5-Minute Bitcoin Prediction Markets
Polymarket's shortest crypto markets are weekly. Kalshi has hourly Bitcoin contracts. BlockForecast has 5-minute. The product is simple: at the start of each round, we anchor to the current spot price; at the end, we resolve UP if spot ≥ anchor and DOWN otherwise.
How it works
- Round opens. The current spot price for BTC, ETH, or SOL is captured as the "price to beat".
- Trading runs for 4:30 (5-min) or 14:00 (15-min). You buy UP or DOWN at the prevailing market price.
- Halt window. Trading freezes 30 seconds before resolution (60 seconds for 15-min) so last-look traders can't exploit a deterministic Pyth tick.
- Resolution. At the snapshot moment, the Pyth Hermes price feed gives the canonical price. UP wins if spot ≥ anchor; DOWN otherwise. Winners get $1 per share.
- Next round. A new round is already live and open for trading.
Available markets
- BTC 5-minute — rolling, always-on
- BTC 15-minute — rolling, always-on
- ETH 5-minute — rolling, always-on
- ETH 15-minute — rolling, always-on
- SOL 5-minute — rolling, always-on
- SOL 15-minute — rolling, always-on
More assets on request. The Pyth network covers 50+ crypto assets — we'll add the ones traders want.
Why 5-minute markets are interesting
- Tight feedback loop. You see whether you were right or wrong in minutes, not weeks. Great for skill-building.
- Pure price-action trading. No long-term thesis required — just read the chart for the next 5 minutes.
- Always-on. Crypto trades 24/7. So do these markets.
- Differentiated. You can't trade these on Polymarket. Kalshi has hourly only.
How the price chart works
The chart shows live spot price (Pyth feed) with the anchor as a horizontal line. A pulsing dot at the rightmost tip tracks the current spot. Green if currently above anchor, red if below. Color flips in real time as the price crosses the anchor.
Trade-time protections
Short-duration markets are vulnerable to "last look" — a whale who sees the spot price tick clearly will-resolve a few seconds before close, dumping size into stale market-maker quotes. We layer four defenses:
- Halt window. Book closes 30s before resolution (60s for 15-min).
- Time-decaying impact cap. Per-trade price-impact ceiling tightens 10% → 7% → 4% → 2.5% as resolution approaches.
- Position cap. Per-wallet USDC exposure on a single round caps at $50k → $20k → $5k → $1k by time-to-close.
- Quote auto-clamp. If your size would exceed depth, we return a smaller fitting quote instead of failing.
FAQ
What's the resolution source?
Pyth Hermes price feed on Base. Snapshot at the resolution moment is the canonical price.
What if the Pyth feed is unavailable?
Fallback chain: Pyth → CoinGecko → Coinbase API. If all three fail, the round voids and traders get refunded.
Can I leave a limit order?
Yes — the CLOB phase of trading accepts resting orders that fill against future market orders.
What's the smallest trade?
$1 USDC.
Are there fees?
Standard 0.5% creator fee + small protocol fee. Near close (last 30s of a 5-min round) the effective fee can ramp up to deter informed flow, capped at 5%.
Why is the timer sometimes longer than 5 minutes?
Rounds are pre-created so you can trade between rounds. The timer reads "Starts in MM:SS" before the next round opens, then flips to a normal countdown to halt time.