spartanlabsxyz/polymarket-nothing-ever-happens

Polymarket Nothing-Ever-Happens Trader

Buy NO on standalone yes/no Polymarket markets priced below a configurable cap.

🚨 Framework, not a production trading system. Read DISCLAIMER.md before connecting to a wallet with real funds.

This is a template. The default logic buys NO on any non-sports standalone market where NO costs ≤5¢. Remix it with custom filters (minimum volume thresholds, specific categories, date ranges) or pair it with a signal to skip markets where YES might actually happen. The skill handles plumbing (discovery, import, fee checks, execution). You define which markets to trade.

Based on: sterlingcrispin/nothing-ever-happens

The Thesis

On most standalone binary prediction markets, the event resolves NO — nothing dramatic happens. Markets systematically overprice dramatic YES outcomes. When NO is trading at 3¢–5¢, you're getting 20–33x payout if you're right, and the base rate of "nothing happens" is often much higher than the implied 3–5%.

What It Does

1. Scans Polymarket events via Gamma API for standalone yes/no markets
2. Filters out sports, grouped events, low-liquidity markets
3. Selects markets where NO ask ≤ price cap (default 5¢)
4. Imports each candidate into Simmer
5. Checks fees (only trades zero-fee markets) and safeguards
6. Buys NO via Simmer SDK, sized by max_bet_usd

Setup Flow

When user asks to install or configure this skill:

1. Install the Simmer SDK

   pip install simmer-sdk
   

2. Ask for Simmer API key

   • They can get it from simmer.markets/dashboard → SDK tab
   • Store in environment as SIMMER_API_KEY

3. Ask for wallet private key (required for live trading)

   • This is the private key for their Polymarket wallet (the wallet that holds USDC)
   • Store in environment as WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY
   • The SDK uses this to sign orders client-side automatically — no manual signing needed
   • Not needed for $SIM paper trading on the Simmer venue

Quick Commands

# Scan for candidates (no trades)
python nothing_ever_happens.py --scan

# Dry run — show what would trade
python nothing_ever_happens.py

# Execute real trades
python nothing_ever_happens.py --live

# Quiet mode (for cron — only prints on trades/errors)
python nothing_ever_happens.py --live --quiet

# Show config
python nothing_ever_happens.py --config

# Update config
python nothing_ever_happens.py --set price_cap=0.03

Configuration

| Key | Env Var | Default | Description | |-----|---------|---------|-------------| | — | TRADING_VENUE | polymarket | Venue to trade on. Set sim for $SIM paper trading on the Simmer venue (no wallet, no USDC). | | price_cap | SIMMER_NEH_PRICE_CAP | 0.05 | Max NO price to buy (0.05 = 5¢) | | max_bet_usd | SIMMER_NEH_MAX_BET_USD | 5.0 | USDC per trade | | max_trades_per_run | SIMMER_NEH_MAX_TRADES_PER_RUN | 3 | Max trades per execution | | daily_budget | SIMMER_NEH_DAILY_BUDGET_USD | 15.0 | Daily spend limit | | min_liquidity | SIMMER_NEH_MIN_LIQUIDITY | 500.0 | Min market liquidity (USDC) | | min_volume_24h | SIMMER_NEH_MIN_VOLUME_24H | 100.0 | Min 24h volume (USDC) | | candidate_pages | SIMMER_NEH_CANDIDATE_PAGES | 3 | Gamma API pages to scan |

Update via CLI: python nothing_ever_happens.py --set price_cap=0.03

How It Works

Market Discovery

The skill fetches active Polymarket events via the Gamma API, sorted by 24h volume. It only considers standalone events — events with exactly one market. Grouped events (e.g. "Who wins Iowa?" alongside "Who wins Florida?" in a presidential election group) are excluded because:

• They're often higher-profile and more efficiently priced
• The original strategy targets isolated, under-the-radar markets

Filters Applied

1. Standalone — event has exactly 1 market
2. Binary yes/no — outcomes are exactly ["Yes", "No"]
3. Non-sports — category and tags must not be sports-related
4. Price cap — NO price ≤ configured cap (default 5¢)
5. Liquidity — event liquidity ≥ 500 USDC
6. Volume — event 24h volume ≥ 100 USDC

After Candidate Selection

For each candidate, the skill:

1. Imports the market into Simmer (needed to get a Simmer market ID for trading)
2. Skips markets where you already hold a position
3. Checks fees — only trades zero-fee markets (fee drag destroys edge on cheap NO)
4. Checks safeguards — skips markets with severe flip-flop warnings
5. Executes client.trade(side="no", amount=max_bet_usd)

Risk Profile

• You pay the ask price for NO shares (default ≤5¢ each)
• If YES resolves: you lose your bet. If NO resolves: you collect $1/share
• Expected value depends on how often YES actually resolves in these markets
• The thesis: base rate of NO is much higher than 5%, so 20x payout is favorable
• This is not guaranteed profit. The edge depends on market selection quality.

API Endpoints Used

• Gamma API /events — Discover active Polymarket events
• POST /api/sdk/import — Import market to Simmer (via client.import_market())
• GET /api/sdk/context/{market_id} — Fee rate and safeguards
• POST /api/sdk/trade — Trade execution
• GET /api/sdk/positions — Current positions (avoid doubling up)

Troubleshooting

"No candidates below price cap" → All standalone non-sports markets have NO > cap. Lower price_cap (e.g. --set price_cap=0.08) or wait — cheap NO opportunities appear sporadically.

"Daily budget exhausted" → Hit daily limit. Adjust with --set daily_budget=30.

"Import failed" → The market may have already resolved, or the slug is incorrect. The skill skips and continues.

All candidates have fees → The fee filter is intentional — on a 5¢ NO position (p=0.05) the crypto taker fee runs ~6.6% of cost, eliminating most of the edge on cheap NO. By design. Zero-fee categories (e.g. Geopolitics) bypass this filter.

"gamma_api.py not found" → Copy gamma_api.py from the polymarket-ai-divergence skill into this skill's directory, or install both skills together.