A delayed order is a real state, not an error

An order response arrives and the first instinct is to label it filled or failed. The response can be telling you something more specific: the order was accepted, but matching is still delayed.

Polymarket's order documentation lists delayed as a real accepted status for marketable orders subject to a matching delay.

Read the status vocabulary

A live order is resting on the book. A matched order met resting liquidity immediately. A delayed order is marketable but waiting through a configured matching window. An unmatched order was placed but did not fill after that path.

These states answer different operational questions. A status field is not decoration for a log line; it determines which follow-up is safe.

Do not count pending work twice

During a matching delay, the order is pending and cannot be canceled. Keep it out of the filled-position total, but do not treat its reserved balance as available for an unrelated submission.

That middle state is where many local ledgers break: they remove the order from open exposure before a trade exists, then add it again when the final event arrives.

Separate order and trade records

When an order fills fully or partially, the response can identify the resulting trade IDs and, when available, transaction hashes. Store those identifiers beside the order status instead of overwriting the original response.

A delayed order can become a match, an unmatched placement, or a rejection after the matching window. The state transition is part of the evidence.

Build the follow-up around the state

Use a status-specific handler: refresh a live order, wait for a delayed result, review a matched trade, and decide what to do with an unmatched placement. Do not send the same retry for all four.

The useful question is not whether the API answered quickly. It is which state the answer represents and what exposure the account has while that state changes.

Further reading: Place orders · Order lifecycle · Real-time order updates.

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