Polyscope detects when Polymarket trading volume surges above baseline and alerts you before the crowd fully prices in what's happening.
A volume spike happens when the amount of money flowing through a market over 24 hours jumps significantly compared to its recent baseline. It means more traders are paying attention to that market right now than usual.
Volume often leads price. When money starts pouring into a quiet market, it's usually because something is changing — a news event, a deadline approaching, or information entering the market through large orders like those surfaced by Polymarket whale alerts. The price may not have fully adjusted yet.
A market that's been doing $10K/day suddenly hitting $100K/day means something changed. That surge often happens before the probability has fully moved to reflect it.
Volume spikes tell you which markets people are actively trading right now. In a sea of thousands of markets, knowing where the action is concentrating saves time.
A probability shift backed by a volume spike is more convincing than one without. Volume validates that real money is behind the move, not just a thin-market artifact.
Polyscope snapshots each market's 24-hour volume every 5 minutes and stores these snapshots in a rolling 2-hour window. When the current volume is 2x, 5x, or 10x above the oldest snapshot in that window, an alert fires.
This approach catches genuine surges while ignoring gradual, organic growth. A market that slowly grows from $50K to $100K over a week won't trigger. A market that jumps from $50K to $150K in two hours will. For the full technical breakdown, see the detection methodology page.
Not all volume spikes are meaningful. Polyscope applies a minimum volume threshold so you don't get alerts for tiny markets where a single trade can create an artificial "spike." Only markets with meaningful total volume qualify.
24-hour volume at least doubles compared to the baseline from 2 hours ago. Activity is picking up.
Volume is 5x above baseline. Serious attention is flowing into this market — something is happening.
10x above baseline. These are rare and usually tied to breaking news or a sudden catalyst. The market is on fire.
Markets below the volume threshold are excluded. This prevents false spikes from illiquid or inactive markets where a single trade distorts the ratio.
Not every spike is worth acting on. Here's how to think about what Polyscope shows you:
Meaningful spikes tend to happen in markets that already have decent liquidity, are tied to a real event, and are accompanied by a Polymarket probability shift. These are the setups worth investigating.
Noisy spikes can happen when a single large order inflates the 24h number in a thin market. Polyscope's minimum volume filter catches most of these, but the order book context in each alert helps you judge the rest.
The best use of a volume spike alert isn't to trade blindly — it's to know where to look next. Check the market, read the news, check the order book, and decide.
Volume spikes around scheduled events (debates, votes, earnings) help you see when the market is actively repricing the outcome.
If you watch multiple markets and want to know where activity is concentrating right now, volume spike alerts are your radar.
Already have a thesis on a market? A volume spike in that market validates that others are seeing the same thing and putting money behind it.
Polyscope stores 24-hour volume snapshots every 5 minutes in a rolling 2-hour window. The baseline is the oldest snapshot still within that window, so you're comparing current volume against where it was roughly 2 hours ago.
If a market had $50K in 24h volume two hours ago and now has $100K+, that's a 2x spike. The ratio is current volume divided by baseline volume.
No. Markets below the minimum volume threshold ($10K total) are excluded. This prevents false spikes in illiquid markets where a single trade can create an artificial ratio.
Yes. If buyers and sellers are evenly matched, volume can surge while the price stays flat. That's still useful information — it means there's active disagreement about the outcome.
It depends on market conditions. During major events you might see several per hour. During quiet periods, maybe one or two per day. Each market has a 30-minute cooldown between alerts.
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