Positions & Payouts

A position represents the shares you hold in a market’s outcomes. Understanding positions is essential for tracking your exposure and calculating potential payouts.

Position Structure

Each user has one position account per market (or none if they haven’t traded):

interface Position {
  market: PublicKey;      // Which market
  user: PublicKey;        // Your wallet
  outcomeAmounts: BN[];   // Shares per outcome
}

Example (Binary market):

{
  "market": "ABC123...",
  "user": "MyWallet...",
  "outcomeAmounts": [1500, 0]  // 1500 "Yes" shares, 0 "No" shares
}

How Shares Work

Buying Shares

When you buy:

USDC leaves your wallet
New shares are minted
Your position increases
Price rises for that outcome

Selling Shares

When you sell:

Shares are burned
USDC returns to your wallet
Your position decreases
Price falls for that outcome

Calculating Position Value

Your position’s current value depends on share prices:

Value = \sum_{i=0}^{n} shares_i \times price_i

function calculatePositionValue(
  position: Position,
  prices: number[]
): number {
  return position.outcomeAmounts.reduce((total, shares, i) => {
    return total + (shares.toNumber() * prices[i]);
  }, 0);
}

Payout Calculation

When a market resolves, only the winning outcome’s shares have value:

Standard Resolution
Unresolvable (255)

Winning shares redeem for $1 each (minus fees):

Payout = shares_{winning} \times (1 - fee_{redemption})

Example: 1000 winning shares with 0.30% fee

Gross: $1000.00
Fee: $3.00
Net payout: $997.00

Multi-Outcome Positions

In markets with more than 2 outcomes, you can hold shares in multiple outcomes simultaneously:

{
  "outcomeAmounts": [500, 300, 200, 0]  // 4 outcomes
}

This allows for hedging strategies—you might believe outcomes A or B are likely but not C or D.

Position Creation

Positions are created automatically on your first trade in a market:

User submits buy instruction
Program checks for existing position
If none exists, position PDA is created
Shares are added to position
Position persists until manually closed (if supported)

Position accounts require rent (~0.002 SOL). This is paid on first trade and refunded if the account is closed.

Fetching Positions

Single Position
All User Positions

const position = await sdk.orica.fetchPosition(
  marketAddress,
  userPubkey
);

if (position) {
  console.log("Shares:", position.outcomeAmounts);
}

const positions = await sdk.orica.fetchUserPositions(userPubkey);

for (const { publicKey, account } of positions) {
  console.log("Market:", account.market.toBase58());
  console.log("Shares:", account.outcomeAmounts);
}

Best Practices

Check Before Selling

Always verify your position balance before submitting a sell instruction to avoid transaction failures.

Track Multiple Markets

If you’re active in many markets, fetch all positions periodically to monitor exposure.

Redeem Promptly

While there’s no expiration, redeeming promptly frees up your capital for other opportunities.

Account for Fees

Factor in trading and redemption fees when calculating expected returns.

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Resolution

Technical Architecture

Positions & Payouts

Position Structure

How Shares Work

Buying Shares

Selling Shares

Calculating Position Value

Payout Calculation

Multi-Outcome Positions

Position Creation

Fetching Positions

Best Practices

Check Before Selling

Track Multiple Markets

Redeem Promptly

Account for Fees

​Position Structure

​How Shares Work

Buying Shares

Selling Shares

​Calculating Position Value

​Payout Calculation

​Multi-Outcome Positions

​Position Creation

​Fetching Positions

​Best Practices

Check Before Selling

Track Multiple Markets

Redeem Promptly

Account for Fees

Position Structure

How Shares Work

Calculating Position Value

Payout Calculation

Multi-Outcome Positions

Position Creation

Fetching Positions

Best Practices