Usually not. Polymarket has had real outages around election nights and huge news events, but most "down" reports are one of four things: a US visitor hitting the global site's geoblock (it redirects to polymarket.us), a Nevada user hitting the court-ordered block, a Polygon network delay on a crypto deposit, or a US-app verification hold. Positions are never at risk from a front-end outage: global-site positions are on-chain in your wallet, US-app positions are on the exchange.
How to check
- Polymarket's status page and X account.
- r/Polymarket for a live thread.
- If you're in the US, confirm you're on polymarket.us, not polymarket.com.
- If you're on the global site, check Polygon network status; a congested network slows deposits and withdrawals but not trading.
- Try the app if the web fails, or vice versa.
Not an outage
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| polymarket.com redirects or says unavailable in the US | Global site blocks US users | Use polymarket.us |
| Blocked in Nevada | Court injunction | None; see legality |
| Sports missing in my state | State restriction | Non-sports markets still available |
| USDC deposit not showing | Wrong network, or Polygon congestion | Verify it's USDC on Polygon; wait |
| US app won't let me withdraw | Deposit still clearing (3–4 business days) | Wait; funds are yours |
| Trade fails on the global site | Insufficient USDC for fee or stale price | Refresh; keep a small USDC buffer |
When it really is down
Election nights and major geopolitical shocks produce Polymarket's record volumes and its slowest minutes. Markets keep resolving on their rules; the inconvenience is not being able to trade for a while. Don't leave a trade you must make for the last minutes before a resolution.