Trading Competition Glossary

Competition pages are dense with terms that look self-explanatory and are not. These are the ones that change what you should do.

Scoring

VXP — The point unit a competition scores you in. Volume converts to VXP at a fixed rate that depends on the market type, and rank is computed from VXP rather than from volume directly.

Counted volume — Your volume after the daily cap has been applied, day by day. This is the number that converts to points, sets your rank, and determines your payout. Also called capped volume.

Raw volume — Everything you actually traded on eligible markets since registering, with no ceiling applied. It is displayed on the leaderboard but does not affect your rank. See counted volume vs raw volume.

Daily cap — The maximum counted volume (or points) one trader can score in a single day window. Volume above it is tracked and shown but scores nothing. Its purpose is to stop a single large account settling the contest on day one.

Notional — The quote-currency size of a position: contracts multiplied by price. On leveraged products, notional can be many times the capital behind it, which is why perpetual volume is rated lower than spot.

Perp — A perpetual futures contract, with no expiry and a funding mechanism that keeps it near spot. Perpetual notional converts to VXP at one tenth the spot rate, because leverage makes it cheap to manufacture.

Spot — Trading the asset itself rather than a derivative on it. Spot volume converts at the full VXP rate.

Maker — An order that rests on the book and is filled by someone else. Makers typically pay lower fees or receive rebates, which matters enormously to whether farming a competition is profitable.

Taker — An order that crosses the spread and removes liquidity from the book. Takers pay the higher fee, and taker-heavy execution is what turns most volume competitions into a net loss.

Structure

Pro rata — A distribution mode where each qualifying trader receives the pool multiplied by their share of the qualifying field's total points. Low variance, pays everyone who qualifies.

Leaderboard tier — A fixed percentage of the pool assigned to a fixed finishing position (1st takes 50%, 2nd 30%, and so on). Positions below the last paying tier receive nothing. Compared in leaderboard tiers vs pro rata.

Percentage-of-field bucket — A tier defined as a slice of the field rather than a position: "the top 10% share 60% of the pool". The winner count resolves against the final eligible field, and the share inside a bucket decays down the ranks rather than splitting flat. Available on entry-fee challenges.

Qualifying minimum — The floor of counted volume you must reach to be eligible for any share of the main pool. Below it, your reward is zero regardless of rank. Traders below the floor are filtered out before the pool is split, so they do not dilute it.

Eligible markets — The specific markets a competition scores. Volume on any other market on the same venue earns nothing at all, with no partial credit.

Day window — The 24-hour block a daily cap and a daily raffle both measure against. Windows are anchored to the competition's start time, not to UTC midnight — a competition starting at 12:00 UTC rolls its day at 12:00 UTC.

Field size — The number of registered participants. Divided into the pool, it is the crudest honest estimate of what an average entrant can expect, and it is the number that decides whether a tiered structure is winnable.

Lotteries

Daily raffle — A draw held at the end of each day window, awarding a fixed prize to one randomly selected trader who cleared that day's qualifying volume. Odds are flat: one entry per eligible trader, regardless of size.

Lottery reserve — The portion of the advertised prize pool set aside for raffle draws, equal to the prize per draw multiplied by the number of draws. The leaderboard splits the pool minus this reserve. See daily lotteries and raffles explained.

Challenges

Entry ticket — The fee paid to enter an entry-fee PnL challenge. Tickets fund the prize pool, with a fixed 5% platform fee, and in sponsored mode a creator share on top.

Flat start — The rule that a challenge entry only begins accruing once the wallet is flat on the challenge's scored markets. It stops a trader entering with an existing winning position and having it counted as challenge performance.

Volume bracket — The minimum and maximum cumulative volume a challenge entry is scored across. The minimum is a prize-eligibility floor; the maximum caps how much turnover contributes, so a large account cannot simply out-size the field. See volume brackets explained.

Re-buy — A second (or third) entry ticket bought by a player already in a challenge. It creates its own leaderboard line, scored from zero over its own window, at the same ticket price and the same split — so re-buys grow the pool.

Settlement

Projected reward — What a leaderboard row would earn if the competition ended right now, using the current split on the main pool with the lottery reserve already removed. A gauge of marginal value, not a forecast. A dash means an eligibility filter is currently excluding that row.

Settlement — The process at the end of a competition: standings freeze, eligibility filters apply, and the main pool splits according to the distribution mode. Covered in what happens when a competition ends.

Payout rail — How rewards physically reach winners: paid out manually, distributed on-chain and claimed, or distributed directly by the partner venue with proof published. The rail determines whether you have to take an action to receive anything.

Browse live competitions or start with how to read a competition page.