Place Your First Order

This guide shows you how to place your first order using an existing Polymarket account. For this guide, we recommend having at least 10 pUSD available. Create or fund an account at polymarket.com before you start. Find your Polymarket wallet address in your profile menu:

Authenticate

First, authenticate with the CLOB.

TypeScript
Python

Pass the signer and wallet address to createSecureClient.

import { createSecureClient, OrderSide } from "@polymarket/client";
import { privateKey } from "@polymarket/client/viem";

const client = await createSecureClient({
  wallet: process.env.POLYMARKET_WALLET_ADDRESS,
  signer: privateKey(process.env.POLYMARKET_PRIVATE_KEY),
});

This example uses Viem. See Wallet Integrations to connect a signer from another supported wallet library.

Pass the private key and wallet address to AsyncSecureClient.create.

import os

from polymarket import AsyncSecureClient

client = await AsyncSecureClient.create(
    private_key=os.environ["POLYMARKET_PRIVATE_KEY"],
    wallet=os.environ["POLYMARKET_WALLET_ADDRESS"],
)

Choose an Outcome

Then, fetch the market and select the outcome you want to buy. Orders identify each outcome by its token ID. See Market Data to find a different market.

TypeScript
Python

const market = await client.fetchMarket({
  slug: "will-the-us-confirm-that-aliens-exist-before-2027-789-924-249",
});

const tokenId = market.outcomes.yes.tokenId!;

market = await client.get_market(
    slug="will-the-us-confirm-that-aliens-exist-before-2027-789-924-249",
)

token_id = market.outcomes.yes.token_id
assert token_id is not None

Place a Market Order

Then, submit a small market buy. The order fills against available liquidity, and any unfilled amount is canceled instead of remaining open.

TypeScript
Python

Use placeMarketOrder to place the market order.

const response = await client.placeMarketOrder({
  tokenId,
  side: OrderSide.BUY,
  amount: "10", // Spend up to 10 pUSD
});

if (!response.ok) {
  throw new Error(response.message);
}

// response.orderId: string

Use place_market_order to place the market order.

response = await client.place_market_order(
    token_id=token_id,
    side="BUY",
    amount="10",  # Spend up to 10 pUSD
)

if not response.ok:
    raise RuntimeError(response.message)

# response.order_id: str

Wait for Settlement

Your order matched, but its trade settles on-chain asynchronously. Wait for settlement before checking your position.

TypeScript
Python

Use waitForOrderFillSettlement to wait for the trade to settle.

const hashes = await client.waitForOrderFillSettlement(response);

// hashes: TxHash[]

Use wait_for_order_fill_settlement to wait for the trade to settle.

hashes = await client.wait_for_order_fill_settlement(response)

# hashes: tuple[TransactionHash, ...]

Check Your Position

Finally, list your positions for the selected market and find the outcome you bought.

TypeScript
Python

const page = await client
  .listPositions({
    market: [market.conditionId!],
  })
  .firstPage();

const position = page.items.find((item) => item.tokenId === tokenId);
if (!position) {
  throw new Error("Position not found.");
}

const positionSize = position.size; // Outcome shares held

condition_id = market.condition_id
assert condition_id is not None

page = await client.list_positions(market=[condition_id]).first_page()

position = next(
    (item for item in page.items if item.token_id == token_id),
    None,
)
if position is None:
    raise RuntimeError("Position not found.")

position_size = position.size  # Outcome shares held

That’s it—you placed your first market order on Polymarket.

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Market Data

Trading

Programs

Resources