# Reading a market

> What buying and selling mean, what a price like 68¢ or -213 tells you, and what quantity means.

Source: https://help.stxapp.ca/using-the-exchange/reading-a-market/

Every market is a YES or NO question, such as "Will Detroit win?". You can take either side.

## Buy or sell?

- **Buy (YES)** if you think the outcome will happen. You win if it does.
- **Sell (NO)** if you think it will not. Selling is a wager against the outcome: if you sell "Detroit to win", you win if Detroit does not win.

For spreads and totals, the market title is the question. Buying answers YES to the title as written; selling answers NO.

## What the price means

Each contract settles at **$1** if the answer is YES and **$0** if it is NO. The price is what one contract costs, in cents, and reads as the market's chance of YES: 68¢ means about a 68% chance.

- A **buyer** at 68¢ risks 68¢ to win 32¢ per contract.
- A **seller** at 68¢ risks 32¢ to win 68¢ per contract.

You can also show prices as **American** or **decimal** odds in your settings. The same 68¢ price is **-213** in American odds (risk $2.13 to win $1) and **1.47** in decimal odds.

## What quantity means

Quantity is the number of contracts. 20 contracts bought at 68¢ cost $13.60 and pay $20 if the answer is YES, a gain of $6.40 before fees.

## My order was rejected or cancelled

If an order is rejected, or you cancel it before it fills, the money set aside for it returns to your [available balance](https://help.stxapp.ca/glossary/available-balance/). An order that is only partly filled keeps the filled part as a [position](https://help.stxapp.ca/glossary/positions/).

## Learn by doing

The app's tutorial walks through a wager. To see it again, go to **Settings** and turn on **Show tutorial**. See also [Your first wager](https://help.stxapp.ca/getting-started/your-first-trade/) and [How to place a limit order](https://help.stxapp.ca/using-the-exchange/how-to-place-limit-order/).