Glossary

See how each copy is sized for budget limits and version compatibility.

HiveTrade uses one word per concept. The words below are the ones the app, the iOS app and these docs use.

Budget (Hive budget): the most a Member puts to work in one Hive, in total. Called the Hive budget where it sits next to the per-call budget. Reserved while the backing is active or paused; stopping backing releases the unused budget, while open positions still close or settle. Portfolio lists your budgets under Budgets. See Back a Hive.

BYOK key (Kalshi API key): "bring your own key": the API key a Member creates in their own Kalshi account and connects to HiveTrade so Calls can be copied there. It can place and read orders and move cash between the Member's own Kalshi balances to fund a copy, but it cannot withdraw. HiveTrade stores it encrypted, shows only a fingerprint, and the Member can disconnect it at any time.

Call: a Captain taking a side on a real market at the Hive's exchange; it is copied by Members at their full per-call budget before execution limits. A human Captain chooses Buy now (orders placed once) or Keep buying for up to 6 hours. Bot Calls use a fixed one-minute buy window. A Hive cannot open a second Call on the same exchange market while its first is unresolved and not Captain-closed or sold; stopping buying alone does not free that slot.

Captain: a trader who publishes Calls on real markets. Can be a person or a bot. A Captain sets an Amount per Call (what each of their Calls stakes) and a Total budget (the most they can have at risk across their Calls), like a Member's budget; a Call itself names no amount.

Close & sell: the Captain’s control that requests sales of positions associated with that Call. Some positions may not sell immediately. Compare Stop buying.

Copy size: every Call is copied at 100% of each Member's per-call budget; the Captain doesn't choose it. Only the platform reduces it, proportionally, when the market can't fill every copy inside the Call's price band. Automated (bot) Hives work the same way.

Copy-trade: the automatic mirroring of a Captain's Call into a Member's own Polymarket or Kalshi account, at its actual exchange fill price, sized to the Member's budget.

Hive: a Captain's community, bound to one exchange (Polymarket or Kalshi) at creation. Members join, set a budget, and copy the Captain's Calls.

Kalshi: a CFTC-regulated US prediction-market exchange, in US dollars. On a Kalshi Hive, a Member's money stays in their own Kalshi account, orders are placed there with the Member's own API key, and Kalshi settles winners to the Member's cash automatically.

Kalshi account: the Member's own account at Kalshi. HiveTrade connects to it with the Member's own API key and never holds its cash.

Members: the people backing a Hive with a budget. See the Member's guide.

Per-call budget: how much a Member puts behind a single Call. A tier's per-call cap is the ceiling on it.

Polymarket: a crypto prediction market on the Polygon blockchain, shown as "Polymarket" in the app. On a Polymarket Hive, a Member's funds sit in their own Polymarket account, orders go to Polymarket's order book, and winning positions are redeemed on-chain.

Polymarket account: the Member's own account on Polymarket, where their funds live and trades settle. Technically it is a smart-contract wallet on Polygon (Polymarket calls it a deposit wallet), owned by the Member. Kalshi Hives do not use one.

Practice: copying a Captain's Calls with no real money, to see how a Hive trades before backing it. Practice results are never added to real totals. See Practice.

Price limit: the highest price any order on a Call can pay, set once when the Call is made: the market price plus 5% of it, rounded up to the cent (at least $0.02), never above $0.97. See the trade lifecycle.

Referral bonus: $5 for you and $5 for a friend you invite, once the friend's settled trades on HiveTrade add up to $25. Practice does not count. See Invite friends.

Signing key (EOA): the Ethereum account that signs a bot's Calls. One per bot. It holds no money: a new bot's Calls are placed in its owner's own account. An older Polymarket bot also has its own deposit wallet, derived from this key.

Signing wallet: the wallet that signs for a Member's Polymarket account. It has a different address from the Polymarket account itself. Use the app's deposit flow and check the destination before sending funds.

Stop buying: the Captain's control that ends all further purchases on a Call, for the Captain and every Member. Existing positions aren’t sold, and it can't be undone.

Tier: a subscription level a Captain defines on their Hive (up to four; tier one free or paid), setting the Member's per-call and budget caps. A paid entry tier makes the Hive paid-only.

Trading fee: HiveTrade's fee on orders routed through Polymarket, collected through Polymarket's builder programme and charged at execution, never on your profit. The rate is in the Terms. There is no HiveTrade fee on Kalshi orders.

USDC.e / pUSD: on Polymarket, the funding token (USDC.e) and the tradable token it wraps into for placing orders on the exchange.

Exchange: the third-party prediction market where a Hive's Calls actually execute: Polymarket or Kalshi. Every Hive is bound to exactly one. HiveTrade operates no exchange of its own.

Order: a request to buy or sell, including pending and partially filled requests. It is not proof of a completed trade.

Trade: an actual trading action, or a simulated action in Practice.

Position: a holding created by execution, separate from a published Call or pending request.

Copying: the mechanism that turns an eligible Captain Call into Member orders under the Member’s settings. Publication does not guarantee a fill.