Rollover is the move from an expiring market to the next equivalent one, or the way a recurring market repeats the same question over successive periods.
Last reviewed 30 October 2025 · Educational, not advice
Rollover describes what happens when a market reaches the end of its period and a new, equivalent market begins. Many event contracts ask a question tied to a specific window, for example whether a figure will hit a level by the end of a given week or month. When that window closes, the contract settles, and a fresh contract for the next window opens. The pattern of one period ending and the next beginning is the rollover, and a market built to repeat this way is a recurring market.
It is important to see that rollover does not let you carry an old position past its resolution date untouched. The expiring contract still resolves on its own terms. It pays out, or it expires worthless, exactly as it would have anyway. To stay involved in the theme for the next period, you generally have to take a new position in the new market. Whether any of this happens automatically depends entirely on the platform and the specific market. Some venues may offer features that help you continue from one period to the next, while others leave each period as a clean, separate contract. The reliable approach is to read how a given market handles its rollover rather than to assume.
Rollover has practical consequences for cost. Because continuing into each new period usually means trading in and out again, the fees and the bid ask spread you pay can add up across many periods. A strategy that looks cheap once can become expensive when repeated week after week. It also has consequences for records. Each settled period is a separate outcome with its own result, so a position followed across many rollovers produces many distinct events to track, which matters for keeping clear accounts.
For a careful reader, rollover is simply the rhythm of recurring markets, and it deserves the same attention as any single contract. Each new period is a fresh decision, not a continuation of an old one, and the convenience of a familiar repeating question should not turn into trading on autopilot. Treating each rollover as its own choice, with its own price, its own risk, and its own cost, keeps the repetition from quietly becoming a habit that outlives the reasons for it.
A market asks the same question every week about a regularly published figure. At the end of one week the contract settles, paying out or expiring on its terms. A new contract for the following week then opens. Someone who wants to keep a view on the theme takes a fresh position in the new week's market, paying the spread and any fee again. Over a month of rolling over, those small costs and four separate settlements all add up.
Illustrative only. A simplified example, not a description of any specific platform, and not a prediction.
Rolling over period after period can quietly build up costs and turn into trading on autopilot. Prediction markets can lose you money. Stake only what you can afford to lose, never to chase a loss, and never on borrowed money. If it stops feeling like a free choice, step back. In the United States you can call or text the helpline on 1-800-GAMBLER or visit ncpgambling.org.
It is the move from an expiring market to the next equivalent one, or the way a recurring market repeats over successive periods. A weekly or monthly question on the same theme rolls over into a fresh contract each period.
Not necessarily. A position in one period settles on its own terms, and continuing into the next period usually means taking a new position in the new market. Whether anything happens automatically depends on the platform, so check how a given market handles it.
No. The expiring contract still resolves and pays out or expires on its own terms. Rolling over means starting fresh in the next period, not carrying the old position past its resolution date untouched.
Each new period can mean trading in and out again, so fees and the spread can add up across many rollovers. Each settlement is also a separate outcome to record, which matters for keeping clear accounts whatever your local rules require.
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