Outcome Space & Units

Understanding Signals starts with the outcome grid the CLMSR operates on. This page explains how a market encodes its price range, how oracle observations map into ticks, and why the protocol insists on keeping outcome math separate from settlement currency.

Defining the outcome grid

Each market publishes an OutcomeSpec = (L, U, s, d) before trading begins. The lower bound L and upper bound U live in raw oracle units (for the Bitcoin close that means 8 decimal places). Tick spacing s sets the resolution: the number of available bins is

$$n = \left\lceil \frac{U - L}{s} \right\rceil.$$

Metadata d records how the oracle scales its outputs so integrators know which factors to apply when decoding events.

When an oracle observation OutcomeRaw arrives, Signals clamps it into the configured grid:

$$b = \mathrm{clamp}\left( \left\lfloor \frac{\text{OutcomeRaw} - L}{s} \right\rfloor, 0, n-1 \right).$$

Every bin is a half-open interval [L + b s, L + (b+1) s). The open upper edge prevents overlap, while the clamp protects the pool from a stray oracle value that would otherwise fall outside the configured window.

Why units stay separate

The CLMSR math operates in WAD precision (18 decimals) even though users trade with 6-decimal SUSD. Signals enforces a clean boundary between the two systems:

• Currency unit (U6) covers SUSD debits, credits, and liquidity budgets.
• Outcome unit mirrors the raw oracle scale and is only used when mapping ticks or emitting settlement data.

Conversions multiply or divide by 10^12 so that 6-decimal inputs become 18-decimal values inside the contracts:

uint256 constant SCALE_DIFF = 1e12;
wadAmount = amount6 * SCALE_DIFF;
amount6 = wadAmount / SCALE_DIFF;

This separation keeps the LMSR algebra numerically stable and lets front ends display familiar decimal formats without leaking precision errors back into the pool.

Valid range constraints

Positions must satisfy two simple rules:

1. lowerTick < upperTick (no zero-width ranges).
2. (upperTick - lowerTick) is an integer multiple of tickSpacing.

The whitepaper also recommends a minimum order size of $\delta_{\min} = 0.01$ SUSD so rounding guarantees remain meaningful. Current contracts still allow smaller quantities, so interfaces warn traders when they attempt to submit dust-sized orders.

Implementation status

Topic	Whitepaper	Contracts today
Tick intervals	[L + b s, L + (b+1) s)	✅ Matches spec
Unit conversions	Multiply/divide by 1e12	✅ Matches spec
Minimum order	$\delta_{\min} = 0.01$ SUSD	⚠️ Not enforced on-chain yet

Until the minimum guard lands in Solidity, treat $0.01$ SUSD as the practical floor and surface it in every UI or script that builds positions.