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How conversion works
In an ordinary multi-outcome event each market stands alone, and a No share in one of them has no link to the others. In a negative-risk event the link is the conversion, which is atomic: you hand in the No share and receive the Yes shares in the same step.
Augmented negative risk
A plain negative-risk group needs the full list of outcomes at the start. Augmented negative risk lets new outcomes appear after trading begins. It has named outcomes that are known up front, additional outcomes that can become available later, and an explicit Other that catches anything not named. Polymarket's interface does not display unnamed outcomes.
Polymarket warns that placeholder outcomes should be left alone until they are named or the market resolves. If the winner is not named, the market settles on Other, and since the meaning of Other shifts as placeholders are named, the documentation advises against trading Other directly.
What it means at payout
Negative-risk markets never split a payout: one outcome receives the whole payout and all the others receive nothing. A market's data shows whether it belongs to such a group through its negative-risk flag. Winning shares are redeemed for pUSD; see outcome token and resolution for the steps.
Sources and checks
Every rule quoted in this article comes from the registry below. Each row names the official page and the day it was compared with the text.
All 6 rules used in this article
| Rule | Value | Official source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| What negative risk is | a mechanism for events with several outcomes of which only one can win | docs.polymarket.com/ | |
| Conversion in a negative-risk event | can be converted into one Yes share in every other market of the event | docs.polymarket.com/ | |
| Unnamed outcomes of an augmented negative-risk event | does not display unnamed outcomes | docs.polymarket.com/ | |
| Placeholder outcomes in augmented negative risk | should be left alone until they are named or the market resolves | docs.polymarket.com/ | |
| Unnamed winner in augmented negative risk | the market settles on Other | docs.polymarket.com/ | |
| Payout of a negative-risk market | one outcome receives the whole payout and all the others receive nothing | docs.polymarket.com/ |
Related terms
Read the full guide
Basics · 9 min
How Polymarket Works: Markets, Prices, Shares
A trader's 101 of Polymarket: events and markets, Yes and No shares, prices as probabilities, pUSD collateral, the order book, resolution and redemption.
PolyTerminal is an independent interface for Polymarket and is not operated or endorsed by Polymarket. Orders placed through PolyTerminal carry PolyTerminal’s Polymarket builder code, and PolyTerminal may charge a builder fee on top of Polymarket’s own fees. This page is educational and is not investment advice. Rules were compared with the official documentation on Oct 19, 2026; check the source before you act on a number.