": [{"type": "bool"}]
          }]
      ).encode_abi(abi_element_identifier="approve", args=[CTF, MAX_UINT256]),
      "value": "0"
  }

  response = client.execute([approve_tx], "Approve USDC for CTF")
  response.wait()
  ```
</CodeGroup>

To place orders and access authenticated endpoints, you need L2 API credentials derived from your wallet.

<CodeGroup>
  ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
  import { ClobClient } from "@polymarket/clob-client";

  const client = new ClobClient("https://clob.polymarket.com", 137, signer);

  // Derive API credentials from your wallet
  const credentials = await client.createOrDeriveApiKey();
  console.log("API Key:", credentials.key);
  console.log("Secret:", credentials.secret);
  console.log("Passphrase:", credentials.passphrase);
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  from py_clob_client.client import ClobClient
  import os

  private_key = os.getenv("PRIVATE_KEY")

  temp_client = ClobClient("https://clob.polymarket.com", key=private_key, chain_id=137)
  credentials = temp_client.create_or_derive_api_creds()
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Once you have credentials, initialize the client for authenticated operations:

<CodeGroup>
  ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
  const tradingClient = new ClobClient(
    "https://clob.polymarket.com",
    137,
    wallet,
    credentials,
  );
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  client = ClobClient(
      "https://clob.polymarket.com",
      key=private_key,
      chain_id=137,
      creds=credentials,
  )
  ```
</CodeGroup>

See [Authentication](/trading/overview#authentication) for full details on signature types and REST API headers.

---

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