A market is a question. Resolution is how the answer becomes final and how a winning share becomes a dollar.
The rules are in the description
Every market states what resolves it “Hit”, what resolves it “Miss”, the source that decides, a fallback if that source is unavailable, and what happens if the event is cancelled or postponed. Read them before you trade, not after. Resolution follows the text, not what feels fair afterwards.
UMA: the optimistic oracle
Most markets resolve through UMA’s optimistic oracle. Optimistic means an answer is assumed correct unless someone objects.
- Proposal. When the outcome is known, an outcome is proposed on-chain with a bond behind it. HIT proposes for its own markets by default.
- Challenge window. A liveness period opens, typically two hours, sometimes minutes on fast markets. The market page shows the proposal and a countdown.
- Dispute, or not. Anyone can dispute during the window by posting a matching bond. No dispute, and the proposal settles.
- Vote. A disputed proposal goes to UMA’s token holders. There is a debate on UMA’s Discord and then a vote of about 48 hours. The side that loses forfeits its bond.
- Settlement and redemption. Once settled, winning shares redeem for $1.00 each on HIT.
Disputes happen on UMA’s own site, not on HIT, and the bond is real money you lose if the dispute fails. HIT support cannot change an oracle result.
Price markets
Markets on a price at a time, “bitcoin above X at 15:00 UTC” and the like, resolve on-chain against a price feed rather than through a proposal. They are often settled within minutes of the timestamp, and there is no dispute window.
Contests
Match markets settle from the official result. A two-way market with a draw settles at 50¢ per share. A three-way event has separate markets for home, draw and away.
Invalid
If a market cannot be resolved as written, because the event was cancelled with no alternative, the source vanished, or the result is genuinely indeterminate, it settles at 50¢ per share for both outcomes. This is rare, and rules are written to avoid it.
Emergencies
If something is badly wrong with a market, HIT can flag it, which starts a safety period, and resolve it after that period ends. This is the last resort.
When you get paid
Your portfolio shows a resolved market with a Redeem action. Redeem, and the USDC is in your balance. There is no fee. You can hold shares through resolution or sell them before; the choice is yours.
If a market has been settled on-chain and the app still will not let you redeem, that is a bug. Post the market link in Bug Reports.