Traders using the international platform of prediction market Polymarket saw unauthorized withdrawals from their wallets on Thursday afternoon. Users initially reported on social media that funds were being moved without approval. The disruption prompted the decentralized finance platform to halt international trading while addressing the problem. Trading resumed at 3 p.m. ET after the team resolved the issue on its end, while its domestic platform remained entirely uncompromised. The security i

Many observers look at a screen figure and assume it reflects every aspect of a Bitcoin perpetual contract. In practice, the last traded price and the mark price represent distinct references. The last traded price records the price of the most recent completed trade for an instrument on a venue, rather than the reference used for liquidation checks. The mark price is a separate reference calculated under a venue's published contract rules, specifically used for liquidation checks. The last trad

Perpetual contract funding is exchanged between long and short positions at scheduled times. When observing $BTC perpetual contracts, market participants frequently see a single quoted percentage. However, a percentage quoted per settlement is not automatically a rate per hour or per day, and reviewing a rate without its timing provides incomplete context. Settlement transfers follow specific directional rules at each scheduled event. Positive funding means long positions pay short positions, wh

Understanding the clear distinction between open interest and trading volume is essential when studying derivatives such as $BTC perpetual contracts. Open interest measures derivative contracts that remain outstanding at a point in time. Trading volume measures contracts traded during a defined period. These are different measurements. The matching process explains how these two indicators behave during market execution. A match between a newly opening long and a newly opening short can raise op