Polymarket has rolled out two features that could change how prediction markets are built and traded. It launched public US APIs with production-ready SDKs, and permissionless liquidity rewards that allow anyone to sponsor depth on any market.
Mustafa, a senior intern at Polymarket, announced that public US APIs and SDKs are now live via the developer portal. This includes a REST API with more than 20 endpoints, WebSocket feeds for live market and private updates, and official Python and TypeScript SDKs. Authentication is handled through Ed25519 keypairs, reflecting its CFTC-licensed U.S. structure with fiat rails and KYC requirements.
public Polymarket US apis + sdks are live 😛
access here – https://t.co/EPwRoKdWTY
docs, python, and typescript sdks – https://t.co/mW6wrGRhYx pic.twitter.com/oVatSOwYwJ
— Mustafa (@mustafap0ly) February 16, 2026
Public APIs: From click trading to programmatic execution
This is a big development because programmatic access to federally regulated prediction markets in the US has not existed before at this scale. Traders can now build automated order routing, portfolio analytics, latency arbitrage systems, and AI agents that respond to news in real time.
Reaction was immediate. One trader described it as “day one of public API access”, arguing that early builders would exploit inefficiencies before competition intensifies. Another noted that the architecture is simpler than Polymarket’s global crypto API and is designed for developers who “don’t care about Polygon.”
The upside is obvious: deeper liquidity, tighter spreads, and more sophisticated participation. But there are tradeoffs. Programmatic trading compresses informational edges quickly. Retail users clicking through an app may now compete directly with bots operating 24/7 across dozens of markets.
Permissionless liquidity rewards: Paying for depth
The second rollout may be even more structurally important.
Polymarket has opened liquidity reward sponsorship to all users. Previously, the platform decided which markets received liquidity incentives. Now, anyone can attach rewards to any market, paying traders to provide tight limit orders around the midpoint.
Polymarket summarized the change succinctly: hedge funds, educational institutions, and individuals can now sponsor liquidity rewards to improve forecast reliability.
In practical terms, imagine a thin market where you want to place a $50,000 trade, but there is insufficient depth. By attaching, say, $100 over five days in rewards, you incentivize market makers to quote tighter spreads and deeper books. You are underwriting the liquidity needed to execute the size.
One user explained it in simple terms: if a market is like a small store with no customers, you cannot move serious inventory. Liquidity rewards attract customers to the store.
Hedge funds, educational institutions, and everyday people are now able to sponsor liquidity rewards to get more reliable Polymarket forecasts.
sponsoring market rewards is now open to all users 😛
add rewards to any market to get the liquidity for the size you want to trade.
permissionless market deployment and creator fees next… pic.twitter.com/8wm12ngE6R
— Mustafa (@mustafap0ly) February 17, 2026
Why this is good
There are clear benefits. First, markets that previously lacked depth can now scale organically if someone values the outcome enough to fund incentives. This reduces dependence on platform-level curation.
Second, serious participants. Funds hedging exposure or traders with high conviction can bootstrap liquidity rather than waiting for organic interest.
Third, it moves Polymarket toward protocol-like dynamics. If the next step, as hinted, includes permissionless market deployment and creator fees, the platform begins to resemble decentralized exchanges where users both create and monetize markets.
Openness introduces new vulnerabilities
One trader cautioned that if users were concerned about insider trading or ambiguous rules before, they should prepare for more volatility. Incentivized thin markets may attract information asymmetry. If a user sponsors liquidity in a niche geopolitical market with superior knowledge, counterparties may not fully appreciate the informational imbalance.
Another observer warned that market creation could become lucrative briefly, until spam proliferates. If permissionless deployment arrives, low-quality or duplicative markets may fragment liquidity and create confusion.
There is also the irreversibility factor. Once liquidity rewards are added, they cannot be withdrawn. That introduces execution risk for sponsors who misjudge market interest.
From a market structure perspective, the larger question is whether these tools create healthier ecosystems or increase professionalization that sidelines casual traders.
Public APIs favor quantitative participants. Liquidity sponsorship favors capitalized actors willing to pay for depth. Combined, the direction is clear: prediction markets are becoming more infrastructure-heavy and less retail-simplistic.
Polymarket appears to be betting that infrastructure upgrades drive long-term durability, even if they accelerate competition in the short term.
The key variable to watch is composition. If APIs and liquidity sponsorship result in tighter spreads and higher baseline volume between major events, the model strengthens. If they primarily increase insider advantages and fragmentation, backlash may follow.
