Why high-frequency?
Understand recurring seconds-scale markets and how they differ from long-duration event markets.
Live market | BTC/USD
Bitcoin 5-second prediction market
Choose whether BTC/USD will finish above or below its lock price five seconds later. Correct positions split the live player pool.
- Three-second entry
- Five-second outcome
- Pyth BTC/USD
- Pari-mutuel pool
Specification
Market terms
The five-second label refers to the outcome window after lock, not the complete interface cycle.
- Market question
- Will BTC/USD finish above or below its lock price after five seconds?
- Positions
- UP or DOWN
- Preparation
- One second before entry opens
- Entry window
- Three seconds
- Outcome window
- Five seconds from lock to final price
- Result display
- 1.6 seconds before the next recurring market
- Price source
- Pyth Hermes BTC/USD feed
- Pool model
- Pari-mutuel: the correct side splits the distributable pool in proportion to stake
- Fee
- 3% of the total pool on mixed rounds, capped at the losing pool
- Tie threshold
- A move of $0.005 or less is a tie and stakes are returned
- Stale data
- A real-money round voids and returns stakes when the price feed is not fresh at settlement
Round clock
From opening to settlement
1 secondPrepare
The next market opens.
3 secondsChoose
Call UP or DOWN.
5 secondsMove
BTC/USD runs from lock.
1.6 secondsResult
The pool settles and resets.
How the pool determines a return
Calls on UP and DOWN form one shared pool. The estimated return changes as participants enter either side. At lock, the composition freezes. If UP wins, the UP side splits the distributable pool; if DOWN wins, the DOWN side splits it.
For a simplified example, imagine $60 on UP and $40 on DOWN. The total pool is $100. A 3% fee leaves $97 for the correct side. A participant who contributed $10 of the $60 winning UP pool receives approximately one-sixth of $97, or $16.16 including the original stake. Actual payouts use integer cents and largest-remainder distribution so the pool is conserved exactly.
When stakes are returned
A tie or void returns every stake. A pool with no stake on one side also returns stakes because there was no opposing position to win. Flashpoly does not retain an unwinnable one-sided pool.
Returns are not fixed odds
The number shown on a call is an estimate while the entry window remains open. It can change as calls join and freezes only at lock.
Free practice
Anonymous visitors can experience the complete timing and settlement flow without an account or deposit. Practice uses the live market's quoted return and outcome, but the call does not enter the real pool. Nothing is deducted, and practice winnings are a non-withdrawable preview.
Real-money risk
Five-second Bitcoin movement is noisy and cannot be predicted reliably. In a real-money market, an incorrect call can lose the stake. The pool fee means repeated play has a long-run cost. Flashpoly is entertainment, not investing, and should never be treated as guaranteed income.
Continue
Read the market system
How Flashpoly works
Review positions, pool estimates, results, practice, deposits, and withdrawals in one place.
Methodology
See the clock, price feed, tie rule, stale-data protection, and payout calculation.