The post Polymarket ends trading loophole for bitcoin quants appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

After Polymarket quietly ended a substantial penalty on liquidity-removing ‘taker’ orders, quantitative traders (quants) lamented an end to their gravy train. For highly sophisticated market makers, that 500-millisecond quote-adjustment period granted them a superpower over slower traders. Unfortunately for them, Polymarket has ended its time incentive. Unsurprisingly, the money spigot used to flow from Polymarket and Kalshi advertising short-term binary options on the price of bitcoin (BTC) to everyday speculators. Read more: Maduro Polymarket bet raises insider trading concerns The exchanges feature 5 and 15 minute betting markets on the price of bitcoin (BTC). On their respective homepages, they place those markets in their top three spots on their homepage, and those markets have earned substantial media coverage. These so-called prediction markets resolve on pricing data from Chainlink and carry high risk for anyone but the most sophisticated traders. One of those risks buried in technical documentation was the ability for market makers to make these adjustments to their quotes, helping ensure they received the most advantageous price. Rewarding makers to lure money from Polymarket takers According to several market observers, Polymarket has quietly eliminated its 500-millisecond (half-second) taker price delay. Makers use limit orders that do not immediately execute, such as a bid price below the current ask price. Takers, in contrast, use market orders or immediately executable limit orders, such as a limit buy order with a price higher than the current ask.  In a traditional ‘level 2’ or Depth of Market (DOM) quote, makers are listed above and below the last price of an asset. Makers’ limit buy and sell orders, which cannot immediately execute against other orders, remain in pending status, ranked by price.  Takers, in contrast, whose orders always execute immediately using a standing order from a maker, create each market-clearing price. Historically, exchanges have…

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Filed under: News - @ February 20, 2026 3:22 pm