> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.prophetmarket.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.prophetmarket.ai/core-concepts/positions.md). # Positions *Holding, exiting early, and hedging both sides of the same market.* A position is simply the shares you hold in a market. Because those shares have a live market price the entire time the market is open, a position has a value before the event resolves, and you have a genuine choice about when to realise it. ## Three ways a position ends | Path | What happens | What you receive | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | Sell before resolution | You trade out at the current bid. | The bid price per share, immediately. | | Hold and win | The market resolves in your favour and you redeem. | $1.00 per share, after the review window. | | Hold and lose | The market resolves against you. | $0.00. There is no partial recovery. | ## Why exiting early is useful Suppose you bought YES at thirty cents and the news moves your way, lifting the price to seventy cents. You can sell and bank the gain now, or hold for the full dollar and accept the risk that the situation reverses. Neither is wrong. What matters is that the choice exists, which is not the case in fixed odds betting. **Exit versus hold** ``` Bought 100 YES at 30¢ cost = $30.00 Sell now at 70¢ bid value = $70.00 profit $40.00, certain Hold to resolution if YES value = $100.00 profit $70.00, at risk ``` The same logic runs in reverse. If your view is broken by new information, selling at a loss recovers most of your capital, whereas holding a position you no longer believe in usually recovers nothing. ## Hedging with both sides Holding YES and NO in the same market at the same time is permitted and the two are treated as independent positions. This is a feature rather than an oversight. It lets you reduce exposure without closing your original position, which is sometimes cheaper than selling in a thin market. {% hint style="info" %} **The spread applies each way** Hedging is not free. Buying the opposite side means paying the spread again, so compare the cost of hedging against the cost of simply selling before you do it. {% endhint %} ## Sizing Per trade size limits exist and depend on the liquidity of the market and the status of your account. They are there to stop a single trade moving a thin market so far that later traders get bad fills, which is a protection for you as much as a constraint on you. See Limits & Guardrails for the reasoning. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.prophetmarket.ai/core-concepts/positions.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.